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leaflit's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Chronic illness, Blood, Racism, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Colonisation, Confinement, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Grief, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Alcohol, Child abuse, Genocide, Medical content, Outing, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Terminal illness
theirgracegrace's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Abandonment, Cursing, Death, Confinement, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Classism, Colonisation, Excrement, Alcoholism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Violence, War, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, and Sexual content
Moderate: Death of parent, Gaslighting, Stalking, Torture, and Sexual assault
Minor: Cultural appropriation and Pregnancy
mariadanna's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Slavery, Blood, and Gun violence
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Racial slurs, and War
Minor: Torture
bookswithclementine'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? No
4.0
Graphic: Colonisation
Moderate: Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Racial slurs, Sexism, and Sexual assault
imds'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
3.5
Graphic: Death, Colonisation, Racial slurs, and Racism
Minor: Rape
foreverinastory's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Touraine was stolen as a child and raised in the Balladairan empire. The only loyalty she has is to her fellow Sands, the other stolen Qazali child soldiers. Now that Touraine has been sent back to her homeland she has reckon with the ties she thought were gone and what rebellion means. Princess Luca needs to get her uncle off the throne. If she can stop the rebellion in Qazal, it will prove she's ready to ascend the throne. But negotiating peace comes at a higher price than she expects.
I am really glad I took my time with this book. I loved getting to know Touraine, the Sands, the Qazali and the whole world. It was immersive and I constantly wanted to know more about this world and the magic. Touraine makes a lot of mistakes and difficult decisions throughout this book. It was quite messy, but seeing the way her loyalties kept her torn between the Balladairan Empire and the Qazali felt realistic and truly illustrates how insidious colonisation is.
I wouldn't really categorize this as a romance, though there are some romantic relationships in this. I don't really know how to feel about the possibility of Luca and Touraine, especially after the end. There is definitely a power imbalance here and while Luca is a nice person, there's lived experiences she'll never understand. Plus throughout this we see Touraine constantly have to sacrifice those close to her, but Luca is constantly insulated from this choice. I guess the jury is still out on this ship for me, but I'm very invested in these characters future journeys, especially Touraine.
Rep: Sapphic BIPOC female solider MC, sapphic disabled female MC who uses a cane periodically, BIPOC supporting cast, wlw side characters, nonbinary side character, queer normative world.
CWs: Animal death, blood, colonisation/imperialism, confinement to prison cell, cursing, death, genocide, grief, gun violence, injury/injury detail, murder, racial slurs, racism, torture, violence, war. Moderate: fire, kidnapping, medical content, attempted/threatened rape, sexual harassment, slavery (forced enlistment of conquered people). Past mentions of child abuse/death by the military.
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, and War
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Medical content, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Slavery
Minor: Child abuse and Child death
dariusmortee's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
I did, in some ways. The message Clarke is trying to bring across is loud and clear and this book will make you feel uncomfortable as it is very confronting. The characters are very interesting and I would like to get to know the world better.
However, even though the characters were very interesting I didn’t feel connected to them. Clarke didn’t go enough into depth with almost every aspect of this book for me. The important scenes for the character development were just not it. The build up was there, but then it was gone. This, and the both (strangely) slow and still fast pace of this book did knock down a few stars.
Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, War, Violence, Trafficking, and Death
andromeda_1998's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
What is the book about (without spoilers):
Touraine has been a soldier for most parts of her life. She was a child stolen from her family and she was raised to serve the empire. But when her company is sent back to the land she comes from, to stop a rebellion, nog everything goes as planned.
Luca is the princes of the empire, sent to her rebel filled colony to still the rebellion. She needs a turncoat to reach her goals.
Together they are looking for a way towards peace between the Empire and the colony.
My thoughts about the book:
Like i said before this book is hat to review. There are a lot of things happening in this novel that I do love but that doesn’t solve my mixed feelings about some things in the plot.
The world-building in this book is amazing. It’s rich and details but we haven’t learned everything there is to know about this world and the author leaves the reader with some major questions especially about the magic system. I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing since it’s the first book of a series and I cannot wait to read the sequel.
The writingstyle used for this book is impressive. It reads away in a good pace but I sometimes felt like I was thrown in a scene without any explanation of how we came to that point.
The characters aren’t badly written but i also didn’t think that they were done especially well. One is a princes studying from birth to be queen and the other is a luitenant who has command over her own regiment but some how both of them weren’t able to make a well thought out plan….they both should have known better for 80% of the book.
I hated the relationship between the two main characters. When I heard this book was sapphic I couldn’t contain my happiness but this relationships was a burning dumpster fire of toxic waist.
However I did love the plot and the side plots. This book shows us a good explanation of the sentence “Hey Colonizer.” It also shows how the europions destroyed all the different cultures that they got there hands on.
Favo quote:
“Too many died I a war that wasn’t theirs”
“Your rebellion would be another one”
“You’ll have to fight for one side or the other. Why not fight for the side that gives you freedom?”
“Because I can fight for the side that’s winning.”
“Winning isn’t everything. It’s how you win that matters most”
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence
herfleurs's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Luca é uma das personagens mais nojentas que já li. Eu nunca vou entender porque a autora achou que seria interessante criar um romance entre essas duas, juro. Era muito improvável que eu fosse aceitar qualquer arco de redenção que fosse dado pra ela mas o melhor é que não existe nenhum!
Ela é uma princesa colonizadora, ladrona do começo ao fim. Ela tem umas falas e pensamentos nas narrações que são imundos.
É tão problemático essa relação das duas. E Luca é tão manipuladora, a cena da página 351 me deu tanta raiva. Me dá agonia. Touraine nos primeiros 50% é essa personagem completamente assimilada, ela busca tanta aprovação dessas mulheres brancas que são a representação do império que da vontade de gritar. A autora coloca Luca dando a liberdade dela gente, literalmente tornando ela cidadã e pensando "talvez" eu faça isso com alguns outros, sabe. Isso porque ela pediu porque duvido que em nenhum momento Luca ia pensar nisso.
Odiei como praticamente tudo foi tratado aqui. Eu deveria ter conhecido mais do batalhão da Touraine, ter entendido muito mais da cultura dessa cidade. Ter visto muito mais da rebelião, muito mais da magia. Mas tudo foi raso. É bem escrito mas não é suficiente.
E o final? Péssimo. Horrível.
Graphic: Colonisation, Racial slurs, Death, and Blood
Minor: Rape, Animal death, Child abuse, and Child death
candidceillie's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Xenophobia, Vomit, Violence, Torture, Terminal illness, Slavery, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Racism, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Murder, Medical trauma, Medical content, Kidnapping, Genocide, and Forced institutionalization