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readingelli's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Xenophobia and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, Terminal illness, and Gore
Minor: Transphobia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Deadnaming
theblerdnewsletter's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Graphic: Gore, Murder, and Abandonment
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Classism, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
urlocalhethey'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
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Deadnaming, Transphobia, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Outing, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, War, Abandonment, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, and Suicide attempt
kstrammel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Death
Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Colonisation, Deadnaming, Vomit, Terminal illness, Confinement, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Child abuse, and Transphobia
Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, and Police brutality
pagesofnay's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Blood
Moderate: Sexual assault, Transphobia, Deadnaming, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Child abuse, Infertility, and Miscarriage
eeriekeri'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
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Child abuse
Moderate: Colonisation, Classism, Hate crime, Police brutality, and Sexual content
Minor: Blood, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Genocide, Murder, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Violence, and Vomit
bisexualwentworth's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
2.5
There were a lot of things that I liked. The dialogue was fun. Wyatt’s narrative voice was incredibly entertaining (though I can definitely see why some readers wouldn’t like it). Every scene that was just characters hanging out and bantering was extremely enjoyable.
I loved several of the side characters, especially Briar (though I’m not sure how I feel about the twist regarding her character, even though it was totally unsurprising).
The politics and the ruminations on oppression were interesting, but more on that later.
But then there were a LOT of things that didn’t work for me. Here is the list, in no particular order:
- First person present tense is my least favorite POV/tense choice for novels, and I especially didn’t like that the flashbacks were still in present tense. That was the part that really got to me.
- I HATE the term “theydy.” Hate it.
- Super fascinating that this is a book that is largely about indigenous climate activism, both in a real way and in a fantasy metaphor way, WRITTEN BY AN INDIGENOUS AUTHOR, that still centers a white main character. Maybe it’s not my place as a white reader to have an issue with this. But I thought it was a weird choice and I certainly don’t think it helped the book’s message.
- Wyatt was a deeply frustrating main character generally. He is annoying and oblivious, and every bad thing he does is justified as self-defense or something. I think I would have liked him better if he’d been a worse person, honestly. Maybe that’s just an issue with this book being YA. I don’t know.
- Honestly the fantasy oppression metaphor was very confusing. Were the witches a metaphor? The author was trying hard to make them NOT be one by creating a cast that was super diverse in a variety of ways. So they weren’t a metaphor for queer people or people of color, at least not intentionally, but it ended up feeling like they were an unintentional metaphor for disability, especially since there were no disabled characters in the book. Regardless, it felt messy.
- All of the interpersonal conflict was kind of annoying, but again, that’s probably just a YA thing that I’ve mostly avoided by only reading really good YA.
- I absolutely hated the whole soulmates/fated mates thing. ESPECIALLY when only one partner even felt this special draw to the other one. I think that’s an awful, nonconsensual way to wrote a relationship, and this book totally failed to interrogate this really really weird idea that there’s one person who’s perfectly fated to be with you. I kept thinking it would, especially after the whole Clarke thing, but NOOOOO the main couple is meant for each other and we just have to suck it up and root for them! Very frustrating.
- The transitions between scenes and the action scenes generally were simply not well-written. I was very confused about how the characters arrived at certain locations and conversations in almost every chapter.
Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Miscarriage, Child abuse, Bullying, Deadnaming, Infertility, Transphobia, and Racism
the_vegan_bookworm'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: Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Deadnaming, Violence, Child abuse, and Transphobia
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Drug use, and Sexual content
Minor: Police brutality, Infertility, and Genocide
mazomazli's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It also feels like the story needed some rearranging and adjustment of length of various scenes. There was so much potential :(
Moderate: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Drug use
Minor: Genocide, Dysphoria, and Infertility
alexiab's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This is a pretty solid fantasy story with some pretty impressive world building for a teen book, even though a lot of the language definitely feels like Youth Speak that will probably age very poorly. I really enjoyed the characters, it has all the best tropes, and the conflict was pretty solid for the most part. I've never seen a fantasy-world-hidden-in-modern-world story where the narrator wonders how the outside world has affected the fantasy society, whether racism and homophobia have leaked in where they otherwise wouldn't have away from our world, and I thought that was a really unique and interesting thing to see as part of the story.
There's a couple plot things that made me wonder if I wasn't paying enough attention to catch the foreshadowing or if it was just random, so I can't say if that's the book's fault or my fault lmao. All in all not bad. It opened pretty strong and had me interested and invested pretty quickly, and the few bumps in the road didn't completely derail my enjoyment of the story. I'm curious where the second book will go.
Graphic: Deadnaming and Transphobia
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment