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kiwij96's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
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
4.5
The leaders of the country's 12 provinces find themselves on a murder cruise. I mean, what isn't to love about that idea? Characters with their own strong beliefs and concerns, and heavy on the distrust.
100% check your trigger warnings for this one. However, there is so much to love about this story. It is well-paced and the perfect length for the story to be told. Nothing felt wasted or out of place in terms of the pacing,however, I didn't super love the fade to black at the end of the last chapter. That felt really out of place for me.</spoiler
100% check your trigger warnings for this one. However, there is so much to love about this story. It is well-paced and the perfect length for the story to be told. Nothing felt wasted or out of place in terms of the pacing,
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Murder, Body horror, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Grief, Blood, Death, Classism, and Violence
Moderate: Genocide, Child abuse, and Mental illness
Minor: Drug use, Ableism, and Sexual content
lilacverses's review against another edition
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
I would like to preface this review with (1) my great disappointment that I did not enjoy this book and (2) that my own name is Cordelia, and that will become relevant shortly.
This book should be commended for its bold and wide diversity. Truly imaginative and colorful, this book is perhaps the most inclusive in its characters that I’ve read in a while if ever. However, this book also made me think on at least one occasion how important it is that marginalised perspectives be written by the marginalised, which gave me complicated feelings, since I do think all authors should consider and employ diversity in storytelling as often as possible.
I hated the main character. I did not find them or their voice funny, which this book really was trying to be. I found it similar to bad sitcom humor.
I hated most of the other characters, mostly because the main character whose whole existence is supposed to foil the eleven others, was just as filled with disdain for them as they were for him. Moments of empathy were only found when the veil of archetype/caricature were briefly lifted, but often almost immediately fell back into place. If you’re going to write an ensemble cast, can I suggest making them people? Perhaps not relying on one-note flags to skip the work of characterising? Especially because I could feel reading how much this book wanted to push for its “everyone matters, everyone is human” sentiments, but time and time again characters crueler actions were brushed off as being motivated by nothing but their lack of qualities aside from cruelty. The book seemed in conflict with itself in that regard.
A great way to have dealt with this would’ve been multiple POV, one for each character, sprinkled through our main POV. I’d have loved to see it, the dramatic irony and consequent tension that could have built, on top of really exercising the reader’s own empathy skills throughout! It would have been delicious!
We shant be discussing the worldbuilding. There isn’t much to speak of, anyway.
Generally, I did not enjoy the plot. This I think is not the fault of the book or author. I hate mysteries in books. I hate the way information is revealed, I hate how so often (while specifics remain unknown) I can call exactly where it’s going. However, there was also a big plot twist that made me want to throw my hands up in the air and toss the book entirely. I wish I could say more but out of respect for the pub date and the future readership, I shall say nothing more than “how fucking convenient.”
Really had a hard time with the prose at times. There was a small handful (I think three) really gorgeous lines, like truly beautiful gems of description. These ultimately made me more frustrated because I could taste however briefly the full potential of the author. Could’ve done with a small handful more! Got it, flaunt it, Frances!!! Mostly, thought the mix of “pain in my backside” washed word choice and “fuck this fuck that fuck you” happening really had me confused and frustrated. Also the sexual humor in a literal locked box murder situation was like … “in front of my salad?” But the salad is a mutilated corpse and the fate of an empire.
Finally, I want to briefly discuss the Cordelia. As a character who is not our main character, she is hated, for various reasons, some valid and some less so. As a person called Cordelia, I cannot hide my bias. I wanted to identify with her. And I did, a little. As a Cordelia who, while brunette, generally also identifies as “skinny” and has been called/likened to a “doll” (as our fictional Cordelia has), I just want to say that villainising a character or generally trying to create a sense of audience dislike for a character shouldn’t mean that character is subject to negative comments about their body. I wanted to think this would be something the main character (who is fat) would understand? Especially as he is subject to body comments throughout the book as well? It was just sort of unfortunate to read a book that was so inclusive and about uplifting others and kindness and empathy and then to have the one female character who is explicitly skinny be called “stick” over and over. Yeah, there are worse things to be called, but I’ve only ever been called “stick” and it’s not a compliment! The opposite actually! There are better words and ways to communicate the size and consequent expectations of ability of someone’s body than words like stick. Which the author demonstrated with other slender male characters who got a more favorable opinion from the MC.
