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debonthebackstreet's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
An enjoyable, fast-paced read, especially at the end. The descriptions of magic, friendship and sisterhood felt alive and leapt of the page. Part coming of age novel - a young girl finding freedom and falling in love for the first time in her life despite years of abuse - part magical realism, part mystery. There were lots of twists and turns that made me want to carry on reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Body shaming, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Self harm, and Blood
nuttynat's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book has an interesting premise and delivers on it, for the most part. It explores themes of coming-of-age, family, friendship and trust. The world-building is my favorite aspect of this book: set in modern-day London within the things we cannot see (or what we think we cannot see). My main qualm with this book is its synopsis that sets an expectation that is not delivered in this book to a large degree, however, if you disregard the synopsis, it is still an excellent read. I look forward to reading the sequel and cannot wait to see what lies ahead for our protagonist.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Death, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Body shaming, and Violence
emberise's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Bullying, Death of parent, Fatphobia, and Murder
tauwillow's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
2.75
Quite a lot of abuse in this book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse
ivorytower31's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
It ended up being more YA than I’d expected, but the book was long enough to leave plenty to enjoy. I loved the magical aspects the author created. The magical library was a great section. So was the trip to the night club. I liked the inter-mingling of magic and urban modern day London. I loved the intricacies of spellcasting, and how each discipline had its own way of doing it.
I did anticipate many of the plot twists, but it didn’t cheapen anything along the way. I think the parts I liked least were the teenage drama parts. The bullying, the payback, most of the school plots, really.
Still, very much looking forward to the next book, and hoping to learn more about the history of their magical system— another trip to the library, perhaps!
I did anticipate many of the plot twists, but it didn’t cheapen anything along the way. I think the parts I liked least were the teenage drama parts. The bullying, the payback, most of the school plots, really.
Still, very much looking forward to the next book, and hoping to learn more about the history of their magical system— another trip to the library, perhaps!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
sugarloaf's review
4.0
More YA than I expected given I plucked this from the adult section of the library, but I enjoyed it nonetheless even if I found the typical adolescent accidental self-destruction a little hard to watch. All I ever really need from a YA novel is to be well written (I think it's appalling that bad writing is considered characteristic of and acceptable in the genre - teenagers deserve better literature), and even if Anna makes some shocking mistakes, they make sense for her age and life thus far.
I really liked all the main characters in this, even the ones I hated. They have distinct and layered personalities, different dialogue, and always react to situatiins in ways that are consistent with everything else we've seen on the page. I enjoyed watching Anna break out of the shell that had been placed around her and her growing refusal to accept the life she was being forced into, and I found the romance well constructed as it was both developed over the course of the book and there is another twist at the end which makes it make even more sense.
Anna's other love interest, Paul, was somewhat bland, and the school bullies are boring for their one-dimensionality, but those were my only real complaints. Curiously, I think I was meant to like Effie more than I did, but to me she mostly came across like she was using everyone as her plaything, including the coven.
The plot was a little messy; the book was both trying to set up the main conflict for the series and the conflict for this book, as well as delivering a hell of a lot of exposition about the world, and it struggles to do all three at once. It takes a long time for the plot to make itself apparent and the book seems to wobble between different elements a bit haphazardly. But despite that, I wouldn't really look to cut much from the story and it kept me turning the pages, I just think it could have been arranged more cleanly. I'll be reading the next book when it comes out
I really liked all the main characters in this, even the ones I hated. They have distinct and layered personalities, different dialogue, and always react to situatiins in ways that are consistent with everything else we've seen on the page. I enjoyed watching Anna break out of the shell that had been placed around her and her growing refusal to accept the life she was being forced into, and I found the romance well constructed as it was both developed over the course of the book and there is another twist at the end which makes it make even more sense.
Anna's other love interest, Paul, was somewhat bland, and the school bullies are boring for their one-dimensionality, but those were my only real complaints. Curiously, I think I was meant to like Effie more than I did, but to me she mostly came across like she was using everyone as her plaything, including the coven.
The plot was a little messy; the book was both trying to set up the main conflict for the series and the conflict for this book, as well as delivering a hell of a lot of exposition about the world, and it struggles to do all three at once. It takes a long time for the plot to make itself apparent and the book seems to wobble between different elements a bit haphazardly. But despite that, I wouldn't really look to cut much from the story and it kept me turning the pages, I just think it could have been arranged more cleanly. I'll be reading the next book when it comes out
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Sexual harassment
silversparkles50's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Torture, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Blood, Death of parent, Child abuse, and Confinement
sewcari's review against another edition
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse
sanalith's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Bullying
Moderate: Death of parent
lyrangalia's review against another edition
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
2.0
Relentlessly depressing, book is almost laser focused on the protagonist’s abuse by her parent, and comes off deeply voyeuristic and distressing without an obvious narrative reason
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse