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witcheep's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Fantasiamaailman rakentuminen: Magian syvempi sävy esittelee kiinnostavan ajatuksen rinnakkaismaailmoista, joissa Lontoosta on olemassa neljä eri versiota, kukin eri suhteessa magian olemukseen ja käyttöön. Eri maailmojen välillä voivat matkustaa vain vahvat, mutta harvinaiset verimaagit eli antarit. Heidän voimansa ei periinny suvussa, vaan on arvoitus, miksi jollakin henkilöllä on tämä voima. Tämä rinnakkais-Lontoiden universumi on rakennettu niin tarkasti aina taikuuden toimintaperiaatteista eri maailmojen omiin kieliin, että uskon antareista paljastuvan vielä lisää tietoa jatko-osissa.
Henkilöt: Päähenkilö Kell esitellään voimakkaana verimaagina, joka virallisten kuninkaallisten tehtäviensä ohessa tekee sivubisnestä salakuljettajana. Tähän nähden hän on kuitenkin hämmentävän hyväuskoinen ja toistuvasti kävelee vailla epäilyksiä ansoihin kuin neito hädässä.
Graphic: Physical abuse
Moderate: Gun violence, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Violence, Death, Kidnapping, Torture, Slavery, and Murder
Minor: Genocide, Sexual assault, and Misogyny
kiala's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Graphic: Gun violence, Death, Violence, Sexual assault, Blood, Emotional abuse, and Torture
Moderate: Bullying
willowbiblio's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
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I really enjoyed the idea behind this book, but the characters and extremely heavy foreshadowing made this a very low 4 stars for me. I think the magic and the idea of disparate yet connected Londons was inspired. A lot of the plot was hinted at from the early chapters, so nothing felt truly remarkable or surprising. I can see that we're headed for a return of Holland and an unveiling of Lila as a magician. The inner dialogues could have been a lot less descriptive for all POVs.
The lore of how the cultures of each London evolved and diverged was cool. It would have been an interesting move to have this be given to the reader as interludes that were flashbacks to the historical time, setting up potential prequels with new (historical) characters. This would have been more readable than having characters either info dump to themselves or one another- this method always feels sort of forced and awkward. If they've known it their whole lives, why are they explicitly explaining it to themselves/each other now? Sure, it's for the reader's benefit, but this method makes you realize you're reading. This is a general gripe I have with authors who info dump and take the high context route.
I wanted to be more excited about the history/differences between Londons because I think the potential is there for a really engaging story, but it's hard to get up the enthusiasm when every tease spoiled what could have been major reveals.
I'm looking forward to seeing if things get a bit more complex and entertaining in the next book. Definitely also how Schwab uses the whole life-sync brand which feels like it was lifted directly from Cassandra Clare's books but I'll reserve judgment for now.
Graphic: Self harm and Murder
Moderate: Sexual assault
seaweedmonsterletmego's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Minor: Sexual assault
There is a scene that begins an assault but the woman is able to escape, this one is more explicit about the danger. Another scene has a woman in an alley alone with three men. Though the focus of this is more her confronting these men for a previous wrong, but could trigger some who have had a similar experience.meg_leigh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Torture, and Death
Moderate: Sexual assault
moondragon8's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
I'm gonna be honest: I picked this one up mostly because I dabble frequently in Fallen London, and the premise of more Weird Londons seemed very in line with my taste. Unfortunately, this was not nearly as Londony as I had hoped, despite the high rate of Londons per London, and I had forgotten I kinda hate high fantasy.
Okay, hate is a strong word. To the book's credit: the prose is strong, there's a few really beautiful lines, and the worldbuilding is very solid and interesting, and conveyed in a way that isn't overwhelming but doesn't leave you in the dark. However, to me it seemed that the focus given to the (very rich and engaging!) world meant that the characters were sort of left to the wayside.
That's not to say there weren't some fun characters. Lila, the top hat wearing wannabe-pirate, was very fun, and arguably had a little character arc. I also liked the rakish Prince Rhy, when we saw him, and there were a couple very classically Londony side characters. (The weird (Danish?) regents of White London were good villains but deeply unpleasant characters– they gave me Game of Thrones vibes, which is a part of the British literary canon I could do without. Also, vaguely weird that they're Fantasy Danish and their magical attack dog is named Holland?? Were there Implications there I wasn't getting?)
Kell, though, was kind of a blank slate, which was a bit disappointing. He did spend a good portion of the book
My final note is that I was initially a bit concerned to see that this was a trilogy, but in the end was quite satisfied with how all the plot threads wrapped up. This book was a fun step outside my comfort zone, but it didn't force me to keep reading if I wasn't feeling it, which I really appreciated. I was a little disappointed to
(...Actually, I just realized they do leave one mystery hanging— something about Kell's special knife having K. L. on it, and the mystery of his origins, is mentioned at the beginning and then kinda dropped throughout and never explained or even brought up, which is probably why I didn't recall it until literally just now. Ah well.)
Graphic: Torture, Body horror, Murder, Cursing, Gun violence, Gore, Death, Grief, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, and Child death
Moderate: Sexual harassment
Minor: Sexual assault, Cannibalism, and Colonisation
neverlandingonabook's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Gun violence, Death, and Violence
Minor: Sexual assault
vagorsol's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Gun violence, Self harm, and Sexual assault
ninkendo64's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Torture
Moderate: War, Blood, Murder, Death, and Violence
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexism
readabookortwo'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
4.25
I love how each London is assigned a colour and it's so interesting to compare the connotations of that colour to each London. When you think of grey, it's such a dreary really nothing colour and that matches grey London so well especially compared to the others; it's the dull London that has no magic and its closest to our, real London. Whereas when you think of white it's the colour of purity, safety which when you think of white London, absolutely doesn't represent that but white is also associated with coldness, emptiness which does then match up with white London and I find that so interesting! Black London is obviously the London we know the least about, the cut off London, the one everyone is scared of, it's like a black hole, it holds those connotations of horror, of darkness. Whereas Red London is what I find most interesting where of course red has connotations of love it is thought of as anger, hatred, aggression and war where red London is meant to be the London that's thriving and it is, its where magic is not something to be scared of, the whole city is happy and thriving and yet red London is the one that has caused all other Londons to suffer it's the one that cut itself off and left mostly white London to suffer at the hands of black London and I think that is such an important piece of information and world building to hold onto.
Graphic: Blood, Torture, Self harm, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault
Contains abduction too