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goonerette's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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
4.5
sobergs's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
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? It's complicated
5.0
carmenpeerezm's review against another edition
4.0
UGH, como alguien puede escribir ese final y quedarse tan ancho.... y ahora que hago yo? ;-;
A parte de eso...mmmm me esperaba otra cosa. Pensaba que habría una trama principal fantástica y un romance secundario, y pues al final el romance pasa a ser lo principal, esto no es que sea algo malo simplemente no es lo que pensaba. También es cierto que la autora lo utiliza de excusa para hablar de la importancia de los recuerdos, del pasado, del poder que ejercen las personas sobre otras... en definitiva no ha sido algo ñoño, a parte de que la pareja en si....iwjdisbdkdkdjjdkd <3
Mi única principal queja ( a parte de un demasiadoabiertoparamigusto final) es el hecho de que se abren algunas tramas que luego no concluyen; Atla, el padre de Lucian.... se usan para completar el arco de los protagonistas y, sinceramente, se tratan temas muy graves (violaciones, abusos...) para reducirlo a la psicología de los personales.
Dejando de lado esto, el libro ha sido precioso. Una mezcla entre “Ana de las tejas verdes” y “Call me by your name” con un toque sobrenatural... en definitiva, lectura perfecta para esta época del año y para cuando estas buscando algo más intensito.
A parte de eso...mmmm me esperaba otra cosa. Pensaba que habría una trama principal fantástica y un romance secundario, y pues al final el romance pasa a ser lo principal, esto no es que sea algo malo simplemente no es lo que pensaba. También es cierto que la autora lo utiliza de excusa para hablar de la importancia de los recuerdos, del pasado, del poder que ejercen las personas sobre otras... en definitiva no ha sido algo ñoño, a parte de que la pareja en si....iwjdisbdkdkdjjdkd <3
Mi única principal queja ( a parte de un demasiadoabiertoparamigusto final) es el hecho de que se abren algunas tramas que luego no concluyen; Atla, el padre de Lucian.... se usan para completar el arco de los protagonistas y, sinceramente, se tratan temas muy graves (violaciones, abusos...) para reducirlo a la psicología de los personales.
Dejando de lado esto, el libro ha sido precioso. Una mezcla entre “Ana de las tejas verdes” y “Call me by your name” con un toque sobrenatural... en definitiva, lectura perfecta para esta época del año y para cuando estas buscando algo más intensito.
katyab's review against another edition
3.0
Wasn't sure what to make of this one, for the most part. It's a tentative three stars...
TLDR: interesting concept, sweet romance, and I really wanted and expected to love it... but I wanted so much more from the characters and the world.
[I'll put the TWs here since I might go on to mention them in the review (and my goodness there are a surprising amount for what I thought this book was going to be like... it felt like Collins had a list of dark things to put in...): rape, sexual abuse, physical abuse, trauma, suicide, alcoholism, emotional abuse, violence, murder... I've probably missed some...]
Bridget Collins writes very beautifully, and I got a very distinct idea of the rural settings: the marshes, the fields, the festivals. Moments and vignettes were very idyllic. The cities were another matter: I felt I couldn't imagine beyond a couple of very generic streets, so there was no sense of scale or distance or variety for me. It was just a couple of key places and (what felt like) the gaps in between. Furthermore, I couldn't picture this country's place in the wider world. I spent a long time trying to figure out whether it was an alternative history England or whether it was somewhere entirely new. In the end it felt like 19th c. England with some fantasy/alt-hist. tacked on, rather than embedded or interwoven. I still have no idea what the "Crusades" were, how it had to do with bookbinding, how recent it was. I felt like it happened, finished, and life went on as normal. Which does not seem possible after people talked about the "lynching" that apparently occurred...
The bookbinding/binder concept really drew me in at first. I liked the way books were incorporated and treated, particularly the reference to "novels" — but again, I felt like it was a little too... superficial? I wanted so much more than I was given. The mystery of it all was initially interesting, but then it continued being a mystery and it was frustrating to know so little about binding's place and impact on the wider world (re: Crusades. Who were the Crusaders? Why were they Crusading?! Gimme something other than "bookbinding=bad/secret, because reasons...). It felt like the concept wasn't developed enough, and so it hovered in the book rather than settled in it. Oil on water... (steady, Katya, leave the metaphors alone...)
It felt like the most significant and central mystery for the main character. He was meant to be "powerful". But in the end, I was left clueless as to what that meant. Emmett's story became entirely focused on his romance. (Don't get me wrong! I thought that romance was endearing, tender, heartbreaking, and Part 2 was the part I was most invested in. But I was waiting for Emmett to challenge some established order in the world, especially one that seems so corrupt and cruel, and yet when Part 2 finished and I had just over 100 pages to go, I suspected that wasn't going to happen. Furthermore, there was a part near the end that, for all the talk about consent being essential in binding, it seems to go out the window for the sake of "I love you and I know what's best for you"...)
Collins also writes silences very prettily — but the problem for me there, is that there were a lot of silences... To the point where I was skimming over them just to get back to where the dialogue started up again.
