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bookishlucy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
4.25
Trip Galey’s writing is beautiful and magical. There’s something unique and whimsical about it. He crafts sentences that have all the playfulness of a poem or song. Reading his text is fun even if the language is difficult or has fantasy terms woven in. I was genuinely just having fun reading his beautiful sentences.
I did miss some world-building. I still had many questions about how the magic of the world worked when I finished the book. Ultimately, I think this book is about Deri and Owain's love story and the gaps in my understanding of the world didn't affect my understanding of their feelings.
I did miss some world-building. I still had many questions about how the magic of the world worked when I finished the book. Ultimately, I think this book is about Deri and Owain's love story and the gaps in my understanding of the world didn't affect my understanding of their feelings.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Trafficking, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse
Moderate: Abandonment
Minor: Sexual content
schnaucl's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I wanted to like it more than I did. I think the problem for me was that Deri spends the first quarter or so of the book focused on being one of the few human merchants in the goblin market. While I never had the sense that he had any interest at all in having his own indentured servant(s), he clearly was okay with otherwise exploiting desperate and/or naive visitors to the market and the limiting factor in his willingness to exploit others was less a sense of morality (at least at the beginning) than a lack of skill. The closer the deal is to being fair the easier it is for the market to work its magic. It's hard to root for Gordon Gecko, is what I'm saying.
And then he brings up the concept or work to rule. And I love unions, I think they're great. But I have a really hard time understanding how someone in the society as presented would ever have heard of the concept of working to rule. And in a society where parents can sell their children into indentured servitude, and where it's clearly permissible to force those indentured servants to work in dangerous conditions that can leave them maimed or dead it's really hard to see why work to rule would even work. Later on there's some discussion of the contract that offers at least some protections to the indentured servant (and presumably is enforced by magic) but it's not explained until later and we've already seen it's fine to beat indentured servants for "insolence" or as motivation. But it's really hard to reconcile the threat of violence as a motivating factor (which it sounds like had been employed before) with respecting work to rule. I guess maybe the magic is supposed to have stopped any retaliation?
Deri does eventually work to free other indentured servants, but for a long time it's viewed more as a happy byproduct of his plans to free himself and then Owain, not a goal in itself. I'm not sure that Deri would have tried to free everyone if the owner of his contract hadn't decided to rewrite contracts to further restrict and exploit the indentured class.
But in the end, the system has only minor changes. It's certainly not abolished. The idea is that Owain who himself was changed by ingesting a new destiny without informed consent, will be a new prince and I guess have more sympathy for the lower classes which is nice as far as it goes but it wasn't like there was a suggestion that the crown would try and actually alleviate the suffering that caused people to sell their children or themselves into indentured servitude. The thing that is supposed to stop people from doing that is, I guess, hearing Owain's story. But I didn't get the impression that people who were desperate enough to sell their freedom didn't understand how bad it might be for them. They were doing it because they didn't see any other options. The contract were apparently rewritten in some nebulous way to make things more equal but I don't think it was ever specified what that actually meant.
We also didn't see much of Deri and Owain falling in love. In lust, sure, and I guess technically since Deri was able to sell true love it must be so but there's even a reference to a sort of puppy love and the expectations of others that must be what it is between Deri and Owain. They meet a handful of time for a few hours at a time and it doesn't seem like enough to be true love.
As a somewhat minor thing, early on it's said that the usual rules about thanking people in Faerie are in place. There's a slight twist on it here in that in the market it suggests a bad deal was made in your favor so it's an insulting thing to say. But later on people are constantly thanking each other. I get it if those outside the market do it, but those raised in it should be much more conscious of it.
And then he brings up the concept or work to rule. And I love unions, I think they're great. But I have a really hard time understanding how someone in the society as presented would ever have heard of the concept of working to rule. And in a society where parents can sell their children into indentured servitude, and where it's clearly permissible to force those indentured servants to work in dangerous conditions that can leave them maimed or dead it's really hard to see why work to rule would even work. Later on there's some discussion of the contract that offers at least some protections to the indentured servant (and presumably is enforced by magic) but it's not explained until later and we've already seen it's fine to beat indentured servants for "insolence" or as motivation. But it's really hard to reconcile the threat of violence as a motivating factor (which it sounds like had been employed before) with respecting work to rule. I guess maybe the magic is supposed to have stopped any retaliation?
But in the end, the system has only minor changes. It's certainly not abolished. The idea is that Owain who himself was changed by ingesting a new destiny without informed consent, will be a new prince and I guess have more sympathy for the lower classes which is nice as far as it goes but it wasn't like there was a suggestion that the crown would try and actually alleviate the suffering that caused people to sell their children or themselves into indentured servitude. The thing that is supposed to stop people from doing that is, I guess, hearing Owain's story. But I didn't get the impression that people who were desperate enough to sell their freedom didn't understand how bad it might be for them. They were doing it because they didn't see any other options. The contract were apparently rewritten in some nebulous way to make things more equal but I don't think it was ever specified what that actually meant.
We also didn't see much of Deri and Owain falling in love. In lust, sure, and I guess technically since Deri was able to sell true love it must be so but there's even a reference to a sort of puppy love and the expectations of others that must be what it is between Deri and Owain. They meet a handful of time for a few hours at a time and it doesn't seem like enough to be true love.
As a somewhat minor thing, early on it's said that the usual rules about thanking people in Faerie are in place. There's a slight twist on it here in that in the market it suggests a bad deal was made in your favor so it's an insulting thing to say. But later on people are constantly thanking each other. I get it if those outside the market do it, but those raised in it should be much more conscious of it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Classism, Physical abuse, Torture, and Slavery
Minor: Abandonment, Gore, and Colonisation
purrson's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Classism
Minor: Confinement, Torture, Grief, Abandonment, and Physical abuse
Major topics/background: worker’s rights, queer romance, queer-normative worldkari_f's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
hopeful
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
4.0
I’ll be honest, I’ve gotten to the point where I generally see “faery” in a book synopsis and promptly move on. The description of this one caught my eye, though, and I was immediately intrigued. The blurb touts elements similar to those in Neverwhere and The Night Circus, both of which are absolute favorites of mine.
I tend to be a fan of books with multiple facets of London, and the underground magical market in this one lived up to my every hope! Simultaneously whimsical and enticingly dark, almost any kind of magical bargain can be struck at the Untermarkt. The characters, though they are young, are indentured and have to act beyond their years, both above ground and below, to keep their wits about them and survive. That being said, there are plenty of teenage shenanigans that take place, especially in the relationship between two of the main characters.
There was a bit of insta-love, which I’m not really a fan of. That being said, the relationship in the book is delightful and also isn’t what solely carries the plot. Instead, the story hinges mostly upon characters’ fights for freedom and the deals they make to warrant that independence. The bargaining and sharp-witted thinking throughout the book keeps the characters and readers constantly on their toes. Plus, there are magical heisty vibes to the plot, along with various schemes, hijinks, and strategic plans.
The pacing felt mostly even, though the end felt a bit rushed, but overall it didn’t really impact my enjoyment of the book. This is definitely one I can see myself reading again a few years down the line, when I want a fun and magical world to visit!
Thanks so much to Netgalley and Titan Books for this advanced readers copy!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Slavery, Violence, and Classism
Minor: Sexual content, Abandonment, and Racism
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