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solari's review against another edition
Im not sure which publisher looked at this and thought it should be printed. An interesting concept done so terribly poorly, the politics are handwaved in a book that should be stuffed to the brim. The characters are thin and poorly developed at best, the plot is bland, the magic and underlying racism just gave me a headache. It wasnt worth my time to finish even as a joke. I dont know if I should be more disappointed in the author or the publisher themselves for letting this see the light of day.
Moderate: Racism, War, and Violence
The book is so poorly written I dont know if the racism is intentional or simply incedental.oliverreeds's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
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
alright! lets get into the complicated mess of this book. when i first started it mmm. one day ago i had no idea abt the controversy until by chance i looked at the reviews and saw RACISM and ANTISEMITISM. i said hmm. that does not sound very good and look up what was happening but found very few examples online of anything so i turned to the comments section just to know what i was getting into. when reading abt the reverse racism i was a bit skeptical, but i saw someone explaining how, while in-world race isnt a social factor, the only bipoc characters are the same — the ruling class who are delightfully ignorant of whats happening in their city and have to be informed by an oppressed white woman. now i personally am not 100% this wasnt a misguided attempt at showing unjust government and how marginalized social groups get fucked over by the system but… why then were these two the like only bipoc characters? we couldnt have had an oppressed witch bipoc?? for some reason the answer is no.
SPOILERS BELOW
now lets get onto the antisemitism which i consider the more blatant issue. so there is a character who is reptilian in nature — hidden actually as his reptilian self — who left his reptilian homeland because they were creating biological warfare inoculations against the lower class of witches… now. wow. thats already a lot to process. and to those of you who know things abt conspiracy theories, you know that they all basically end in antisemitism including the “secret reptilians are ruling the government” shabang. so. this subplot feels like a CRAZY blatant dog whistle to these conspiracy theories. now you might be saying well HE was a good character who changed for the better, and i would say yes. hes quite well-rounded but. the implication in this book is that he betrayed ALL of his people. that he is the ONLY one who realized what they were doing was wrong. which to me,,, again makes me think hmm. that seems a little coded.
SPOILERS ENDED
now lets say this wasnt all on purpose. how should we react? well, first off we need to hold the author accountable. say hey, this is kinda fucked will you make a statement my guy? but MORE importantly we need to call out the publishing firm for a) not hiring sensitivity readers or b) not hiring very good sensitivity readers.
aside from that crazy shit this book was a good debut. the characters were compelling, the plot was interesting, but the message was insanely heavy handed which was a little frustrating.
anyway, rating zero stars for racist shit and antisemitic nonsense that could have easily been avoided
SPOILERS BELOW
now lets get onto the antisemitism which i consider the more blatant issue. so there is a character who is reptilian in nature — hidden actually as his reptilian self — who left his reptilian homeland because they were creating biological warfare inoculations against the lower class of witches… now. wow. thats already a lot to process. and to those of you who know things abt conspiracy theories, you know that they all basically end in antisemitism including the “secret reptilians are ruling the government” shabang. so. this subplot feels like a CRAZY blatant dog whistle to these conspiracy theories. now you might be saying well HE was a good character who changed for the better, and i would say yes. hes quite well-rounded but. the implication in this book is that he betrayed ALL of his people. that he is the ONLY one who realized what they were doing was wrong. which to me,,, again makes me think hmm. that seems a little coded.
SPOILERS ENDED
now lets say this wasnt all on purpose. how should we react? well, first off we need to hold the author accountable. say hey, this is kinda fucked will you make a statement my guy? but MORE importantly we need to call out the publishing firm for a) not hiring sensitivity readers or b) not hiring very good sensitivity readers.
aside from that crazy shit this book was a good debut. the characters were compelling, the plot was interesting, but the message was insanely heavy handed which was a little frustrating.
anyway, rating zero stars for racist shit and antisemitic nonsense that could have easily been avoided
Graphic: Gaslighting, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Antisemitism, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, War, Abandonment, Bullying, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Confinement, Gore, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Panic attacks/disorders
marleywrites's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-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
1.0
Graphic: Blood, Racism, Body horror, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Emotional abuse, and Medical content
Minor: Death of parent
morethanmylupus's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Graphic: Racism
shieldbearer's review against another edition
This entire premise is racist as hell. White people are not oppressed by Black and brown people. Shut the fuck up.
Graphic: Racism
emmajuned's review against another edition
Just wanted to pass along information from an ARC reviewer on Twitter (YAindulgences - feel free to check up on it) as I feel it’s important we flag the bad books. In their ARC review they pointed out that this book features black people as the oppressors of a white group of protagonists.
Graphic: Racism
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