Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft

22 reviews

inkysplodge's review

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lighthearted medium-paced

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

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nataliealane's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.25

What I liked:

-The friendships

-The romance is so sweet and full of yearning. Kit and Niamh have a lot of personal work to do and trauma to unpack, but that doesn’t mean that aren’t worthy of love or a relationship right now/as they are healing and still messy.

-Niamh’s character. She is clumsy, diehard romantic/idealist, and unapologetically feminine and loves pretty things. She is also loyal (to a fault perhaps) and stubborn, and I love her magical ability. I’ve only read a couple other books that have fabric/sewing-based magic.

What I didn’t like:

-The last third of the book fell flat for me. It seemed rushed, the characters made some really dumb decisions in a last ditch effort to save the day, and everything kind of seemed to magically resolve/tie together nicely with a bow despite that.

-I wanted more magic! I always want more magic though😂 Maybe that’s why romantasy isn’t really my favorite

-Technically, the romance is cheating/an affair as Kit has a fiancée (albeit a purely political match/“marriage of duty”).

Overall, A Fragile Enchantment is not my favorite book from Saft, but it was so fun to read! I read it as an e-ARC, but I do think I will eventually pick up my own physical copy.

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bree_h_reads's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious slow-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? Yes

3.0

This was a bit of a let down from A Far Wilder magic.

It was fine, but I wasn’t super taken with Kit as the love interest. I felt like the middle was the strongest and the beginning was pretty decent. It was just as it started to build towards the end it started to fall flat.

I did enjoy Kit and Niamh’s softer, more romantic moments. And I felt like every character felt well-rounded and unique. It was just the plot itself that wasn’t speaking to me. It didn’t feel very well paced and once I hit the end it felt rushes and ill-planned.

The themes the characters explored, the world building, the dynamics, and the foreshadowing I loved so much from A Far Wilder magic were there. Which was mostly what kept me reading. The plot just felt somewhat convoluted, like it was reaching to play out specific regency setting tropes/was taking a lot from Jane Austen and Bridgerton. It felt like it wasn’t sure if it was trying to make a political statement and tell that story with the romance or play out a more traditional regency romance.

Overall I’m not super sure how I feel about it. It’s not bad, but it’s not great either.

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drtx_bwt's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Content Warnings

scarlett_f's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
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

2.5

Most unusual, disjointed romance I think I've read. Whiney, repetitive protagonist. Boringly clumsy. Skip this for a better read.

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kyoko2a's review

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emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

sfdogmom's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Meh. Boring characters.

Content Warnings

ziracrow's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

jcrawford31's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Content Warnings

readbyjaimes's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted 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

3.5

I enjoyed this book!

I really did enjoy reading this book! It was super fun and the world was so magical. I enjoyed Kit and Niamh together I thought their relationship was really sweet (I also loved that they were both queer). The ending just felt really rushed to me, but besides that, it was pretty good.

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