Reviews with content warning for Transphobia - Fire Becomes Her

Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

Fire Becomes Her by Rosiee Thor

10 reviews

ohmage_resistance's review

inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Political fantasy isn't my favorite, and that was definitely the case here. It was also probably not the most complex political fantasy, most of the ideas seemed to be rather thin analogies for real world situations. There were some plot holes/things in the worldbuilding that didn't make sense.

(Ingrid goes from wearing a suit to wearing a dress in one of the last scenes. Also, I don't know why Gwendolyn even has a chance if the amount of flare you have determines how much your vote is worth, and only wealthy people have flare).

Also, Ingrid made A LOT of less than ideal decisions for someone who was supposed to be really smart, and that was kind of immersion breaking. The prose was a giant step up from Tarnished are the Stars, but it's a little to melodramatic for me (it totally fits the 1920's tone though!)

I really liked the representation (Ingrid is demiromantic, and there are ace and aro ace side characters) and lack of amatonormativity in the novel though! That was the best part. Ingrid has complicated feelings towards romantic love the entire time, and there's a strong emphasis on other types of love as well. It doesn't bring up her being demi too much—but again, the way the book talks about love is from very aro-spec perpective, which is nice to see.

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wardenred's review

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Ingrid didn’t want to be happy. She wanted to be important, and she wanted to be valued.

I loved Rosiee Thor's debut novel, Tarnished Are the Stars, so I fully expected to love Fire Becomes Her, as well. Especially since the gorgeous cover and the blurb made that expectation so easy to form. Unfortunately, I was left rather disappointed.

This book has a beautiful first chapter that delivers on so much of what the vibe promises. The Jazz Age speakeasy atmosphere, the free flow of magic, all the character-focused moments hinting at many exciting secrets—I think with a few tweaks and a bit of expansion, this chapter alone could make for a wonderful short story. But the rest of book falls sadly short of this dazzling first impression. The plot is rather predictable and best not examined too closely because there are plenty of plotholes. Ingrid, the MC, is pretty much the only character who feels anywhere close to developed, and even her arc is occasionally swingy and inconsistent. The magic is so important to the plot, but for the life of me I can't explain the magic system after reading the book. There is... magical stuff... and it is used to make things happen by, um, ingesting it, but also by putting it into things, and anyone can achieve the magic effects with enough stuff, but also no, not just anyone? It's confusing. The magic just seems to do whatever would be cool for the plot at any given moment.

I will say that there were a bunch of nice moments that were almost cinematic in how they were written, as well as a lot of witty banter. And I very much appreciated the overall queerness of the cast/world and the inclusion of so many types of love, attraction, and human interaction in general. I just wish all the characters involved in this beautiful web of connections were more three-dimensional.

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pastelkerstin's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Drags a bit, is fairly predictable and not as radical as the blurb would have you believe, but the QPR rep is nice.

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sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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city_girl_writer's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

This book…was subpar. I didn’t have high expectations, but I was hoping for a good YA fantasy which was where I was disappointed in. The MC was not likable, not even intriguing to excuse it. The side characters were boring and uninteresting. The only saving grace for this book was the queer representation, especially having a queer-platonic relationship. I have never seen a QPR depicted in a novel before. However the queer rep could not save this book. Besides the characters, the plot was not interesting at all. I was looking forward to political intrigue but got surface-level ideas. The world was uninteresting. I could not care about the magic either. The writing was…bland mostly but had a few interesting lines regarding the QPR. Other than that, I do not recommend this book unless you come in with very little expectations for YA fantasy.

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hello_lovely13's review

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hopeful reflective medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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freyja_books's review

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adventurous hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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anniereads221's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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caseythereader's review

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emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Thanks to Scholastic for the free advance copy of this book.

- Looking for a clever, beautiful YA fantasy filled with fantastic imagery, fight scenes, and queer identities not often seen on the page? Look no further than FIRE BECOMES HER.
- I loved that Ingrid was allowed to be a complicated work in progress. Power hungry and still figuring out what she wants from her life and her relationships.
- I am pretty sure this is the first book I've read that has multiple aromantic/asexual characters, and also definitely the first to feature a queerplatonic relationship. I love that a book for young people is openly discussing that love and relationships can take many forms. Also, that socialist policies help everyone.

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mmandolynn's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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