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mrstats93's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
I could tell it was well-written but I had a hard time keeping the characters straight in my head. Since I listened as an audiobook, it was a little more difficult to get through because there are some non-English words which threw off the flow a bit. Overall, it was an interesting read but I wouldn't recommend it to many people.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Rape, and Suicide
nerdybookqueen's review
challenging
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
2.0
I wanted to like this book. I was so excited when I saw it in the bookstore, but I'm on a buying ban so library it is, and now I'm a bit grateful for it.
This book felt more focused on making a point than telling a story, at the detriment of the point it's trying to make.
Things I liked:
I loved the premise and concept. A badass, diverse group of women rescuing other women from awful shit and giving them the chance to heal? Fantastic. And the bits of that I got were great.
Some parts hit so hard, and they were so good. I loved those bits, especially the ones separate from the characters- there are these unlabeled paragraphs centered on the page and they almost all hurt in a meaningful way.
I really liked the bits we got from the "Book of Memories" (which I don't think is ever mentioned in the actual story?) that introduced the other women.
The concept of two traumatized characters learning to recover from their trauma so they can trust and have a relationship? Great, I love that.
What I didn't like:
I found this book super hard to follow. I have no idea what was going on in the world, it felt like a ton of information was tossed at me but not in a coherent way, I really don't know anything about the other women besides our main girl, Paheli. I feel almost like I was dropped into a sequel that already expects me to know what's going on. I wish I knew more about the world and characters. Except the food, there was so much talk of food that felt super out of place for the most part.
The writing was...weird. I really didn't enjoy most of it. Beyond being hard to follow, it also felt kind of bland. I'm not really sure how to explain it, it was just very frustrating. Especially the weird unnamed narrator bit. The characters were already hard enough to keep track of, having a narrator not identified was just extra confusing. I found I really didn't care about most of the characters, which is frustrating, because I don't want to feel that way, and not in a book with such a good concept.
This book dealt with very heavy topics in a poor manner. It felt like a lot of it was just presented to us and then the reader is hit on the head with "hey this thing is bad" and I feel like people who disagree and don't view these traumatic things as bad probably wouldn't pick up the book. It didn't feel like there were any emotions when these were discussed either, between characters, that they were just stating "hey this is bad, we need to help women from it." Which yes, is true, but it's weird to write it that way.
The ending was so anticlimactic. I got to it and was left feeling just... "what, that's it?"
Overall, I thought it would be really good, and the cover is gorgeous, but I was left feeling kind of disappointed. Which is so frustrating. It had such a cool concept, but it was executed poorly.
This book felt more focused on making a point than telling a story, at the detriment of the point it's trying to make.
Things I liked:
I loved the premise and concept. A badass, diverse group of women rescuing other women from awful shit and giving them the chance to heal? Fantastic. And the bits of that I got were great.
Some parts hit so hard, and they were so good. I loved those bits, especially the ones separate from the characters- there are these unlabeled paragraphs centered on the page and they almost all hurt in a meaningful way.
I really liked the bits we got from the "Book of Memories" (which I don't think is ever mentioned in the actual story?) that introduced the other women.
The concept of two traumatized characters learning to recover from their trauma so they can trust and have a relationship? Great, I love that.
What I didn't like:
I found this book super hard to follow. I have no idea what was going on in the world, it felt like a ton of information was tossed at me but not in a coherent way, I really don't know anything about the other women besides our main girl, Paheli. I feel almost like I was dropped into a sequel that already expects me to know what's going on. I wish I knew more about the world and characters. Except the food, there was so much talk of food that felt super out of place for the most part.
The writing was...weird. I really didn't enjoy most of it. Beyond being hard to follow, it also felt kind of bland. I'm not really sure how to explain it, it was just very frustrating. Especially the weird unnamed narrator bit. The characters were already hard enough to keep track of, having a narrator not identified was just extra confusing. I found I really didn't care about most of the characters, which is frustrating, because I don't want to feel that way, and not in a book with such a good concept.
This book dealt with very heavy topics in a poor manner. It felt like a lot of it was just presented to us and then the reader is hit on the head with "hey this thing is bad" and I feel like people who disagree and don't view these traumatic things as bad probably wouldn't pick up the book. It didn't feel like there were any emotions when these were discussed either, between characters, that they were just stating "hey this is bad, we need to help women from it." Which yes, is true, but it's weird to write it that way.
The ending was so anticlimactic. I got to it and was left feeling just... "what, that's it?"
Overall, I thought it would be really good, and the cover is gorgeous, but I was left feeling kind of disappointed. Which is so frustrating. It had such a cool concept, but it was executed poorly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Misogyny, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Pregnancy
amre23's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Suicide, Kidnapping, Death, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Pedophilia, Rape, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Torture, and Misogyny
Minor: Sexual assault, War, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent
the_book_bee's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Child abuse
Moderate: Rape
nostoat's review
adventurous
emotional
sad
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
This is a story about broken girls and a broken boy; it's a story about girls with angry sharp smiles; it's a story about healing and the way it's never quite done. It's a story about survival and carving out spaces to thrive. It hurt a little to read but it also made my heart sing. Alternately told in first person singular and first person plural this is a gorgeous narrative and one I won't soon forget.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Violence, Sexual violence, and Child abuse
Minor: Death
dpearson5257's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-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? No
4.0
So I definitely struggled in this book. I was going between 3.5-4 stars because the book started off really strong. I liked the premise of the story, these women who have gone thru trauma and found their community within each other to lean on. And then the second portion of the book with the Keeper guy. The magic system was really interesting and unique and kept me going. The themes of the book were very strong and thought provoking!!
