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amy_in_the_city's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- 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? No
4.0
This was overall a fun read! I loved Halla, with her curiosity about the world. I appreciated the way she protected herself by confusing and annoying people with her inane ramblings until they left her alone. Sarkis was great too. The real star of this book was Zale, the priest/lawyer. I loved them and the church of the White Rat so much. This book was so funny and the humor at times reminded me of Monty Python.
Sarkis kept alluding to some big secret he needed to tell Halla, and I was really expecting it to be something major and a plot twist. When it was finally revealed, my reaction was "Is that the big secret? That's it?" I thought Halla overreacted to that reveal as the secret had nothing to do with her at all and no effect on her life. It felt very contrived just to add in some conflict between the couple.
I liked how inclusive this world seemed to be of various LGBTQ+ identities, with one very notable exception. Same sex couples appeared to be widely accepted and to have the same rights as straight couples. The nonbinary character was never misgendered or questioned about their gender, even by the villains. This culture of acceptance integrated into the worldbuilding was what made it so shocking to me when towards the end of the book, there were several moments where the characters seemed very unaccepting of, and even hostile towards, asexual people. Halla had an unsatisfying sex life with her late husband and described him as having been uninterested in sex in general. Sarkis vilified the late husband for this and even said he wished he could hurt him. Eventually, they seemed to settle on seeing the late husband and his asexuality as a burden. There's a lot of language that suggests ace people are broken, like saying he'd have to be "half-dead not to be interested in you" or Sarkis saying his religion has no use for someone who can't please their partner. This all felt really uncalled for. It put a damper on my enjoyment of the book and left a bad taste. It's a shame because this had been such a cozy and fun book for me, but it ended with me feeling attacked.
Sarkis kept alluding to some big secret he needed to tell Halla, and I was really expecting it to be something major and a plot twist. When it was finally revealed, my reaction was "Is that the big secret? That's it?" I thought Halla overreacted to that reveal as the secret had nothing to do with her at all and no effect on her life. It felt very contrived just to add in some conflict between the couple.
I liked how inclusive this world seemed to be of various LGBTQ+ identities, with one very notable exception. Same sex couples appeared to be widely accepted and to have the same rights as straight couples. The nonbinary character was never misgendered or questioned about their gender, even by the villains. This culture of acceptance integrated into the worldbuilding was what made it so shocking to me when towards the end of the book, there were several moments where the characters seemed very unaccepting of, and even hostile towards, asexual people. Halla had an unsatisfying sex life with her late husband and described him as having been uninterested in sex in general. Sarkis vilified the late husband for this and even said he wished he could hurt him. Eventually, they seemed to settle on seeing the late husband and his asexuality as a burden. There's a lot of language that suggests ace people are broken, like saying he'd have to be "half-dead not to be interested in you" or Sarkis saying his religion has no use for someone who can't please their partner. This all felt really uncalled for. It put a damper on my enjoyment of the book and left a bad taste. It's a shame because this had been such a cozy and fun book for me, but it ended with me feeling attacked.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Suicide attempt, Violence, Death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia and Sexual content
Minor: Sexism, Grief, War, and Religious bigotry
harkenthee's review against another edition
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I've accidentally stumbled my way backward through the World of the White Rat. Having read the Saint of Steel series first and this book second, things felt... familiar.
We have our main character, who is our social awkward, "you don't know you're beautiful, that's what makes you beautiful" respectable widow.
And we also have our brawny and wry warrior who is extremely respectful of his love interest, even when slathering over her big, heavy, hedonistic tracts of Southern Land.
Being fair to Halla, I found her genuinely delightful, with her incessant questions and curiosity for the world around her. Her earnest interactions and experiments with Zale were some of my favorite parts of the story.
Sarkis is... fairly unremarkable in the grand landscape of Kingfisher's of horny, brooding love interests. He is equal parts exasperated yet tantalized by Halla.
And thus is my relationship to these books.
There are so many parts that delight me and entreat me to know more about this world. But there are equally as many parts that make me want to bang my head again the wall. After the fifth self-pitying interior monologue of one or both going, "I swear they don't love me, they're just putting up with me" I metaphorically concussed myself.
SpoilerDon't even get me STARTED on the seemingly obligatory 2nd-act break-up which lasts less than a chapter. Halla barely bats an eye at him threatening to kill anyone- from their mild-mannered lawyer priest to an overly talkative woman. But draws the line at a mercenary turning traitor in a losing battle from over four centuries ago? M'kay. It was such a nonstarter of a conflict I had a hard time believing THAT was what kickstarted the final act.
Zale was one of my favorite parts of the book. I've got a soft spot for characters who are earnest, physically weak, and hyper-competent in their respective field. Gnoles are always a good time, even if Brindle's presence was near-undetectable most of the time. Unfortunately, like in most of the books so far, they've been in just the periphery, but maybe that's what makes them so enjoyable.
