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kinda still deciding how i feel about this. it takes a long time to get going--i do think the beginning third or so could have been edited down. i think this is definitely doing the classic second book thing of widening scope and therefore having to do a lot of scene-setting and explaining at the expense of pacing and energy. however. i am a worldbuilding enjoyer and a voracious consumer of backstory, so while i think this book is weaker than traitor on its own, i did still enjoy it.
Graphic: Animal death, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Genocide, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Religious bigotry, Death of parent
Minor: Excrement, Vomit, Outing
It feels like there's a bit less 'plot' to this one than the first book. Mostly because it is about travelling. A large proportion of the book is spent on the sea. Baru is running away from her past and towards her future. She forgets that although she is the protagonist, she is not the only player in the game.
Tain Shir is interesting. A phantom of Baru's past, present, and future concerned only with making her suffer and die.
Also I love Tau-indi. I think they're great.
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Miscarriage, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma
The author is very detailed about their worldbuilding and you can tell they have taken their time and done the work. It’s because of this that a certain topic that wasn’t particularly addressed so far and was just there. That I was deeply bothered by it. I haven’t seen anyone else address it so I will do so now:
Men in this book often take on traits women in the real world (western countries specifically) like makeup for example. There were multiple scenes where side male characters were treated as wh*res much like women experience today all of the time. It made me deeply uncomfortable as I was going in with the love of powerful women to see them enact the same exact violence in my lived experiences. It wasn’t explained why it was like this or given much context. It wasn’t even needed for the plot. It doesn’t make sense either. In real world examples of matriarchy-adjacent (as most western historians state that there’s never been a true one) this type of violence does not happen. These societies are usually quite equal and the women take on the task of passing down knowledge.
The author’s attempt to address colonization and all of that desperately needed some non-western research. Especially when the majority of character are coded as BIPOC. I just really wanna know why was it necessary to do these scenes with men being mistreated in sex by women? Like what was the benefit?
Additionally, while most of sapphic people I’ve come across have greatly enjoyed this series I find myself alone in some of my thoughts. As an early 20s sapphic woman, I would think I would relate a lot more to Baru. Unfortunately I just… didn’t. What I felt from the series so far is the sexual side of sapphicness and very little of the romantic feelings. I admit I am very much WLW and NBLW romantic and more of a demisexual. I did not feel represented in the end unfortunately which is okay, not every story will do so.
Finally, the biggest book comparison that can be made with this series is the Locked Tomb. There are several key elements that align both series especially with the outcomes of the main sapphic relationship.
Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Pregnancy, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical content, Death of parent, Outing, Alcohol, Classism