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puddleshoes's review
- 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? No
3.0
Graphic: Grief and Gore
Moderate: Gun violence, Death of parent, and Police brutality
cwalden's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Violence and Gore
Minor: Murder and Police brutality
jaz_gets_literary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
A Blade So Black is the urban fantasy retelling of Alice In Wonderland that I needed as a teen. Alice is on her way to a Con that she was supposed to be going to with her dad but he’s gone. She’s all in her head on the way to the Con when a terrifying creature, called a Nightmare, attacks her her. She’s saved by a mysterious man who turns into her mentor. Her mentor teaches her about the Nightmares and trains her to kill them. While is apart of a small group of people trained to kill the Nightmares, she’s also a normal teen at home. A teen trying to balance her best friend, her feelings towards two different guys, and an overprotective mother. Her mother has every right to be protective when a young Black girl was just killed by police in their neighborhood and Alice starts staying out and not checking in with her. Alice thinks she’s found a way to balance her real life in Atlanta and her life in Wonderland until her mentor is poisoned and she must return to Wonderland to cure him. There are many obstacles in Wonderland and when her real life and it combine all hell breaks loose.
I book kept me on my toes. I was throughly engrossed in it the entire time. Alice is just a normal Black teenager dealing with the challenges that life throws you when she’s thrown into a completely different world with more challenges to deal with. While it did cover heavier topics such as police brutality and death of a loved one, it wasn’t the entire focus of the story. I know those topics can be too much for some people so it was good to see them added to the story in a way that was essential to the storyline but not the sole focus. It contains all the original characters of the story and I love the way the author made them different but still the same. This book is apart of a trilogy and does end in a cliffhanger so I diving right into the second book. I must know what happens next.
Moderate: Death of parent and Police brutality
Minor: Grief
citrus_seasalt's review
3.0
Secondly, I didn’t like the romance! Alice has a lot of different people she crushes on in the book, which is fine because that’s what teenagers who get crushes do, but it resulted in this…weird pseudo love triangle?! Like, she almost kissed Chess, but spends the entire book thinking of Hatta. At least pick somebody, geez! (And then there’s her crush on the knight lady from the white queen’s kingdom, which I thought would go somewhere but no she got paired with the princess lol. But that wasn’t too surprising? Ok, those two were kinda cute but should’ve gotten more on-page time together.)
(But also..her and Hatta have a mentor-student dynamic, and I’m a little unsure how Wonderland Immortal Aging even works, so I’m not the only one who thinks that’s a little weird right?)
It also took too long for the plot to really kick off, I think. It isn’t until halfway when Hatta gets poisoned, and then a lot of said plot revolves around a MacGuffin. Point is, it doesn’t feel very solid, especially with the weaker Wonderland worldbuilding. I’ve heard the second book is stronger in this regard, hopefully that is actually the case! Again, an Alice with a darker story and more Buffy vibes is interesting.
Last gripes: Some of the writing felt more tell-not-show, didn’t like the one use of “orbs” instead of eyes, how did Alice just…never hesitate to get back out of the house or at least think things through a little more after her no-nonsense mom kept catching her sneaking out and got mad at the later and later times she got back?! Alice please be so fr LMAO
Anyhow! Overall though, this wasn’t a bad read, it’s not a ⭐️3 in the same way “Belladonna” narrowly avoided a 2.75, but it had its fair share of flaws and I was hoping for the story to feel stronger in its structure.
Graphic: Violence and Grief
Moderate: Racism, Police brutality, and Death of parent
Minor: Body horror
pinkalpaca's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Grief, and Police brutality
tangleroot_eli's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
It's well-written if oddly paced, with fairly well-developed characters and enough real-world ties and consequences to keep the plot engaging even when it meanders. But let's be honest: how a person reacts to that first sentence I put up there probably determines whether or not they'll like it.
Graphic: Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Murder, Police brutality, War, and Death of parent
theespressoedition's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
If I'm being honest, the beginning confused me a little bit. Maybe my brain wandered while I was listening to the audiobook and I just missed it entirely, but I somehow didn't notice the skip in time, so when the FMC went from being terrified of nightmares to being a pro at fighting them, I was super confused! However, once I understood the timeline, I felt much better and very quickly adjusted to the story - which was amazing!
What an incredibly unique twist on the classic Wonderland story! I've read reimaginings of Alice in Wonderland, but never something quite like this. If the character names weren't somewhat similar to the originals, I would've never known that it was connected, which I actually really liked. It was whimsical and dark, simultaneously, a mix that's hard to accomplish in my opinion.
The relationships between Alice and all of the other characters was something that I loved from the very beginning. While there are tiny elements of romance, it's definitely not the focus at all. The primary emphasis is on the adventure and the friendships made along the way. It has a great found family aspect that I really enjoyed.
My first thought after finishing the book was, "when can I get my hands on the sequel?" I proceeded to immediately download the audio for the second book because I had to find out what came next!
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Grief, and Blood
Minor: Police brutality
midnightgremlin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Moderate: Death of parent, Police brutality, Death, Racism, Violence, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: War
zombiezami's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Blood, Violence, Murder, and Body horror
Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Child death, Mental illness, Medical content, Police brutality, Terminal illness, and Stalking
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
allie_schick's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Minor: Gun violence, Racism, and Police brutality