All that said, the book is fine. I don’t think I will recommend it with my personal stamp of approval on it, but it’s still better than Fourth Wing, so if you like goofy fun delightfully queer tales with potentially cringey humor, pick this one up! Please read trigger warnings, though!
Thank you to the publisher for providing an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.
This book should be commended for its bold and wide diversity. Truly imaginative and colorful, this book is perhaps the most inclusive in its characters that I’ve read in a while if ever. However, this book also made me think on at least one occasion how important it is that marginalised perspectives be written by the marginalised, which gave me complicated feelings, since I do think all authors should consider and employ diversity in storytelling as often as possible.
I hated the main character. I did not find them or their voice funny, which this book really was trying to be. I found it similar to bad sitcom humor.
I hated most of the other characters, mostly because the main character whose whole existence is supposed to foil the eleven others, was just as filled with disdain for them as they were for him. Moments of empathy were only found when the veil of archetype/caricature were briefly lifted, but often almost immediately fell back into place. If you’re going to write an ensemble cast, can I suggest making them people? Perhaps not relying on one-note flags to skip the work of characterising? Especially because I could feel reading how much this book wanted to push for its “everyone matters, everyone is human” sentiments, but time and time again characters crueler actions were brushed off as being motivated by nothing but their lack of qualities aside from cruelty. The book seemed in conflict with itself in that regard.
A great way to have dealt with this would’ve been multiple POV, one for each character, sprinkled through our main POV. I’d have loved to see it, the dramatic irony and consequent tension that could have built, on top of really exercising the reader’s own empathy skills throughout! It would have been delicious!
We shant be discussing the worldbuilding. There isn’t much to speak of, anyway.
Generally, I did not enjoy the plot. This I think is not the fault of the book or author. I hate mysteries in books. I hate the way information is revealed, I hate how so often (while specifics remain unknown) I can call exactly where it’s going. However, there was also a big plot twist that made me want to throw my hands up in the air and toss the book entirely. I wish I could say more but out of respect for the pub date and the future readership, I shall say nothing more than “how fucking convenient.”
Really had a hard time with the prose at times. There was a small handful (I think three) really gorgeous lines, like truly beautiful gems of description. These ultimately made me more frustrated because I could taste however briefly the full potential of the author. Could’ve done with a small handful more! Got it, flaunt it, Frances!!! Mostly, thought the mix of “pain in my backside” washed word choice and “fuck this fuck that fuck you” happening really had me confused and frustrated. Also the sexual humor in a literal locked box murder situation was like … “in front of my salad?” But the salad is a mutilated corpse and the fate of an empire.
Finally, I want to briefly discuss the Cordelia. As a character who is not our main character, she is hated, for various reasons, some valid and some less so. As a person called Cordelia, I cannot hide my bias. I wanted to identify with her. And I did, a little. As a Cordelia who, while brunette, generally also identifies as “skinny” and has been called/likened to a “doll” (as our fictional Cordelia has), I just want to say that villainising a character or generally trying to create a sense of audience dislike for a character shouldn’t mean that character is subject to negative comments about their body. I wanted to think this would be something the main character (who is fat) would understand? Especially as he is subject to body comments throughout the book as well? It was just sort of unfortunate to read a book that was so inclusive and about uplifting others and kindness and empathy and then to have the one female character who is explicitly skinny be called “stick” over and over. Yeah, there are worse things to be called, but I’ve only ever been called “stick” and it’s not a compliment! The opposite actually! There are better words and ways to communicate the size and consequent expectations of ability of someone’s body than words like stick. Which the author demonstrated with other slender male characters who got a more favorable opinion from the MC.
All that said, the book is fine. I don’t think I will recommend it with my personal stamp of approval on it, but it’s still better than Fourth Wing, so if you like goofy fun delightfully queer tales with potentially cringey humor, pick this one up! Please read trigger warnings, though!
Thank you to the publisher for providing an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Body shaming, Ableism, Blood, Bullying, and Violence
Minor: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Outing
denjuno's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Great book!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
its_a_complit_way_of_life's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt
ee1000's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.75
I absolutely adored this book!
