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mandareads222'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
3.75
Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Bullying, Death, Blood, Violence, Slavery, and Murder
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, War, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Grief, and Confinement
Minor: Vomit, Sexual assault, Torture, Pedophilia, Excrement, Rape, and Animal cruelty
jenny_bean_reads'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
4.5
I loved the blend of English and Spanish, and the use of magic in this world. I know the second book is out now, and I am very excited to read it!
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Sexual violence and Sexual assault
alyssamayreads's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Sexual violence
ladymickbeth's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.0
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.
Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Slavery, Confinement, Trafficking, and Violence
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, War, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Torture, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, and Rape
naomiysl'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Violence, War, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual violence, and Bullying
Minor: Slavery
nick_w's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I do love the Latin culture, LGBTQ+ teasers, and where some of the plot lines seem to be going, and I’m looking forward to finishing the series and seeing the resolution. Just a bit below my reading level and the amount of detail I prefer in a book.
Moderate: Bullying, Death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Violence, Xenophobia, Torture, and Sexual violence
batesbarb'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
2.5
It's a self-published debut novel, and it really shows. The story seems very confused about who the audience is. It was publicized as an adult fantasy novel, but the writing feels like middle-grade or very young YA. There is basically no swearing or sexual content (there are one or two very chaste kisses), but there's plenty of violence, and the last 1/5th or so is extremely heavy on the threatened sexual violence. The author doesn't trust her readers to make any connections anywhere on their own, so everything is spelled out explicitly, often multiple times. I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator's style did not help matters at all. She sounded like she was telling a story to young, not very bright child. She also frequently just completely mispronounced fairly common words.
The story as a whole reads like a series of events with no real connection to each other. Everything is told, and nothing is ever shown. The main character forms friendships/budding romances that we are told (over, and over, and over) are deep and profound connections, but these friends just leave 2/3 of the way through the book, and it seems to have no actual effect on our protagonist.
It's also clear that this book is the setup for a series, there's an enormous amount of exposition and setup, but absolutely none of the plot threads or character beats get resolved at all. The book doesn't so much end as it just stops, literally in the middle of a conversation. I honestly thought that there was a glitch in my copy of the audiobook until I checked the reviews.
With a thorough and professional editor this, and the assumed sequel could probably have been made into a really compelling story, but as it is, this feels like beta reading someone's first or second draft of a story.
Moderate: Abandonment, Trafficking, Violence, Sexual violence, and Slavery
wy_woman's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Moderate: Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, War, Blood, Classism, Emotional abuse, Confinement, and Gore
Minor: Torture, Trafficking, Slavery, Rape, Murder, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
sani0622's review against another edition
- 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? No
4.5
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Classism, Alcohol, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: War, Trafficking, Slavery, and Sexual assault
Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault