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thatenbyisisreads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Misogyny, Murder, Genocide, Gore, and Mental illness
Moderate: Sexual content and Rape
Minor: Suicide
hiddeninfantasy's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, and Violence
lizzyc_16's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Violence, and Gore
traeumenvonbuechern's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Death, Gore, and Genocide
whatellisreadnext's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
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
𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨: 𝘈 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯.
Tarisai was raised in isolation by her mysterious and often absent mother. Now she is being sent Artisar to become one of the coveted eleven that the Prince keeps as council. But she is bound by a wish her mother made, once she gains the trust of the Prince, she is to kill him.
Is it really a surprise to anyone that I loved this book so much? Most of you have been yelling about how good it is for months, and I'm just super late to the party. I'm not going to lie I saw 'fairies' mentioned in a few reviews, and it totally put me off. Well let me tell you, I was wrong to deny how good this would be, and fairies play a very small part, plus they're kind of cool💁🏻♀️
The world building is incredible, and I love all of the characters so much. Tarisai is a complete badass and Sanjeet is a sweet baby angel. The stakes are super high, and the journey the main character goes on is so so fascinating. And THAT ENDING. Don't even get me started on how good the ending is, I need the next book Redemptor like now please.
If you love fantasy, you need to read this book immediately. It is SO FRIGGIN' GOOD
Tarisai was raised in isolation by her mysterious and often absent mother. Now she is being sent Artisar to become one of the coveted eleven that the Prince keeps as council. But she is bound by a wish her mother made, once she gains the trust of the Prince, she is to kill him.
Is it really a surprise to anyone that I loved this book so much? Most of you have been yelling about how good it is for months, and I'm just super late to the party. I'm not going to lie I saw 'fairies' mentioned in a few reviews, and it totally put me off. Well let me tell you, I was wrong to deny how good this would be, and fairies play a very small part, plus they're kind of cool💁🏻♀️
The world building is incredible, and I love all of the characters so much. Tarisai is a complete badass and Sanjeet is a sweet baby angel. The stakes are super high, and the journey the main character goes on is so so fascinating. And THAT ENDING. Don't even get me started on how good the ending is, I need the next book Redemptor like now please.
If you love fantasy, you need to read this book immediately. It is SO FRIGGIN' GOOD
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gore, and Violence
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Raybearer is a powerful and empathetic fantasy about what one does when it turns out the empire isn't perfect after all, for nothing good can be built on the pain of children.
This story plays with the line between and ill-informed narrator and an unreliable one, as I read it I had a steadily growing feeling that the world in the book was deeply wrong, that either the MC would double down on her cognitive dissonance, or else she must try to make things right. Either way, something had to give. I'm very pleased with how that was handled, I had enough hints of what was wrong in order to not feel lied to when the underpinnings were revealed and the MC was forced to reassess her goals and make a new path for herself.
I like the balance between secondary and minor characters, given that the MC becomes canonically close with a rather large group of people I think the choices made in who was fleshed out and who is more in the background worked well. It felt like a large group without overwhelming me with names and motivations to keep track of. I love the beginning and the middle, and I think the ending is good given that there's a planned sequel. A few components of the ending felt a bit rushed, but the finale feels suitably grand for the scale of the problems being addressed. It's also trying to balance competing story interests and I think it works overall. It had to have an appropriate resolution within the timeframe of the novel while still leaving room for the sequel to have something to pick up. It makes it very clear that the problems began before the MC entered the story, and that solving what she can will take time and effort, some important pieces of which happen in this volume.
This book is filled with care, choosing carefully which deep wounds and dark backstories require description and which are left to the reader's discretion and imagination. There are many plot elements which are built on adults having decided at some point that it was okay for children to suffer, but this is an ultimately and joyful and empowering book about reclaiming agency and making things better for the ones who come after. I eagerly await the sequel.
This story plays with the line between and ill-informed narrator and an unreliable one, as I read it I had a steadily growing feeling that the world in the book was deeply wrong, that either the MC would double down on her cognitive dissonance, or else she must try to make things right. Either way, something had to give. I'm very pleased with how that was handled, I had enough hints of what was wrong in order to not feel lied to when the underpinnings were revealed and the MC was forced to reassess her goals and make a new path for herself.
I like the balance between secondary and minor characters, given that the MC becomes canonically close with a rather large group of people I think the choices made in who was fleshed out and who is more in the background worked well. It felt like a large group without overwhelming me with names and motivations to keep track of. I love the beginning and the middle, and I think the ending is good given that there's a planned sequel. A few components of the ending felt a bit rushed, but the finale feels suitably grand for the scale of the problems being addressed. It's also trying to balance competing story interests and I think it works overall. It had to have an appropriate resolution within the timeframe of the novel while still leaving room for the sequel to have something to pick up. It makes it very clear that the problems began before the MC entered the story, and that solving what she can will take time and effort, some important pieces of which happen in this volume.
This book is filled with care, choosing carefully which deep wounds and dark backstories require description and which are left to the reader's discretion and imagination. There are many plot elements which are built on adults having decided at some point that it was okay for children to suffer, but this is an ultimately and joyful and empowering book about reclaiming agency and making things better for the ones who come after. I eagerly await the sequel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Sexism, Mental illness, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, and Genocide
CW for sexism, mental illness, memory loss, child abuse, child death (not depicted), imperialism, gore, genocide, parental death, major character death, death.
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