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waywardcrow's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
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? It's complicated
4.75
This was so good but I would not describe it as a fun read. Don’t get me wrong, the storyline is very engaging and full of exciting moments. But I was just as happy to put this book down at the end of the day as I was to pick it up at the beginning.
Because the caste system is so dark, cruel, and twisted and my heart was breaking for those at the bottom of society. It is a reflection of other oppressive systems and colonialism throughout history. This is not an escapist read by any means. Ironically, the next book on my TBR is Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. Hopefully reading this has opened up/prepped my mind for that reflection and I won’t get too depressed reading them back to back lol.
Anyways! It was very well written and I loved the use of poetry and storytelling throughout the novel. Not only were the acts of oppression mirrors of our world, but so were the acts of resistance. There’s also a lot of mystery and intrigue, I totally have no idea where things are going. I tend to read a lot of more predictable books (which I don’t mind) but this was a nice change to be genuinely surprised about everything that was happening.
And of course, hip hip hooray for sapphic representation! I was not expecting a world where being LGBT is normalized. But I think we needed it or else this would be an even harder read than it already was. I like the way the romance developed over time, although the romance reader in me yearned for a more angsty portrayal of their internal conflicts as they realized their feelings for one another.
Because the caste system is so dark, cruel, and twisted and my heart was breaking for those at the bottom of society. It is a reflection of other oppressive systems and colonialism throughout history. This is not an escapist read by any means. Ironically, the next book on my TBR is Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. Hopefully reading this has opened up/prepped my mind for that reflection and I won’t get too depressed reading them back to back lol.
Anyways! It was very well written and I loved the use of poetry and storytelling throughout the novel. Not only were the acts of oppression mirrors of our world, but so were the acts of resistance. There’s also a lot of mystery and intrigue, I totally have no idea where things are going. I tend to read a lot of more predictable books (which I don’t mind) but this was a nice change to be genuinely surprised about everything that was happening.
And of course, hip hip hooray for sapphic representation! I was not expecting a world where being LGBT is normalized. But I think we needed it or else this would be an even harder read than it already was. I like the way the romance developed over time, although the romance reader in me yearned for a more angsty portrayal of their internal conflicts as they realized their feelings for one another.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Drug use, Genocide, Police brutality, Colonisation, and Classism
aurora4847's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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
I get the hype behind this series. The balance between political intrigue, action, and character development was perfect. I could not stop listening. It helps that I love the narrators' voices. I'm so excited to continue the series and see where everything is going next!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, Fatphobia, Gore, Racial slurs, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, and War
This book is intense. There is a strong caste system with all the racism and classism that goes along with it. There are 2 public executions described with varying amounts of detail. Multiple characters experience the death of family members (including parents). The magic system is based on blood, so self harm for rituals is common. One caste suffers mutilation as children (process not described, only results). There is police brutality similar to that in the United States. There are flashbacks to child abuse, and multiple characters are involuntarily confined in varying spaces (including solitary confinement). The main character struggles with addiction through the whole story, and there are depictions of drug use, interventions, and withdrawal symptoms.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
katerinovaaa's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
It took me 9 months to finish this book and if I could, I would've given up within the first 50 pages. The characters annoyed me sooo much I just couldn't read more than 10 pages a week. The changes of POVs were super chaotic and hard to follow (like 3 changes within 2 pages, help). The beginning was painful.
2.5 stars because I see the world-building must've been time-consuming, the plot made sense, and there was loads of representation.
Trigger warnings / Tropes
🗡mild sexual content
🗡murder, blood, war, poverty, discrimination,...
🗡drugs (a lot, MC; also drugging other people)
🗡alcohol
🗡cruel punishment of children (physical and psychological)
🗡mention of SA at the end (not MC directly)
🗡death of loved ones
🔮3rd POV
🔮w/w relationship
🔮betrayal
🔮love triangle, jealousy
🔮strong bisexual MC
🔮elements of feminism and marxism
🔮competition (multiple challenges)
🔮appreciation of curly hair and curvy body (fat-shaming mentioned)
🔮zero tension between the characters😔
🔮detailed glossary, map
I'm really proud of myself for finishing it. I read the last 300 pages in a week because I had a deadline and FINALLY there was some plot.
2.5 stars because I see the world-building must've been time-consuming, the plot made sense, and there was loads of representation.
Trigger warnings / Tropes
🗡mild sexual content
🗡murder, blood, war, poverty, discrimination,...
