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theonlybaillie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: War, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Grief, Physical abuse, Torture, Body horror, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
Minor: Abandonment, Death of parent, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship
kalmia31's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Blood, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Grief, Hate crime, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Torture, Violence, Addiction, Drug abuse, Classism, Physical abuse, Confinement, Gaslighting, and Alcoholism
Minor: War, Sexual content, Abandonment, and Xenophobia
girlonbooks's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Niece to the queen herself, Wren Southerland might as well be a nobody. Sequestered in the Abbey from a very young age, Wren fought to establish her worth with her exceptional (and magical) healing abilities. Having worked her way up to Lieutenant in the Queen’s army, all Wren wants in the whole world is to be recognized for her value; to be told she matters. But when one moment of misplaced compassion leaves her at the mercy of an enemy spy – compromising her entire mission – Wren risks losing everything she’s spent years worked for. Getting back in the Queen’s good graces will require a bigger gamble than she’s ever taken before, and necessitate allying herself with the very enemy she’s sworn to defeat.
“Maybe the only difference between a monster and a hero was the colour of a soldier’s uniform”
This book really grew on me. I loved the narration from the start (Kathleen McInerney deserves her own genre of the word talented) but I took a minute to connect with the story. Once things get going, though, and the mystery “intensifies,” so to speak, I was officially in it for the long haul. Just something to keep in mind if you’re on the fence about DNFing within the first 50 pages.
✨ Read this book because: you want a cozy winter read with some mystery, the tiniest bit of sexual tension and a lot of politically motivated backstabbing.
✨ Content warnings for this book: descriptive medical stuff, graphic medical trauma, gore, blood, death, death of a parent, murder, poisoning, body horror, war, violence
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Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, and War