Reviews with content warning for Blood - Witches Steeped in Gold

I really, really enjoyed this. It was longer than I would've liked, but the writing was good enough that it didn't matter too much. Stoked to read the rest of the series!

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esme_may's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Takes a while to get going but picks up once you get familiar with the world. I was worried that I wouldn't be as into this one as I thought because I'm not that interested in rebellion stories these days, but it wasn't what I was expecting at all. Really excited to see where this series goes!

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starrysteph's review against another edition

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challenging tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I know they say not to judge a book by its cover .. but WHAT a cover!

This was a complex (& dense) high fantasy read. I would strongly recommend taking it easy and reading small chunks at a time to slowly become immersed and gain a better understanding of the world.

There was a lot of richness here (and I don't think I've read a Jamaican-based fantasy before – so, very cool!), but it was very slow and often overwritten.

Here's what I enjoyed:

• The worldbuilding and lore was new and fresh and rich
• I also really liked the magic system and how the viewpoints of different characters physically changed the way they were able to utilize magic
• Both POVs played with power & victimhood in interesting ways, leading to a unique and complicated setup of good vs. evil and general villainy
• The premise is awesome! Two rival witches ... an examination of revenge and leadership and sacrifice

Here's what didn't quite work for me:
• The book needed some editing (it was unnecessarily long & some word choices were peculiar) and the pacing was off; the first 75% was incredibly slow with most action happening offscreen but then everything came together in an overwhelming way
• I'm speaking for myself but I think other readers can probably relate: I desperately needed a glossary for the amount of names/positions and terminology
• While the POVs were theoretically very different, their voices blended together for me and it wasn’t obvious who was speaking - this was especially frustrating because it was told in first person

• Some of the plot points converged a little too conveniently at the end

• The introduction to the romance wasn’t strong in my eyes. I’m curious how this will play out in book 2

CW: violence, blood, death, murder, child death, death of parent, war, torture, confinement, body horror, vomit, bullying, sexual assault (mentioned), suicide (mentioned)

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whatcassiedid's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

I had a tough time getting into this at first, partly because I was trying to sort out all of the terms and partially because of life stuff, but I really enjoyed it once it got going! The mythology of Aiyca was very cool and I'm looking forward to the sequel.

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reader_in_the_meadow's review

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Okay everyone, this book is quite something! I picked this up at the bookstore because the premise sounded good. And then it stood on my TBR shelf for a good three and a half months before I actually read it. However had I known how good this would be I would have read it sooner.
This book had it in it. Although I found it a bit sluggish at first and taking me a while to get into, it started getting more fast paced later on.
Th plot in itself was so intriguing and took so many sharp turns that I was gobfaced multiple times while reading this. I loved how everything was just put together in such a good way and how everything concluded at the end.

The real diamonds of this novel however, are the characters! The cast was so diverse! The whole cast were POC and I loved to see that. Each and every character had their own personality which really shone through. I loved many of them and hated others with all the passion I have in me.
And don't get me started on the influence Jamaican folklore and mythology had on this book. I had only little knowledge about it when I started this book. Thankfully, a lot was explained throughout the story and introduced within the very intricate worldbuilding.
I cannot wait to get my hands on the sequel as soon as it comes out the see the culmination of all the questions I have right now!

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oliverlang's review against another edition

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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? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I found this one quite hard to get into at first but I think that's just down to the world building growing pains that generally comes with fantasy books.

The chapters undulate between 2 different characters throughout the book and at first it was confusing to pin down which character was where doing what but by the end of Part I it got easier and I found myself invested in the story and compelled to read more.

The writing style wasn't my favourite but it stopped grating on me as the book went on and actually fitted the feeling of the book. I appreciated that this wasn't a romance centric story and any parts that did illude to feelings weren't icky.

I'll probably read the next one! Would be interested to see this as a TV series.

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chloeluna's review

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tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The world building is fantastic and I loved learning more about the magic and history. I felt like the book took a while to get to the action, though, and lost my roll in the middle because of it. I wanted to like this book more than I did but I’m still glad I read it.

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