Take a photo of a barcode or cover
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really loved the setting (tea house that serves blood to vampires at night in a city that seemed inspired by London during the 18th/19th century) but the plot couldn’t hold up to my expectations. It reminded me a lot of Six of Crows, just… not as good. Still worth a read!
I liked how the story dived into topics like colonialism and racism and tied it to the plot very well.
(Also turns out I find Romantasy elements super boring when everyone‘s straight lol - a queer character really wouldn’t have hurt the story…)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Colonisation
Moderate: Racism
I enjoyed this, but I didn't realise it was a duology! So I'm annoyed that I have to wait to read the conclusion of this story, but I'm liking it so far (and I especially love Jin and Arthie).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Colonisation
adventurous
challenging
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Slavery, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Murder, Colonisation
Minor: Blood
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Classism
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I found this very fun and probably would have given it five stars except it did not land the ending. The end felt like a billion people got shot and it just basically went out on a hundred cliffhangers which felt like a cop out to a story that had been progressing decently before then! It took me a bit to get into it - I didn't love the writing the whole time - and I did find that sometimes it made me roll my eyes, but once it got into the action I was excited to keep reading along! I'd probably read the next one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation
Moderate: Police brutality
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
I feel like any YA Fantasy novel with a crew and a heist is sadly going to have to compete with the Six of Crows duology in my mind at this point. The characters fell flat, the story was bland, and the 'twist' came too late in the story for me to care about it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood
Moderate: Gun violence
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Let me start by saying how shocked I was to love this story. I have heard so many mixed reviews and I really wasn’t sure if I would even pick this up, but I am so glad I did. I loved that Arthie had layers to her story that were only revealed when she wanted. The other characters were amazing and I love them but this story is full of lies and betrayal that my feelings were constantly swaying. I will say, the first half of the story was hard for me to get through; it took me some time to get used to Faizal’s writing style and it was a bit slow to pick up. The second half though?! Amazing, my heart was racing and jaw was on the floor, every page brought a new lie, betrayal, information, and action that kept me engaged for the remainder of the story. I’m completely shocked by the twist of events at the end and I have no idea what to think, I’m just excited for the next book to come out now!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Death, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
I loved this story and want to follow these characters for a dozen books. The twists were stunning and unexpected which were rare for me. I love the dapper era so this played my melody from the first page. Faizal writes vampires how I write vampires which makes her sublime storytelling both dazzling and sumptuous inviting the reader to devour her prose. 10s across the board!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Classism
Moderate: Death, Police brutality, Death of parent
Minor: Child death, Confinement
Poverty
Unlikeable characters, plot holes, telling more than showing, no real background or depth... The list goes on. A very boring read for an interesting concept.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Blood, Grief, Colonisation, Classism