The characters also seemed a bit 2D. Emmett had much more personality in Part 2, but it wasn't much and the rest of the time he seemed to have no agency whatsoever. Lucian's father was evil-because-evil (and every second instance of him seemed to be an unnecessary invitation to make him worse for the sake of it). Lucian was probably the most complex, but the rest seemed very stock and predictable.
Pfft... I'm glad I read it, somehow. I was compelled for the most part and loved how it was written, but I was expecting much more of something. Ah well. I'll try again with The Betrayals, I hope. If anything, Collins gets some damn beautiful book covers!
TLDR: interesting concept, sweet romance, and I really wanted and expected to love it... but I wanted so much more from the characters and the world.
[I'll put the TWs here since I might go on to mention them in the review (and my goodness there are a surprising amount for what I thought this book was going to be like... it felt like Collins had a list of dark things to put in...): rape, sexual abuse, physical abuse, trauma, suicide, alcoholism, emotional abuse, violence, murder... I've probably missed some...]
Bridget Collins writes very beautifully, and I got a very distinct idea of the rural settings: the marshes, the fields, the festivals. Moments and vignettes were very idyllic. The cities were another matter: I felt I couldn't imagine beyond a couple of very generic streets, so there was no sense of scale or distance or variety for me. It was just a couple of key places and (what felt like) the gaps in between. Furthermore, I couldn't picture this country's place in the wider world. I spent a long time trying to figure out whether it was an alternative history England or whether it was somewhere entirely new. In the end it felt like 19th c. England with some fantasy/alt-hist. tacked on, rather than embedded or interwoven. I still have no idea what the "Crusades" were, how it had to do with bookbinding, how recent it was. I felt like it happened, finished, and life went on as normal. Which does not seem possible after people talked about the "lynching" that apparently occurred...
The bookbinding/binder concept really drew me in at first. I liked the way books were incorporated and treated, particularly the reference to "novels" — but again, I felt like it was a little too... superficial? I wanted so much more than I was given. The mystery of it all was initially interesting, but then it continued being a mystery and it was frustrating to know so little about binding's place and impact on the wider world (re: Crusades. Who were the Crusaders? Why were they Crusading?! Gimme something other than "bookbinding=bad/secret, because reasons...). It felt like the concept wasn't developed enough, and so it hovered in the book rather than settled in it. Oil on water... (steady, Katya, leave the metaphors alone...)
It felt like the most significant and central mystery for the main character. He was meant to be "powerful". But in the end, I was left clueless as to what that meant. Emmett's story became entirely focused on his romance. (Don't get me wrong! I thought that romance was endearing, tender, heartbreaking, and Part 2 was the part I was most invested in. But I was waiting for Emmett to challenge some established order in the world, especially one that seems so corrupt and cruel, and yet when Part 2 finished and I had just over 100 pages to go, I suspected that wasn't going to happen. Furthermore, there was a part near the end that, for all the talk about consent being essential in binding, it seems to go out the window for the sake of "I love you and I know what's best for you"...)
Collins also writes silences very prettily — but the problem for me there, is that there were a lot of silences... To the point where I was skimming over them just to get back to where the dialogue started up again.
The characters also seemed a bit 2D. Emmett had much more personality in Part 2, but it wasn't much and the rest of the time he seemed to have no agency whatsoever. Lucian's father was evil-because-evil (and every second instance of him seemed to be an unnecessary invitation to make him worse for the sake of it). Lucian was probably the most complex, but the rest seemed very stock and predictable.
Pfft... I'm glad I read it, somehow. I was compelled for the most part and loved how it was written, but I was expecting much more of something. Ah well. I'll try again with The Betrayals, I hope. If anything, Collins gets some damn beautiful book covers!
beffy94's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-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
3.0
novabird's review against another edition
5.0
Gracefully elucidated the author introduces us to enablers and consent as but two of the topics addressed in this semi-dark fairytale/fantasy, mind-opening, gender-identity, and traumatic-memory, story. Embedded in this love story sans gratuitous sex scenes is a very visceral, very sensory writing style (with very little elements of horror-as there was enough real-life human pain is this book.) There was such a strong motif of physical coldness that ran throughout that when warmth was expressed it was experienced by me as a welcome warmth and it spread over me like a blanket of appreciation.
Thank you, Bridget Collins, for sharing this story with the world. Keep up the good works of writing!
This deserved 5 stars as this is the kind of writing that keeps my attention riveted as it broadens my perspective.
Spoiler
in which a straight man and a bisexual man fall in loveThank you, Bridget Collins, for sharing this story with the world. Keep up the good works of writing!
This deserved 5 stars as this is the kind of writing that keeps my attention riveted as it broadens my perspective.
rammy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
tieras's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
4.75
gosh, emmett and lucian have my heart. their tandem character development was lovely. also the premise of binding was unique and refreshing, and the impacts it had on their relationship was novel and intense. i found myself very attached to emmett and lucian, so the plot twists at the end were wrenching my emotions all over the place. i adore emmett fighting for lucian to get his memories back. and the memory loss/return/flashback sequencing was very well done.
eidal's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
lifewellspent227's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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? It's complicated
4.0