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lemilysnikda's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is a complicated book to review because I loved many things but also really did NOT enjoy others. This was not an easy read. The writing style is unusual, blurry, and rambling at times, but it works well when the reader is supposed to be disoriented with our main character Marney. Ultimately I’m still debating if it was worth the struggle for me?
The beginning gripped me immediately. We follow Marney, a child laborer who escapes a protest gone violent and joins an all women gang of anti-capitalist bandits called the Choir. She vows to get revenge against the industry leader responsible. Marney is “lustertouched” from her exposure to the resource ichorite, which gives her the ability to harness (kinda gross) magic but at a cost.
Unfortunately, the story fell off a bit during the second quarter. It’s been a couple days since I finished the book now, and at this point I don’t think I could tell you much that happened in that quarter of the book. I do remember being very distracted by the prose then, but it was not an issue for me at all in the second half.
As other reviews have said, the events in the book’s description didn’t really pick up until the second half of the book. It almost feels like the start of a sequel—so much so that I wonder if this would’ve been better as a duology, which would’ve given us more time to experience the Choir and appreciate Marney’s relationships with those characters more.
At the halfway point, the reader meets a whole new cast of characters—all at the same time via dialogue from one of said new characters. Each of these characters had their own religion, background, political goals, and past romantic relationships with other characters. This was all very hard to keep track of because the characters have such similar seductive and brash personalities. It also didn’t help to be stuck in Marney’s head because Marney is attracted to pretty much everyone. Marney’s reverence for women is an essential part of the character (and was so refreshing to read!) BUT, when everyone is crazy and hot, they all kinda blur together.
I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention that there are also clearly parallels/nods to lesbian culture specifically, but I am sure I missed many of these because I’m not a member of the community. I’m leaving the review of this aspect to people who know what they’re talking about.
This is absolutely not a crowd-pleaser fantasy, but I do think it has the potential (and deserves) to garner a devoted following from the right readers. I’m seeing comparisons to Gideon the Ninth, and I think that’s right to an extent, but the tones are a bit different. I would also throw out a sprinkle of Arcane and A League of Their Own, but there’s something grittier here.
This is not a romance, but note there are sex scenes. Some relationships and scenes are quite toxic and even abusive, which was hard to read. Check content warnings.
eARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review
The beginning gripped me immediately. We follow Marney, a child laborer who escapes a protest gone violent and joins an all women gang of anti-capitalist bandits called the Choir. She vows to get revenge against the industry leader responsible. Marney is “lustertouched” from her exposure to the resource ichorite, which gives her the ability to harness (kinda gross) magic but at a cost.
Unfortunately, the story fell off a bit during the second quarter. It’s been a couple days since I finished the book now, and at this point I don’t think I could tell you much that happened in that quarter of the book. I do remember being very distracted by the prose then, but it was not an issue for me at all in the second half.
As other reviews have said, the events in the book’s description didn’t really pick up until the second half of the book. It almost feels like the start of a sequel—so much so that I wonder if this would’ve been better as a duology, which would’ve given us more time to experience the Choir and appreciate Marney’s relationships with those characters more.
At the halfway point, the reader meets a whole new cast of characters—all at the same time via dialogue from one of said new characters. Each of these characters had their own religion, background, political goals, and past romantic relationships with other characters. This was all very hard to keep track of because the characters have such similar seductive and brash personalities. It also didn’t help to be stuck in Marney’s head because Marney is attracted to pretty much everyone. Marney’s reverence for women is an essential part of the character (and was so refreshing to read!) BUT, when everyone is crazy and hot, they all kinda blur together.
I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention that there are also clearly parallels/nods to lesbian culture specifically, but I am sure I missed many of these because I’m not a member of the community. I’m leaving the review of this aspect to people who know what they’re talking about.
This is absolutely not a crowd-pleaser fantasy, but I do think it has the potential (and deserves) to garner a devoted following from the right readers. I’m seeing comparisons to Gideon the Ninth, and I think that’s right to an extent, but the tones are a bit different. I would also throw out a sprinkle of Arcane and A League of Their Own, but there’s something grittier here.
This is not a romance, but note there are sex scenes. Some relationships and scenes are quite toxic and even abusive, which was hard to read. Check content warnings.
eARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship
squid_rl's review against another edition
A fun read until chapter 11, which included a very violent, very long sex scene that seemed to portray the violence as sexy, even though clearly not consensual
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism