Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - A Snake Falls To Earth

On Earth, Nina is translating a story her great-grandmother told her, hoping it will contain the secret to keeping her grandmother in good health, while also dealing with a neighbour encroaching on her grandmother’s land. Oli is coming of age in the Reflecting World when his friend’s life is imperilled and he must round up his other friends to save him. Gradually you see where their stories overlap. The narrative was definitely more character driven in the first half, but the plot becomes active in the second half too. I personally clicked with the slower pace as it allowed me to settle in with Nina and Oli as characters and understand their situations, making the second half of the novel feel like a natural coming-together.

I loved the ecological theme, specifically how it addressed extinction and how this tied into the plot and world-building, but also how it showed that flora and fauna flourish under indigenous stewardship.

The world-building of the Reflecting World was fantastic. I was particularly interested in how Earth objects lasted, how animal people aged, and how the status of Earth species affected corresponding animal people. The abilities of the animal people were also intriguing.

There was incredible character development in the two MCs. Nina gets to discover her family history, and her faith in her family’s stories is restored. I loved that she was able to connect with this part of herself as well as find a type of storytelling that fit her. Ollie starts off as a timid snake but evolves into one willing to lose his life if it’ll help his friend. He becomes so courageous, and we also see him begin to choose things for himself rather than going with what other people tell him to do.

Darcie Little Badger is an auto-buy author for me for good reason!

Rep: asexual Lipan-Apache MC

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tinytrashqueen's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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scarletthequeen's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

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scmiller's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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penofpossibilities's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful relaxing slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This was so cute but I preferred the first half of this! The Dave thing at the end was too much cringe for me :")
I also have some unanswered questions about the nightmare and all that

like I was pretty disappointed that we didnt get to meet him and have a face off or something? It just felt unsatisfactory

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notpercyjacksonyet's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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? No

4.0

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razzberry_pi's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

weaves the tales of two characters together across worlds and shows the impacts of colonialism, climate change, and cults without being too heavy handed

story had a bit of wonky pacing at the beginning, but definitely picked up and evened out towards the middle

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therainbowshelf's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective 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

An absolutely delightful read! I loved the narrative structure with Nina and Oli’s stories running parallel like their worlds. The characters are all super fun and the Native American storytelling style of Oli’s adventures adds so much. I enjoyed Darcie Little Badger’s previous book quite a bit, and this one blew it out of the water!

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