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anaya13's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Kidnapping, War, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, and Murder
poppywarphan's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Arc provided by publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All of this is was my immediate impression during and after I read the book. Kind of spoilery. Also, tw for child sacrifice and human trafficking, among other things
Sapphic rep, lots of politics, though women, betrayal and blood. The story takes place over multiple years and follows multiple characters. There was a lot of describing and less dialogue. The beginning was very hard to get through and I almost dnf'd this. After my initial struggle I did come to quite like it however it still kept occasionally throwing some weird fertility/sex/impregnation/birth stuff, that made me uncomfortable, into my face. I'm not a fan of how the author decided to construct her matriarchy. I was hoping for a functional harmonious society not a flipped patriarchy where men are the ones who have to fight for equality and are used only for siring children and as lovers. The personal relationships between the men and women felt shallow. Women either discarded them or they themselves left because they were neglected/dissatisfied.
In this world there are five queendoms. Scorpica - warriors, Bastion - scholars, Arca - magic, Sestia - religion or something, Paxim - diplomacy. Girls and women are valued while the men are deemed week and useless. Newborn boys are sold or traded (at least in Scorpica). Girls stop being born which is a catastrophe especially for Scorpica because men aren't allowed to be warriors. (One does show up and asks to be one but the queen just kills him.) In fact, girls are so needed the scorpican queen decides they will take them from elsewhere (and declares them her daughters because she's love/attention starved.) and causes a war to start brewing.
The characters:
• previously mentioned scorpican queen and her new daughters
• a girl with all-magic (which makes her a threat to the queen of Arca. Something about having a claim to the throne) who was in hiding with her mother and some buff woman who had decided to take them under her protection
• the queen of Arca and her daughter
• the previous scorpican queen, her daughter and her advisor best friend
• a sorceress who wants to take over all the queendoms
This was mostly the first half. I did add details after finishing the whole thing but didn't summarize the 2nd part because I got lazy. It wasn't clearly explained why the girls had stopped being born. Some magic?
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review this.
Sapphic rep, lots of politics, though women, betrayal and blood. The story takes place over multiple years and follows multiple characters. There was a lot of describing and less dialogue. The beginning was very hard to get through and I almost dnf'd this. After my initial struggle I did come to quite like it however it still kept occasionally throwing some weird fertility/sex/impregnation/birth stuff, that made me uncomfortable, into my face. I'm not a fan of how the author decided to construct her matriarchy. I was hoping for a functional harmonious society not a flipped patriarchy where men are the ones who have to fight for equality and are used only for siring children and as lovers. The personal relationships between the men and women felt shallow. Women either discarded them or they themselves left because they were neglected/dissatisfied.
In this world there are five queendoms. Scorpica - warriors, Bastion - scholars, Arca - magic, Sestia - religion or something, Paxim - diplomacy. Girls and women are valued while the men are deemed week and useless. Newborn boys are sold or traded (at least in Scorpica). Girls stop being born which is a catastrophe especially for Scorpica because men aren't allowed to be warriors. (One does show up and asks to be one but the queen just kills him.) In fact, girls are so needed the scorpican queen decides they will take them from elsewhere (and declares them her daughters because she's love/attention starved.) and causes a war to start brewing.
The characters:
• previously mentioned scorpican queen and her new daughters
• a girl with all-magic (which makes her a threat to the queen of Arca. Something about having a claim to the throne) who was in hiding with her mother and some buff woman who had decided to take them under her protection
• the queen of Arca and her daughter
• the previous scorpican queen, her daughter and her advisor best friend
• a sorceress who wants to take over all the queendoms
This was mostly the first half. I did add details after finishing the whole thing but didn't summarize the 2nd part because I got lazy. It wasn't clearly explained why the girls had stopped being born. Some magic?
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review this.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Pregnancy, Body horror, Child death, Murder, Blood, and Sexual content
Minor: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Torture, Trafficking, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Medical content, and Slavery
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