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agooding's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, War, Death, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Rape
Minor: Pregnancy
alli_the_bookaholic13's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Sexual assault, Death, Gore, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Blood
mattyb's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Sexual assault, Rape, Body horror, Gore, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Sexual violence, and Violence
Moderate: Genocide, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Colonisation, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Abandonment, War, Body shaming, and Dysphoria
Minor: Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, and Confinement
abegailev's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Sexual assault, War, Sexual violence, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, and Death
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Cannibalism, and Misogyny
Minor: Bullying and Classism
shannnne_reads_words's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Violence, Sexism, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Blood
Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Gore, Body horror, Grief, Murder, Classism, Sexual violence, and Rape
Minor: Cannibalism, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, and Pregnancy
loveat1stwrite's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism
Moderate: Violence, Death of parent, Grief, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Gore, Blood, Colonisation, Death, and Rape
Minor: Abandonment
serena_hien's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Rape, Blood, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Grief, Sexual violence, and Violence
Moderate: Genocide
Minor: Animal death and Abandonment
irreverent_reader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Misogyny, Blood, Bullying, Classism, and Confinement
faeriviera's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
The moment I heard the premise of this story, I immediately wanted to read it. Medusa is one of my favorite "monsters" and I love seeing voices from cultures that aren't often heard giving their takes on classic stories. Add in a forbidden love story between "monster" and slayer to this tale of a woman becoming monstrous against the monsters she faces? What could go wrong?
Well...
I'll admit, this was difficult to get through, and not even because of the subject matter. I feel bad that I didn't like this more, so I'm going to do my best to break this review up into compliment sandwiches.
The author clearly has amazing ideas but the execution left me often struggling to keep reading. Obviously as an ARC the prose isn't in its final form, but as it is it's very uneven, being lush and poetic in one scene and stilted and heavy handed in the next. There are also moments when Patel tries to sprinkle in snarky quips in the middle of something poetic and the tonal whiplash takes me right out of it, especially since as far as "well THAT happened" humor goes, it's pretty weak for the most part. When Patel's prose is good, it's so emotionally impactful and beautiful, and it's part of why the moments when it's not stick out and make the book drag for me. I KNOW she's capable of making this one of those books that rips your still beating heart from your chest and never lets go. Hopefully the final edit shows that.
Additionally, the love story is really poorly developed. It started promisingly, but then Manisha's constant protests against Pratyush's flirting left me cold. The whole point of this story is a hate letter to men who violate women, and while Pratyush is held up as the prime example of "Not All Men", he too could learn a thing or two about taking no for an answer. I really hope this was just a matter of this still being a draft, but this was truly the beginning of my problems with the narrative. It's a shame too, because there are so many moments that would've had me touching my heart if it had been attached to characters I believed belonged together,
This is a book chockful of interesting concepts.
I really, really wanted to love this book. As it is, I love the bones of this story, and see a lot of potential for the series Patel is clearly laying the groundwork for, and I hope at least some of these issues are fixed by the time the book comes out on the 16th!
Graphic: Death, War, Violence, Blood, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Cannibalism
There are some GRUESOME monster fights in this, and thus a lot of gruesome deaths.devynreadsnovels's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Body horror, Colonisation, Grief, Sexual content, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, War, Sexual assault, Blood, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Torture, and Sexism
Moderate: Confinement, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Racism, and Pregnancy
Minor: Abortion