I also enjoy the relatively low stakes of the overarching plot. Not everything needs to be some epic save-the-world journey, sometimes the only world you need to save is the life you're living.
3 / 5 stars. I suspect my rating would've been higher had this been my first experience with the White Rat Universe. I think it's time for me to put down the series for a year or two and come back to it when I've been refreshed.
Addendum: I have to agree with some other reviews I've read about the acephobia surrounding Halla's deceased husband. On one hand, it's a pretty well-worn trope for the previous S/O to be either abusive or a bad lover. On the other, Halla and her husband both pretty much went into this marriage knowing it'd be fruitless. So I didn't really jive with the whole "LI repeatedly fantasizing about brutalizing a deceased man who on the whole was just pretty boring and did not seem interested in sex in general."
Also, idk if it was a misprint in my edition, but Zale gets misgendered by the author for a full paragraph while they're having a one-on-one talk with Serkis.
We have our main character, who is our social awkward, "you don't know you're beautiful, that's what makes you beautiful" respectable widow.
And we also have our brawny and wry warrior who is extremely respectful of his love interest, even when slathering over her big, heavy, hedonistic tracts of Southern Land.
Being fair to Halla, I found her genuinely delightful, with her incessant questions and curiosity for the world around her. Her earnest interactions and experiments with Zale were some of my favorite parts of the story.
Sarkis is... fairly unremarkable in the grand landscape of Kingfisher's of horny, brooding love interests. He is equal parts exasperated yet tantalized by Halla.
And thus is my relationship to these books.
There are so many parts that delight me and entreat me to know more about this world. But there are equally as many parts that make me want to bang my head again the wall. After the fifth self-pitying interior monologue of one or both going, "I swear they don't love me, they're just putting up with me" I metaphorically concussed myself.
SpoilerDon't even get me STARTED on the seemingly obligatory 2nd-act break-up which lasts less than a chapter. Halla barely bats an eye at him threatening to kill anyone- from their mild-mannered lawyer priest to an overly talkative woman. But draws the line at a mercenary turning traitor in a losing battle from over four centuries ago? M'kay. It was such a nonstarter of a conflict I had a hard time believing THAT was what kickstarted the final act.
Zale was one of my favorite parts of the book. I've got a soft spot for characters who are earnest, physically weak, and hyper-competent in their respective field. Gnoles are always a good time, even if Brindle's presence was near-undetectable most of the time. Unfortunately, like in most of the books so far, they've been in just the periphery, but maybe that's what makes them so enjoyable.
I also enjoy the relatively low stakes of the overarching plot. Not everything needs to be some epic save-the-world journey, sometimes the only world you need to save is the life you're living.
3 / 5 stars. I suspect my rating would've been higher had this been my first experience with the White Rat Universe. I think it's time for me to put down the series for a year or two and come back to it when I've been refreshed.
Addendum: I have to agree with some other reviews I've read about the acephobia surrounding Halla's deceased husband. On one hand, it's a pretty well-worn trope for the previous S/O to be either abusive or a bad lover. On the other, Halla and her husband both pretty much went into this marriage knowing it'd be fruitless. So I didn't really jive with the whole "LI repeatedly fantasizing about brutalizing a deceased man who on the whole was just pretty boring and did not seem interested in sex in general."
Also, idk if it was a misprint in my edition, but Zale gets misgendered by the author for a full paragraph while they're having a one-on-one talk with Serkis.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia
alybark's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Meh. Could’ve used more birds screaming death prophecies. If I read the word “decadent” again I may lose my mind.
There were definitely parts that I found funny and I enjoyed the first half of the book. It was ultimately too long and I found myself bored with the characters and plot. I picked this one up blindly after it was recommended to me, so I did not realize it was a romance. The romance had many tropes that I did not like, which is purely a subjective thing.
That said, I was definitely bothered by the treatment of the Asexual character of the MC’s late husband. There are non-binary characters and LGTBQ seems to be accepted in most of the cultures, but the author failed hard with Halla’s ex-husband. His lack of interest in sex is spoken of as a failure of all men and it just did not seem necessary to denigrate a (dead) character to show how attracted Sarkis was to Halla. This also felt like a weird plot device so the FMC could be virginal while still being a widow who had sex before.
There were definitely parts that I found funny and I enjoyed the first half of the book. It was ultimately too long and I found myself bored with the characters and plot. I picked this one up blindly after it was recommended to me, so I did not realize it was a romance. The romance had many tropes that I did not like, which is purely a subjective thing.
That said, I was definitely bothered by the treatment of the Asexual character of the MC’s late husband. There are non-binary characters and LGTBQ seems to be accepted in most of the cultures, but the author failed hard with Halla’s ex-husband. His lack of interest in sex is spoken of as a failure of all men and it just did not seem necessary to denigrate a (dead) character to show how attracted Sarkis was to Halla. This also felt like a weird plot device so the FMC could be virginal while still being a widow who had sex before.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Suicide attempt, and Violence
Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia
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