🗡drugs (a lot, MC; also drugging other people)
🗡alcohol
🗡cruel punishment of children (physical and psychological)
🗡mention of SA at the end (not MC directly)
🗡death of loved ones
🔮3rd POV
🔮w/w relationship
🔮betrayal
🔮love triangle, jealousy
🔮strong bisexual MC
🔮elements of feminism and marxism
🔮competition (multiple challenges)
🔮appreciation of curly hair and curvy body (fat-shaming mentioned)
🔮zero tension between the characters😔
🔮detailed glossary, map
I'm really proud of myself for finishing it. I read the last 300 pages in a week because I had a deadline and FINALLY there was some plot.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, and Classism
Moderate: Child abuse, Fatphobia, and Sexual content
Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Slavery, Torture, and Kidnapping
ford_defect's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The beginning of this book is pretty rough. There were multiple times I thought about dnf'ing it (especially since it is so long). The pacing really needs some work. The beginning is super slow, and the main characters were pretty unlikeable (except Hassa) up until about 200-300 pages in. I also thought the treatment the Ghostings got was unnecessary up until 80% of the way through. When it all clicked together, though, my mind was blown. But what really annoyed me was all the fatphobic descriptions of Anoor. They lessened over time, but it rubbed me the wrong way. That, and the author put a lot of emphasis on how much Anoor enjoys food, which is another fatphobic stereotype. Another thing was how Sylah's addiction was portrayed. Major spoilers ahead. I was so proud of her when she quit her joba seed use (albeit, she only quit cuz Anoor forced her to) and kept it under control throughout almost the entire book. But then, the author has her take a joba seed, so she can defeat Jond in Anoor's place during the trial of combat. And what's even worse: once she sees a healer after having relapsed, the healer tells her to essentially microdose for the rest of her life! I would rather have Sylah find a way to work around her seizures and tremors. The Ghostings have no tongues and no hands and they have found ways to talk and take care of themselves, so why can't Sylah find a workaround for her drug-induced disability? Like you wouldn't tell an alcoholic to keep drinking to prevent the DTs. You have to cut it out completely or it can ruin your life again. And I had really gotten into the book by that point, too.
But anyway, now I'll talk about what I really liked about the book. The blood magic system was super cool. At first, I wasn't sure how much I liked needing to draw runes to fire a gun (since that would be pretty inefficient if you were slow at writing). Though, the longer I thought about it, the more it grew on me. Bloodwerk requires skill and dexterity, so not everyone would be good at it, which is a good challenge for the MCs that didn't know how to bloodwerk before. Secondly, the atmosphere was quite unique and immersive. Especially since the author wrote about the history of the world, too. The character development was also well done (with the exception of what I said about a part of Sylah's progress). I initially hated Anoor and Sylah, but they evolved so much. I was a little disappointed we didn't see more romance between them.I came into this book thinking it was gonna be a sapphic romance... but it was more focused on Jond and Sylah's romance. The romantic scenes are still well-written, though. For both pairings.
So 3/5
I would have rated it 4/5 since it got really good halfway through, but I just can't forgive the author for how she portrays Sylah's addiction.
But anyway, now I'll talk about what I really liked about the book. The blood magic system was super cool. At first, I wasn't sure how much I liked needing to draw runes to fire a gun (since that would be pretty inefficient if you were slow at writing). Though, the longer I thought about it, the more it grew on me. Bloodwerk requires skill and dexterity, so not everyone would be good at it, which is a good challenge for the MCs that didn't know how to bloodwerk before. Secondly, the atmosphere was quite unique and immersive. Especially since the author wrote about the history of the world, too. The character development was also well done (with the exception of what I said about a part of Sylah's progress). I initially hated Anoor and Sylah, but they evolved so much. I was a little disappointed we didn't see more romance between them.
So 3/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Fatphobia, Torture, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Minor: Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, and Dysphoria
ciaraqueer's review against another edition
adventurous
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
3.75
Some of this book rather irritated me, but I did remain gripped and would definitely read the sequel so it definitely did something for me. I think the writing felt a bit immature at times, especially with regards to the overly traumatic setting. I think I struggled to marry a society in which infants are brutalised and people regularly tortured and quarted in public with the writing tone. I also thought it was very niave to have such a complicated language for a culture with no hands or tongue - I fully support that they would have a comprehensive bodily language but its simply not possible to express what her characters were saying with that degree of disability - I also thought, though probably well intentioned and meant to be disability positive, that she profoundly could not understand the difficulty that the Ghostings would experience doing day to day tasks. As someone who works with disabled people I found this hard to get past.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
kaitrates's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Holy shit.
WHEW Y'allll what is there to say about this stunning novel that hasn't already been said? I'm so glad I buddy read this and we could collectively lose our mind together on page 545 aka 95% .