My issues with the book though and why I toggled was ummm the filler parts. I felt like we got a lot of fluff with food and bouncing around through the doors. And I thought we would get more relationship between the girls and the love interest. But the love interest came and we were just in love. And we saw how she struggled with those feelings, considering her past but I wish we got more. And then we got to the climax and it was ok. But the ending thoughts were what did it for me! I loved the last few reflective nuggets the author incorporated and the last little nugget of hope and how this is not your last chapter in this life!
My issues with the book though and why I toggled was ummm the filler parts. I felt like we got a lot of fluff with food and bouncing around through the doors. And I thought we would get more relationship between the girls and the love interest. But the love interest came and we were just in love. And we saw how she struggled with those feelings, considering her past but I wish we got more. And then we got to the climax and it was ok. But the ending thoughts were what did it for me! I loved the last few reflective nuggets the author incorporated and the last little nugget of hope and how this is not your last chapter in this life!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Sexual violence
bookswithlee's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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
4.5
4.5/5 stars
I picked up this book having never heard of it and quite honestly I didn’t read the synopsis, I saw the color filled with colors and diversity and I knew I had to read it.
What I liked about this book was the authors ability to tell a story that was both balanced between fantasy and real life events.
Although the cover is beautiful and the book is no doubt fantasy, what I took away from it is that this book was written as away to highlight how girls of color have been silenced and mistreated by others for years. While this book is full of trauma and potentially triggering content, I thought the author did a great job balancing this trauma with joy, and happiness. In the end the book highlighted how strong, amazing, and beautiful women are.
The trauma was not placed in this book to dump on the readers or to pull on heartstrings. It felt as though it was meticulously placed as way to echo much of reality in an authentic way. I sometimes struggle with trauma. being placed in stories as a thrill factor, twist, or to elicit favorable emotional reactions.
There were a few things that I didn’t particularly like about the story. The first half of the book was slow and felt like an information dump at times. I had a hard time keeping up. Not only that there is about 10-11 different characters and I always struggle with that in books as I can’t keep up with what information I need to remember and not every character has great development. However in this story, it was largely done as the “wild ones” are meant to be one entity, which I liked. It give me freshwater/bunny vibes.
Overall I enjoyed this book, but it’s definitely going to require a reread. I think if I had time to really flesh out and process some of the details I might be able to tears a little higher.
CW/TW: misogyny, sexual violence, kidnapping, sexual assault, rape, suicide, trafficking, death of parent
I picked up this book having never heard of it and quite honestly I didn’t read the synopsis, I saw the color filled with colors and diversity and I knew I had to read it.
What I liked about this book was the authors ability to tell a story that was both balanced between fantasy and real life events.
Although the cover is beautiful and the book is no doubt fantasy, what I took away from it is that this book was written as away to highlight how girls of color have been silenced and mistreated by others for years. While this book is full of trauma and potentially triggering content, I thought the author did a great job balancing this trauma with joy, and happiness. In the end the book highlighted how strong, amazing, and beautiful women are.
The trauma was not placed in this book to dump on the readers or to pull on heartstrings. It felt as though it was meticulously placed as way to echo much of reality in an authentic way. I sometimes struggle with trauma. being placed in stories as a thrill factor, twist, or to elicit favorable emotional reactions.
There were a few things that I didn’t particularly like about the story. The first half of the book was slow and felt like an information dump at times. I had a hard time keeping up. Not only that there is about 10-11 different characters and I always struggle with that in books as I can’t keep up with what information I need to remember and not every character has great development. However in this story, it was largely done as the “wild ones” are meant to be one entity, which I liked. It give me freshwater/bunny vibes.
Overall I enjoyed this book, but it’s definitely going to require a reread. I think if I had time to really flesh out and process some of the details I might be able to tears a little higher.
CW/TW: misogyny, sexual violence, kidnapping, sexual assault, rape, suicide, trafficking, death of parent
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Rape
Moderate: Kidnapping, Suicide, Trafficking, and Death of parent
mapplio's review
adventurous
inspiring
fast-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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual violence and Physical abuse
zythnillawafer's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual violence
nugenmak000's review
adventurous
emotional
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? Yes
4.25
I liked this book a lot, but I found myself wanting more building upon the characters. I felt like I didn't really know who the characters were at their core besides Paheli, Taraana, and Valentina. I wish I could have gained a better understanding of each girl instead of them feeling like throw ins to add to dialogue to make it feels less empty.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual violence and Child abuse