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deeheartsbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, and Violence
ashley_mrose530's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This was such a good book. I thought the world was so interesting and different. It took me a little while to understand the differences between each group of people and I even I had to start the first like half hour of the book over so I could make sure I was getting it all, including the POV shifts, but once I understood it, it was such a good read.
I really liked the world building in this book. The three separate blood types making a caste system was intriguing. I really enjoyed that the book played heavily with the fact that you truly don't know someone's blood color just by looking at them so there were many who were able to pretend to be in one caste over the other and as long as they never got an open wound, they would essentially be able to masquerade for as long as they wanted.
I also liked the idea of the blood magic they hadthough one of my very first questions was why only the red blood people could do it which ended up being one of the big reveals at the end - in actuality, anyone can do it. I figured this would be the case but I still enjoyed the reveal and how it connected in a way to our real-world history of colonization. This book has so many obvious parallels to our current world and political climate and that was no accident. It's amazing how much the author was able to fit in this world to make it so similar to ours but so different at the same time.
I also really liked the portrayal of addiction throughout this book. It was great to see how realistic it was and how Sylah was still dealing with the withdrawal effects even 5 months after quitting cold-turkey. I liked that it wasn't just forgotten about and dropped in the middle like it easily could have been. It was very much routinely brought up and focused on which is a very real issue that addicts deal with. I loved seeing that representation and I hope it continues throughout the series.
Finally, I loved seeing these characters grow throughout this book. Syla goes from being completely hopeless and giving up on herself and the empire, to being inspired and passionate and full of determination to fix the systemic issues within their country and helping the ones who are being oppressed. And Anoor goes from being a very naive and kind of spoiled rich girl to having her eyes opened to how other people are being treated in the government that she was benefitting from and being determined to change it and help them. I hope they both continue to grow and find their own power as the series progresses.
I can't wait to finish reading this series. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that my library doesn't have the other two books so I don't currently have access to the rest of the series. It might be a while before I can finish it.
I really liked the world building in this book. The three separate blood types making a caste system was intriguing. I really enjoyed that the book played heavily with the fact that you truly don't know someone's blood color just by looking at them so there were many who were able to pretend to be in one caste over the other and as long as they never got an open wound, they would essentially be able to masquerade for as long as they wanted.
I also liked the idea of the blood magic they had
I also really liked the portrayal of addiction throughout this book. It was great to see how realistic it was and how Sylah was still dealing with the withdrawal effects even 5 months after quitting cold-turkey. I liked that it wasn't just forgotten about and dropped in the middle like it easily could have been. It was very much routinely brought up and focused on which is a very real issue that addicts deal with. I loved seeing that representation and I hope it continues throughout the series.
Finally, I loved seeing these characters grow throughout this book. Syla goes from being completely hopeless and giving up on herself and the empire, to being inspired and passionate and full of determination to fix the systemic issues within their country and helping the ones who are being oppressed. And Anoor goes from being a very naive and kind of spoiled rich girl to having her eyes opened to how other people are being treated in the government that she was benefitting from and being determined to change it and help them. I hope they both continue to grow and find their own power as the series progresses.
I can't wait to finish reading this series. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that my library doesn't have the other two books so I don't currently have access to the rest of the series. It might be a while before I can finish it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, and Classism
tattooedbibliophile's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction and Xenophobia
Moderate: Ableism, Slavery, and Blood
Minor: Child abuse, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Pandemic/Epidemic
nixoneshoe's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- 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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Gore
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Slavery, Violence, Blood, and Classism
Minor: Child death, Fatphobia, and Suicide attempt
sillevanhoof's review
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
6/10
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, and Classism
Moderate: Fatphobia and Abandonment
isopod_lover's review against another edition
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? Yes
4.5
I adore this book. I have to wait 10 weeks for the next book because my library only has one copy
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Alcohol, and Classism
sangsmiles's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Colonisation
maresuju's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Violence, Blood, and Classism
Moderate: Death, Slavery, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Sexual content
lisztaffe's review against another edition
did not like the writing, found the exposition poorly done, questionable premise
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Blood, and Alcohol
emk5's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
3.0
I think 3 stars is pretty generous. I wish more of this book focused on Hassa. I don't think Sylah needed to be likeable, and...she very much wasn't...
The world building was good but frankly not enough for me to want to read the other books in this series. At some point I wrote down a note of "I'm supposed to dislike Sylah and Anoor right???" Anoor was a more believable(?) character than Sylah but still extremely naive and cliche! Verbatim from Anoor: "the prison she would build would be bigger" after being horrified by the size of a cell??!
Sylah was frankly really immature and selfish?? For a lot of the book she kept being like "she (name redacted for spoiler) stole my life from me/that should've been mine etc" even though the Sandstorm carried out the BABY SWAP! They were babies!!! Or if this was trying to show that her "upbringing" didn't give her "the heart of a Duster" I dunno, it didn't land. Maybe the author is playing 3D chess and I was reading checkers...
One of my main gripes is it was really unclear how Sylah and Hassa are "friends" (Sylah is not a friend to Hassa!!!!!)
ALSO NONE OF THE ROMANCE WAS BELIEVABLE. I did think it was funny that we got a fairly thorough sex scene between Sylah and (redacted) but basically faded to black for Sylah and (redacted)!!!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Slavery, and Torture
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Fatphobia