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librarianlayla'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? It's complicated
5.0
Beautifully written, haunting and at times difficult to read - but so essential. I cannot wait for the sequel.
Moderate: Blood, Gore, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Confinement, Physical abuse, Violence, Death, Gaslighting, Torture, Vomit, War, Xenophobia, Body horror, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Hate crime, and Slavery
deb_prosp'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? It's complicated
4.0
Quite an enjoyable and relaxing read despite the darkly graphic and violent content.
Graphic: Murder, Rape, Blood, Sexual violence, War, and Xenophobia
knunderb'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: Death, Misogyny, Murder, Violence, and War
Moderate: Xenophobia and Racism
samsearle'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
4.0
Minor: Violence, Misogyny, and Xenophobia
tea_and_naps'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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Racism, War, Xenophobia, Torture, Blood, Sexual assault, Death, and Child death
Minor: Death of parent
_forestofpages'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
4.0
Graphic: Sexism, Racism, Xenophobia, and Death
Moderate: Child abuse, War, and Violence
yasmilktea'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
3.0
3 stars is not too many stars but I didn’t dislike the book! It was just kind of 🤷🏻♀️. I enjoyed a lot of aspects, mainly the world itself and the mythology—so cool! Plus it was honestly very inspiring at points. I wanted to go fight something. And Ixa, Deka’s fantasy pet, was adorable.
The book had a lot of twists that were completely predictable to the point that I thought the characters already knew them…until the big reveals happened. Plus a lot of elements that felt out of place for the world/context. But my main issue was with the world-building because it felt a bit lacking. This could just be that we have an unreliable narrator, but I prefer my fantasies with a bit more…oomph. I mostly wanted more info on the different creatures and what their place was in the world, but maybe that’s coming.
All this said, the last 20% was so exciting that I will probably continue the series!
Graphic: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Violence, Sexism, War, Confinement, Gore, Torture, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Body horror
Minor: Sexual assault
It is very gory, and deals with trauma and recovery a lot. And by gory I mean that we getjashanac'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
3.75
This was BRUTAL at times, including very early on. Very much content warnings for murder (of young girls especially), torture (of young girls specifically), sexual violence, sexual violence against children, gore, xenophobia... there is only one scene with a mention of sexual violence that happened to one of the girls when she was younger but the description of what happened to her is truly horrifying... so be aware of that before picking this up!
I felt like the pacing was a bit rushed at the end -- it kind of came across to me like the author was aiming for an epic "here comes the cavalry" and epic "omg PLOT TWIST" moment a time or two, which fell slightly flat for me. Not terribly flat, not super disappointing, but just a little bit, "Oh... okay."
I enjoyed the cast of characters and seeing them form very close bonds with one another, and I appreciated that while we do have a bit of a budding romance that we see forming that was not at all the focus and the main character's friendships even had priority over the romantic interest/relationship.
The magic and world-building was also intriguing to me -- enough that I do indeed look forward to the next book!
Graphic: Body horror and Sexual violence
Moderate: Murder, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Sexism, Pedophilia, Child death, Torture, and Misogyny
librarybookscene's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Trafficking, War, and Xenophobia
alenezela99'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Xenophobia and Physical abuse
Minor: Sexual violence