Reviews with content warning for Confinement - The Name-Bearer

Plot: 4.5/5
World building: 4/5
Characters: 4.5/5
Writing: 3.75/5
Grammar/editing: 2/5

In general, I enjoyed this book and the unique premise. Unfortunately, I don’t think this book was edited at all. There was some expositional elements repeated when they didn’t need to be, and there were a ridiculous amount of typos and missing or incorrect punctuation marks. There were also quite a few run-on sentences. The obvious lack of editing took me out of the story often.

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avacadosocks's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

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ourxstorybegins's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

4.5

Okay okay so the only reason that this didn’t get 5 stars from me is because it had a really slow start and was hard to get into. But once I was in, I was IN. This is book one in a series about a girl who was chosen to be the royal Name-Bearer but when it’s time for her to do said bearing, things do not go well and she ends up having to run away, change her identity, etc. etc. for a variety of reasons. From there, this book really focuses on the friendships she makes (and after 10 years of living in basically seclusion where she isn’t allowed to HAVE an identity of any sort, that’s huge) and her starting to figure out who she is when she can’t be the Name Bearer. I finished this and IMMEDIATELY started book 2 because I simply must know more.

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searobin's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful slow-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? No

4.0

I absolutely LOVED this book, but it does have its issues, so rating it is a bit hard. The two main things are that it ends up feeling like one long prologue, and that the writing feels like YA but some of the violence are detailed to a degree that doesn't suit YA. I really loved the characters, I liked getting to know the friends and some and the travelling companions so well, but it's a bit weird for an adventure book; it felt much more "slices of life" than adventure. I'm also curious about how our MC got so much education, but had so little awareness of how her situation was developing on the outside. It felt like she just ignored/didn't learn anything it for those 10 years.

All in all, I loved how immersed we were in the story, but it is unusual for the genre.

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mj_86's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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? No

4.0

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readingwithtemperance's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This was fantastic. I am so thoroughly impressed by this book. The only reason it isn't 5 stars is because the ending felt rushed. However, I am SO excited to read the sequel. I'll probably be starting it almost immediately.

Something I loved about this book was that the name bearer has no name. And when she goes through transitions in her life

name bearer to living amongst warrior women and again when she leaves them

she gives herself a new name. The meaning coordinating with the purpose of each new life. There was so much beauty in that. Names truly hold so much power.

The friendship in this book was probably my favorite aspect. Watching them grow from young girls to women was incredible.

I thought the concept of this book was utterly fascinating. I hope to learn more about the flowers of prophecy and their origin in the sequel.

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scrubsandbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

4.0

Found family, and sapphic love, in a beautiful Latinx-inspired world that is very queer-normative, as well as

a bully getting to face consequences,

nearly all my boxes were checked with this book. It was such a lovely story, and I loved the prose, cementing in my heart that you don't need to be traditionally published to actually be considered a worthy read. The ending's cliffhanger felt a little jarring because of the way it was written but besides that, I would absolutely give the next book a read and continue to reading anything that Natalia Hernandez puts out in this world.

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takarakei's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? No

3.5

I really loved this when it first started off! I was immediately intrigued by the concept of this child 'name-bearer' and the world building. I love a prophecy gone wrong. However, once I got about ~30-40% into the book it really began to drag plot-wise and ultimately by the end I didn't really feel as if much had happened (feels like all the action will be coming in a sequel). So ultimately a bit of a disappointment overall - if this is just a duology I might still listen to the sequel to see the conclusion of the story.

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