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modernhobbitvibes's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Body horror, Death of parent, and Confinement
necroplasm's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
this one was soooo up-and-down for me? like it's been a day since i finished it and i'm just still not sure how to feel about it?? i didn't LOVE it but i can't really put into words why that is...... i know at least a few reasons why i didn't hate it, though! shiori honestly rly grew on me as a protag, she seemed kinda flat to me at first but idk that development just started hittin i guess! i'm also a really big fan of the original fairy tale this book is based on, and the spins the author put on it were pretty neat to me, especially the late-game twist with raikama. i'll probably go on to read the sequel, hopefully it'll leave me feeling a bit more satisfied :P
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Kidnapping, Animal death, and Confinement
Minor: Violence and War
claudan's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
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? N/A
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Violence, War, Blood, Emotional abuse, Torture, Body horror, Confinement, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Murder and Grief
princessrory's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent and Grief
Minor: War, Violence, Blood, Confinement, and Murder
filipa_maia's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
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
4.0
First of all, how beautiful is this cover?
I really enjoyed this book. It was a slow start for me but, when the story really started to gain traction I got completely addicted. Great world building, amazing scenarios, character with such a rich and interesting background - these are the things we can enjoy when reading this book. I love Shiori strength, the way that she overcame everything that was thrown in her way. Even when everything was hopeless.
I can't wait for the next book!
I really enjoyed this book. It was a slow start for me but, when the story really started to gain traction I got completely addicted. Great world building, amazing scenarios, character with such a rich and interesting background - these are the things we can enjoy when reading this book. I love Shiori strength, the way that she overcame everything that was thrown in her way. Even when everything was hopeless.
I can't wait for the next book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, Confinement, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Medical content, Death of parent, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: War
pixellatxd's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Confinement, Death of parent, and War
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief
mothman19's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Grief, and Murder
saintyeehaw's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I think I was so entranced by the gorgeous cover art that I set my expectations too high. The writing in this book has a huge problem with telling rather than showing, which robbed all the key moments of their tension and emotional impact. Shiori never really develops as a character, either. We are told that she is stronger, smarter, tougher but that is never shown to be true. In fact, she constantly sees a bad choice, recognizes it as a bad choice, and chooses it anyway literally just because and then acts surprised that it turned out poorly. Rinse and repeat for the entire book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, and Torture
fandomsandfiction's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
"I sometimes wonder if you’re one of them, Lina. A daughter of the moon. I’ve decided that must be why you don’t want anyone to see your eyes. They’ll blind us all with their brightness."
I absolutely adore this book to the moon goddess and back! It's been said before and I'll say it again: this book has everything you could want from a fantasy novel (and more!!!) 😍 The magic, lore and world-building is spectacular! The plot is exciting and well-paced! The characters are so well-written you COMPLETELY FORGET THAT THEY ARE NOT REAL! Everything about this book is just so so good and I completely devoured it in any minute of spare time I could find ... The author's ability to weave so many beloved fairytales, legends and mythology into one story, while adding her own individualistic touch, can only be described as PURE MAGIC ✨
I want to climb onto the roof and SCREAM about how amazing this book is !!!! About how much I love the characters and themes and tropes and romance and- *starts screaming and crying uncontrollably because words cannot express how much I enjoyed this book and I've been so absorbed in this fantasy world the past few days that I have no idea what to do with myself now that I've completed reading it*
All these characters have stolen bits of my heart and I've left pieces of me scattered among the pages. Shiori, Raikama, Seryu, Takkan, Megari, Hasho, Andahai, Benkai, Reiji, Wandei, Yotan and even dear little Kiki (especially dear little Kiki❤): you were more than just fictional characters to me. For one glorious, magical week, you were so so real.