A murder mystery in a fantasy world where our main character is a fish out of water (pun intended) and even though he doesn’t fit in, does everything he can to save his fellow passengers and solve the mystery.
I don’t want to spoil things so I’ll try to keep things vague as possible. First, Dee is a wonderful character. He’s just a good person and seeing his motivation to be good override his fear of his secret being found out is so well done. He’s easy to root for!
The rest of the cast I won’t mention to try and keep things spoiler free but I did love the rest of them too!
The twists in this book were excellent. There were a few times where I put down the book and said, “Well that one got me!” That’s the fun thing about a mystery in a magical world, anything can happen!
A great read, and a satisfying end that left me smiling and wanting to hug each of the characters. So much heart went into this book, and I felt the love for the story and characters on every single page.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and author for a copy of this book in exchange for my review!
A murder mystery in a fantasy world where our main character is a fish out of water (pun intended) and even though he doesn’t fit in, does everything he can to save his fellow passengers and solve the mystery.
I don’t want to spoil things so I’ll try to keep things vague as possible. First, Dee is a wonderful character. He’s just a good person and seeing his motivation to be good override his fear of his secret being found out is so well done. He’s easy to root for!
The rest of the cast I won’t mention to try and keep things spoiler free but I did love the rest of them too!
The twists in this book were excellent. There were a few times where I put down the book and said, “Well that one got me!” That’s the fun thing about a mystery in a magical world, anything can happen!
A great read, and a satisfying end that left me smiling and wanting to hug each of the characters. So much heart went into this book, and I felt the love for the story and characters on every single page.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and author for a copy of this book in exchange for my review!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Sexual content
emmaggedon's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Squealing and kicking my feet at this fantasy murder mystery that had It All!
✅ Magic
✅ A protagonist who just wins you over instantly
✅ Brutal scenes but sparingly
✅ Important messages told well
✅ BUCKETS OF SEXUAL TENSION
Just, WONDERFUL. I haven’t done a “one more chapter, won’t do anything else until the book is finished” in a WHILE!!! More Cross Genre PLEASE I’m FREAKING OUT!! For something that could easily have been YA, I think it works so beautifully as an adult novel, and it does not shy away from being one.
✅ Magic
✅ A protagonist who just wins you over instantly
✅ Brutal scenes but sparingly
✅ Important messages told well
✅ BUCKETS OF SEXUAL TENSION
Just, WONDERFUL. I haven’t done a “one more chapter, won’t do anything else until the book is finished” in a WHILE!!! More Cross Genre PLEASE I’m FREAKING OUT!! For something that could easily have been YA, I think it works so beautifully as an adult novel, and it does not shy away from being one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Classism, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Abandonment and Sexual content
e_read_books's review against another edition
3.75
A really well thought out murder mystery considering there were 12 characters each with pretty different magical abilities to keep track of over 12 days in a fairly large ship. There were multiple equally plausible suspects to keep the reader guessing and as such I couldn't be truly surprised when the killer was revealed but the motives and plans still had some unexpected twists.
I was worried in the first couple of chapters that Dee would be too annoying of a character for me to follow. I'll admit his humour did not always land for me, but his true depth is quickly revealed to us and he ended up being a really compelling character and a pretty good detective. I absolutely loved his relationship with little Grasshopper (truly Adorable Level 5/5).
Lowering the score for me is I didn't quite jive with some of the humour and also the conclusion, though it fits well with Dee's character arc. I'm just never going to preferDee becoming the new Emporer "ruling the right way" over abolishing the system altogether. Though there was mention of independence later down the line . However, the meat of the story i.e. the murder mystery was a great fun time and the differing character dynamics between the 12 heirs created plenty of opportunity for great dialogue scenes with lots of character.
I was worried in the first couple of chapters that Dee would be too annoying of a character for me to follow. I'll admit his humour did not always land for me, but his true depth is quickly revealed to us and he ended up being a really compelling character and a pretty good detective. I absolutely loved his relationship with little Grasshopper (truly Adorable Level 5/5).
