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ihugparrish's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Violence, Torture, and Body horror
Moderate: Blood, Cursing, and Child death
Minor: Slavery, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Bullying, and Antisemitism
pinkupengu'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
4.75
Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Misogyny, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical content, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Xenophobia, Child death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Racism, and Self harm
Minor: Sexual content, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, and Cultural appropriation
tangleroot_eli's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Graphic: Toxic friendship
Moderate: Antisemitism, Murder, Grief, Blood, Cultural appropriation, Bullying, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Hate crime, Racism, Child abuse, Xenophobia, and Death
Minor: Suicide, Death of parent, Biphobia, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate:: Saneism, Spiders, Mind control Minor: Whorephobiajeyjeyyy's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.0
Also loved the historical and anti colonial aspects of the story, as a French it did really push me to question our history more and perhaps see it in a more nuanced way
Graphic: Colonisation, Xenophobia, Racism, Violence, Grief, Animal death, and Death
thelittleoddling's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
3.75
The magic system is very interesting and unique if a bit confusing, though being the first in a trilogy we have time to dig into it more later, loved the visuals for some of the puzzles, though I wish there were more. Some scenes I struggled to imagine layouts of rooms.
I think this is a good book that is fun if you’re into found family and heist narratives.
It also includes some YA age appropriate discussions of the racism found in 1800s Europe which I think are done well.
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Death, Murder, Racism, and Colonisation
Minor: Emotional abuse and Physical abuse
A character has a pet tarantula, though as someone severely afraid of spiders it was never described in enough detail to trigger me.bergha1998'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
Found Family, LGBTQIA+, Romance Subplots
“He wished he didn’t know what he had lost. Maybe then every day wouldn’t feel like this. As if he had once known how to fly, but the skies had shaken him loose and left him with nothing but the memory of wings.”
“Fear grew in places unlit by knowledge.”
Graphic: Racism, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence
leahcanread'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
Moderate: Colonisation, Racism, Xenophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Antisemitism and Abandonment
barda's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
It had all of the elements of a great read - a unique setting (19th Century alternative history Paris), cool magic system, intricate heists, and a likeable cast of characters. It was very much like Six of Crows, which I adore, in spirit. But in the end it just couldn't come together in a cohesive way.
The author clearly put a lot of thought into the puzzles and heist elements, as well as the world-building; however, much of it was written in a confusing way, such that I couldn't really picture in my head what was happening in a scene. The characters were broadly likeable and very diverse (Hypnos in particular was hilarious), but much of the characterisation was done by telling the audience what they were supposed to be like (such as it being banged over your head repeatedly that Severin and Laila slept together once and had residual feelings) rather than letting the backstories and personalities of their individual characters be revealed gradually through the text.
One element in particular knocked back my rating quite a bit, and that was the ending. Without spoilers, what I thought was the ending was a pretty good cliffhanger, and had huge emotional ramifications for the characters which could be explored in the next book. But then...there's more pages. And any emotional impact of the ending is completely wiped away as the characters deal with them over the space of a single chapter. This all leads up to a second cliffhanger, which in itself was fine and could have easily stood on its own, but it felt like the author had two ideas for how their book should end and just took the worst of both worlds and put them together in the same book.
I can appreciate what the author tried to do with this book, with the richly detailed setting and magic system, and I really liked the inclusion of neurodiversity among the main characters and the critiques of colonialism in the context of the setting. However, it was let down by confusing writing, the lack of "show not tell", and the ending.
Graphic: Child abuse and Blood
Moderate: Grief, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Minor: Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Torture
baileymalaylee's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Moderate: Death
Minor: Animal cruelty and Colonisation
shannnne_reads_words's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Blood, Colonisation, Death of parent, and Death