I absolutely adore this book to the moon goddess and back! It's been said before and I'll say it again: this book has everything you could want from a fantasy novel (and more!!!) 😍 The magic, lore and world-building is spectacular! The plot is exciting and well-paced! The characters are so well-written you COMPLETELY FORGET THAT THEY ARE NOT REAL! Everything about this book is just so so good and I completely devoured it in any minute of spare time I could find ... The author's ability to weave so many beloved fairytales, legends and mythology into one story, while adding her own individualistic touch, can only be described as PURE MAGIC ✨
I want to climb onto the roof and SCREAM about how amazing this book is !!!! About how much I love the characters and themes and tropes and romance and- *starts screaming and crying uncontrollably because words cannot express how much I enjoyed this book and I've been so absorbed in this fantasy world the past few days that I have no idea what to do with myself now that I've completed reading it*
All these characters have stolen bits of my heart and I've left pieces of me scattered among the pages. Shiori, Raikama, Seryu, Takkan, Megari, Hasho, Andahai, Benkai, Reiji, Wandei, Yotan and even dear little Kiki (especially dear little Kiki❤): you were more than just fictional characters to me. For one glorious, magical week, you were so so real.
Content Warnings
Minor: War, Death of parent, and Confinement
rensreading's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
when people said it gave them studio ghibli vibes, they really weren’t kidding! still, i had my doubts so it kind of caught me off guard how right these people were about it.
it took me a hot sec to figure out which area of asia this story was drawing inspiration from though. i think i may have just been confused by the studio ghibli comments but idk. the elements of chinese folklore became more clear only once someone pointed them out to me so im probably just slow. the red string of fate was a dead giveaway for sure though.
the plot was okay. it took a little too long to start in my opinion and certain details were brought up in the very end to try and link them as an explanation for why the beginning was so long but it still felt clunky. it seemed like lim had a plan™️ for her ending but didn’t execute it smoothly enough to make sense. there was just a lot of rushing at the end, which i get because its the end but the change of pace was weird and kind of unnecessary too. slow and steady wins the race after all.
i didn’t really care for our mc or how she seemed to enrapture two boys. the romance was just meh to me. it felt like it was missing something but i honestly couldn’t tell you what it was. probably just plain old chemistry. either way, i thought there would be more emphasis on her brothers since they’re the whole reason she’s trying to break the curse anyway but, sadly, we get to learn very little about them. instead we get a good chunk of the book about someone else’s sibling instead :)) how fun :)))
all in all, this was an okay read. there definitely were some overdone cliches and hiccups in the plot but it wasn’t enough to make me dislike this book either.i didn’t care for the random power-ups or how quickly the stepmother was forgiven though. all of that should have been expanded on for sure.
because of all of the above, i give this 4 stars
it took me a hot sec to figure out which area of asia this story was drawing inspiration from though. i think i may have just been confused by the studio ghibli comments but idk. the elements of chinese folklore became more clear only once someone pointed them out to me so im probably just slow. the red string of fate was a dead giveaway for sure though.
the plot was okay. it took a little too long to start in my opinion and certain details were brought up in the very end to try and link them as an explanation for why the beginning was so long but it still felt clunky. it seemed like lim had a plan™️ for her ending but didn’t execute it smoothly enough to make sense. there was just a lot of rushing at the end, which i get because its the end but the change of pace was weird and kind of unnecessary too. slow and steady wins the race after all.
i didn’t really care for our mc or how she seemed to enrapture two boys. the romance was just meh to me. it felt like it was missing something but i honestly couldn’t tell you what it was. probably just plain old chemistry. either way, i thought there would be more emphasis on her brothers since they’re the whole reason she’s trying to break the curse anyway but, sadly, we get to learn very little about them. instead we get a good chunk of the book about someone else’s sibling instead :)) how fun :)))
all in all, this was an okay read. there definitely were some overdone cliches and hiccups in the plot but it wasn’t enough to make me dislike this book either.
because of all of the above, i give this 4 stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Confinement, Cursing, Medical trauma, Violence, Animal death, Death, Blood, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Torture
Moderate: Death of parent and Grief
Minor: War