Lowering the score for me is I didn't quite jive with some of the humour and also the conclusion, though it fits well with Dee's character arc. I'm just never going to prefer
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Self harm, and Death
Moderate: Murder, Classism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Xenophobia
black_cat_iiix's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Murder, and Torture
Minor: Slavery and Racial slurs
julalbert56's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
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
3.0
I am so conflicted about this book. On one hand, the characters (especially grasshopper) were so fun to follow and the mystery had me hooked. On the other hand, I was really not vibing with the worldbuilding or the main romance. Why is Cordelia described as conventionally attractive? Shouldn’t the Dragon blessed be the “pinacle” of beauty? It also rubbed me the wrong way how Dee fell in love with Wyatt literally days after the “love of his life” was murdered. I know the author tried to reason that away with the Ravi shapeshifting twist but it still didn’t sit right with me. I also didn’t love Ravi as a character, the soft, kindhearted version of him from Dee’s childhood just felt so disconnected to the person who could murder/be complicit in the murder of innocents. I’m glad he ultimately gave the power to Dee or I would have really disliked him. The writing, though entertaining, also took some getting used to with the amount of curse words/sex jokes. I’m not prudish but I have a limit lol. But anyway, despite those issues the book wasn’t boring, and there was a lot of well implemented diversity which I appreciated.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Suicide attempt, Death, and Gore
linde_ahobbit's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
sad
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? It's complicated
3.75
This is a fun book that I really enjoyed. It isn't perfect, the jokes don't always land and it's sometimes a bit immature. But it's such a fun ride. There was one plot twist tho, during the last couple of chapters ,that I really dislike.
Turns out Ravi was Wyatt (almost) the whole time... and I think it was a bad move. I actually really liked Dee's romance with Wyatt, and the shock that Ravi got killed off so soon and unexpextedly. It felt good for Dee to move on and open up to someone new. First loves, however important they were at the time, aren't always the right choice for us. And the book convinces you of that as well. Ravi was awful to Dee before be "died". Dee realises this and is ready to move on. Move on to someone who is there for him, who defends him. There's literally a scene in the book where Dee chooses Wyatt over Ravi. That's why you don't see the plot twist coming. It's such a set-up, Wyatt is written as an entirerly different character. That's why it doens't work.
It is so manipulative of Ravi. He was lying to Dee the whole time while pretending to be someone else (for a bad reason I might add). And even after Ravi comes clean and admits to it (and how he was in on the murder plot from the beginning...), he still doesn't tell the whole truth.
Dee forgave him wayyyy to easily. He should at least have been angry and feel betrayed. Ravi made him mourn him, made him fall in love with a pretend person (he made up a whole backstory for Wyatt etc) and kept lying right until the end.
Dee also should've missed Wyatt at least a bit, because you do as reader. For him to just accept it... feels off. And unfair (to himself).
Also, Ravi being the one to take away Dee's clothes for almost two weeks without even as much as a change of underwear?? Actual bullying behavior. And one another thing, shouldn't Ravi have known about Dee's "fear" of water?
Sorry for the rant, but the twist just doesn't work. They could have kept the twist in, that Ravi's still alive. Just not him being Wyatt as well... It makes me feel sad because I was really liking the book right until that point... ):
Other than that, I liked how Dee's mental health was handled. And Grashopper was a cutie. Anyway.. justice for Wyatt.
It is so manipulative of Ravi. He was lying to Dee the whole time while pretending to be someone else (for a bad reason I might add). And even after Ravi comes clean and admits to it (and how he was in on the murder plot from the beginning...), he still doesn't tell the whole truth.
Dee forgave him wayyyy to easily. He should at least have been angry and feel betrayed. Ravi made him mourn him, made him fall in love with a pretend person (he made up a whole backstory for Wyatt etc) and kept lying right until the end.
Dee also should've missed Wyatt at least a bit, because you do as reader. For him to just accept it... feels off. And unfair (to himself).
Also, Ravi being the one to take away Dee's clothes for almost two weeks without even as much as a change of underwear?? Actual bullying behavior. And one another thing, shouldn't Ravi have known about Dee's "fear" of water?
Sorry for the rant, but the twist just doesn't work. They could have kept the twist in, that Ravi's still alive. Just not him being Wyatt as well... It makes me feel sad because I was really liking the book right until that point... ):
Other than that, I liked how Dee's mental health was handled. And Grashopper was a cutie. Anyway.. justice for Wyatt.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Bullying