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bi_n_large's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
tense
slow-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Drug use, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Homophobia, War, Vomit, Blood, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Xenophobia
Minor: Religious bigotry
marioncromb's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
This book was a slog to get though, and especially tedious when the main character was just being horny all the time. Some of the reveals can be seen a mile off and it really wakes you wonder about the intelligence of this supposed scholar that she's oblivious. The reversal of patriarchal man-as-default to woman as default wasnt as progressive as it maybe thought it was, or at least it wasnt noticeably used to explore/point out sexism.
Also i didnt vibe with the writing style, particularly at the start. It felt a bit 'second mentions', like the writer thought good writing was just rephrasing things differently with fancy adjectives (i got particularly annoyed with a sentence that was along the lines of 'the mellifluous voice spoke in honeyed tones', like mellifluous literally means like honey, you've said the same thing twice, no wonder this book was twice as long as it needed to be.
Its not a terrible book but eh
Also i didnt vibe with the writing style, particularly at the start. It felt a bit 'second mentions', like the writer thought good writing was just rephrasing things differently with fancy adjectives (i got particularly annoyed with a sentence that was along the lines of 'the mellifluous voice spoke in honeyed tones', like mellifluous literally means like honey, you've said the same thing twice, no wonder this book was twice as long as it needed to be.
Its not a terrible book but eh
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Grief, War, Classism, Drug abuse, and Drug use
Moderate: Murder, Violence, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Sexual content, and Genocide
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, and Vomit
misterwisp's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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
4.0
The way the author writes about "inner world" things like addiction and grief has a lot of impact and resonance. The writing overall feels quite different in an interesting way. Some parts have a real elegance to them. If you like a component of emotional exploration this is definitely worth a try.
It is somewhat slow at times and initially felt hard to get into. There is a big focus on the main character's thoughts and perceptions of things. There is a lot of subtle interpersonal drama, which is broken up by occasional fast paced action.
It proved worth the effort. The ending was great and provided a satisfying payoff of the main story threads leading there. I am left feeling invested in the characters and the world and wishing I had a sequel in my hands already!
Overall it came across as a book of subtlety and understatement in a well done and intriguing way. I can't believe this is a debut novel! Everything in it seems well crafted and thoroughly thought out.
It is somewhat slow at times and initially felt hard to get into. There is a big focus on the main character's thoughts and perceptions of things. There is a lot of subtle interpersonal drama, which is broken up by occasional fast paced action.
It proved worth the effort. The ending was great and provided a satisfying payoff of the main story threads leading there. I am left feeling invested in the characters and the world and wishing I had a sequel in my hands already!
Overall it came across as a book of subtlety and understatement in a well done and intriguing way. I can't believe this is a debut novel! Everything in it seems well crafted and thoroughly thought out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Addiction, Classism, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Blood, Grief, and Death
Minor: Colonisation, Sexual content, War, Xenophobia, Murder, and Violence
enbylibrary's review against another edition
Most of the main character’s arc seemed to be her coming to the realization that “huh, maybe we shouldn’t oppress people” way, WAY too slowly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia
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