This one admittedly took me a bit to get into—as is common with new fantasy worlds where you spend the first 100 pages confused about what's what and who's who and so on—but once I had my proverbial feet on the ground, I was hooked.
This has some of the best character development I've ever read with a plot that was paced perfectly to match it. And the world gets so much bigger at the end! I fell in love with this world and these characters and cannot wait to continue their journey in book 2 and beyond.
WHEW Y'allll what is there to say about this stunning novel that hasn't already been said? I'm so glad I buddy read this and we could collectively lose our mind together on page 545 aka 95% .
This one admittedly took me a bit to get into—as is common with new fantasy worlds where you spend the first 100 pages confused about what's what and who's who and so on—but once I had my proverbial feet on the ground, I was hooked.
This has some of the best character development I've ever read with a plot that was paced perfectly to match it. And the world gets so much bigger at the end! I fell in love with this world and these characters and cannot wait to continue their journey in book 2 and beyond.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, and Slavery
Moderate: Body horror and Violence
porcupine_girl's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Self harm, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Dysphoria
Minor: Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, and Fire/Fire injury
musebeliever's review against another edition
slow-paced
1.0
I really wanted to enjoy this book, but I could not get on board with too many things. The book is clearly not for me, and some aspects were too flawed for me to get into the story.
I really liked the idea of the two protagonists being swapped at birth and was curious about how it would play out in their lives. However, I was not at all on board with the magic system relying on a biological element. This has big chosen one and essentialism vibes, which I just could not deal with.
I also struggled with the writing style and the characterisation. The fact that we are privy to every single thought created, in my opinion, very unidimensional characters. Despite this shower of information, some of Sylah's actions just do not make sense to me, and too much of the plot relies on Sylah's poor choice or negligence. I can understand this happening once or twice, but how am I to believe that we are in the presence of the person who will overthrow an empire. This did not work for me.
I found everything very bleak, which makes sense for a dystopia, but also extremely heavy-handed. This read like YA to me, which is not my favourite writing style. The clues as to where the plot is going are underlined and surrounded by blinking lights.
I was also taken aback by the inconsistence in tone. There is a moment in the book when Sylah reminisces her tragic past while she watches the new tyrants of the Empire being chosen. She looks at one of them and thinks, "68 never looked so good." This sounded taken out of a gossip instagram reel commenting the Met gala. It felt really out of place. There were many moments like this when I was thrown off by sudden tone changes that did not match the atmosphere of a chapter. It feels like the book has not been edited.
Finally, fatphobia and foodshaming are frankly painful to read and so unnecessary. Sylah calls Anoor the lump, foodshames her, finds her dresses ridiculous because they are big. She seems to justify her fatphobia because she thinks that Anoor is fat because she is rich and privileged. This does not seem to be coherent as Anoor is mocked by her peers. The author also depicts her as a bit silly. Someone who chooses her seat in a room to have a better view on the dishes that are being served. We are clearly supposed to find that funny. Let's be serious one minute.
I really liked the idea of the two protagonists being swapped at birth and was curious about how it would play out in their lives. However, I was not at all on board with the magic system relying on a biological element. This has big chosen one and essentialism vibes, which I just could not deal with.
I also struggled with the writing style and the characterisation. The fact that we are privy to every single thought created, in my opinion, very unidimensional characters. Despite this shower of information, some of Sylah's actions just do not make sense to me, and too much of the plot relies on Sylah's poor choice or negligence. I can understand this happening once or twice, but how am I to believe that we are in the presence of the person who will overthrow an empire. This did not work for me.
I found everything very bleak, which makes sense for a dystopia, but also extremely heavy-handed. This read like YA to me, which is not my favourite writing style. The clues as to where the plot is going are underlined and surrounded by blinking lights.
I was also taken aback by the inconsistence in tone. There is a moment in the book when Sylah reminisces her tragic past while she watches the new tyrants of the Empire being chosen. She looks at one of them and thinks, "68 never looked so good." This sounded taken out of a gossip instagram reel commenting the Met gala. It felt really out of place. There were many moments like this when I was thrown off by sudden tone changes that did not match the atmosphere of a chapter. It feels like the book has not been edited.
Finally, fatphobia and foodshaming are frankly painful to read and so unnecessary. Sylah calls Anoor the lump, foodshames her, finds her dresses ridiculous because they are big. She seems to justify her fatphobia because she thinks that Anoor is fat because she is rich and privileged. This does not seem to be coherent as Anoor is mocked by her peers. The author also depicts her as a bit silly. Someone who chooses her seat in a room to have a better view on the dishes that are being served. We are clearly supposed to find that funny. Let's be serious one minute.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Toxic friendship
avisreadsandreads'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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming and Fatphobia