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rain_bellin's review against another edition
- 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? No
5.0
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, War, Blood, Death, Gore, and Transphobia
qingxuanluvr'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
4.25
Moderate: Violence and Transphobia
Minor: Gore
mostlyvoidpartiallystars's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Finally, a recurring section I'm going to be adding to all my reviews going forward: Do they bury their gays?
Graphic: Death, Child abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Sexual content, Murder, Ableism, War, Transphobia, Deadnaming, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Rape, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, and Physical abuse
poetsofsweetpea's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Gore, Adult/minor relationship, Medical trauma, Grief, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Murder
tashtasher's review
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Violence, War, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Death of parent, Medical content, and Transphobia
Minor: Chronic illness, Murder, Body shaming, Pregnancy, Sexism, Medical trauma, and Misogyny
khazlettwrites's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Blood, Deadnaming, Fire/Fire injury, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Gore, Murder, Transphobia, and Injury/Injury detail
abbymrendon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, War, Gore, Body horror, and Murder
Moderate: Transphobia and Religious bigotry
shcleveland's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
At first, I had a really hard time caring about Riva and Sinne. In particular, I found Sinne's sections grating. Up to about the 60% mark, I was wishing Keyne was an only child. As the plot picked up, however, the importance of Riva and Sinne's threads became more apparent. I had an inkling about the big plot twist early on, but the author managed to have me going back and forth second-guessing my assumptions. If I were just rating on plot and characters, the book would be a solid 4.5 stars. However...
There were so many details about the historical setting that I found confusing or just made me want to beat my head against a wall. "WHAT YEAR IS IT????"' was a question I found myself asking constantly. Based on the ash falling from the sky I'm GUESSING that we're looking at 536 CE and boy or boy does that lead me to more questions about the state of affairs as far as the Christianization of these pagan cultures goes. The Romano-Britons probably would have been mainly Christian at that point if I remember correctly.
Which brings me to the paganism of the book. I couldn't tell if the author was going for syncretism, or just pulling the names of pagan gods out of a hat. Some of the West Saxon enemies might have been worshiping Woden, but probably not these Brythonic-speaking celts? The festivals mentioned also looked suspiciously like the Wiccan Wheel of the Year. The Old English Eostre was used in place of Ostara at least, but... the author is clearly aware that it was the Saxons that spoke Old English since there's straight up OE dialogue for them in the book. It's more likely they would have worshipped Eostre? I have questions.
There's also a reference to Lammas, which is again Middle English though it comes from the Old English for "loaf mass" a term that I don't think even the West Saxons would have been using in 536? I'm pretty sure there's a Welsh harvest festival that would have made more sense.
Anyway, the religion and linguistics were just a distracting mess.
Moderate: Death of parent, Gore, Transphobia, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Sexism
Minor: Pregnancy and War
reb_curt's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
A slower starting story that hooked me hard halfway through, and had me reflective at the end.
Quite possibly one of my favorite audiobooks of the year.
Graphic: Transphobia
Moderate: Gore and Dysphoria
mooshake's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Deadnaming, Transphobia, War, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Ableism
Moderate: Medical content, Colonisation, Blood, Death, and Dysphoria
Minor: Pregnancy