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maeverose's review against another edition
3.0
But all in all, I’m just glad I didn’t hate the book (as I almost always do with YA fantasy), because now I get to keep the physical copy without feeling bad about it 😆. This is the most beautiful book cover I own.
I will add that I’m unsure of the author’s identity and whether or not she had Romani sensitivity readers for this book. We’re following two Romani sisters, and Romani slurs are used throughout, and there’s a lot of violence in general towards Romani people (called ‘Travellers’ in the book), and depictions of some of their spiritual practices. I’m not Romani myself, so I don’t know if these are things they actually practice or believe or if they were just made up for the story. That also means I can’t fairly judge if the representation was done well.
Some other minor notes:
This has the beautiful + plain twins trope, which I’m personally kind of annoyed by.
I really don’t like the nicknames, I wish they’d just gone with their full names. They feel too modern. Idk they bother me.
There is about two pages of a misunderstanding trope but thankfully it gets squashed right away. Still annoying though.
The vampires in this sparkle….
Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Slavery, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Animal death, Body shaming, Racism, Child death, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Ableism, Genocide, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Lesbophobia, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, and Sexual content
The g slur for Romani people is used frequently throughout, always in a way that acknowledges it is offensiveamy_reading_23's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
I also wouldn't really say it's a vampire book as the vampires don't come into it until the very end. It's more of a historical novel about two sisters trying to survive tyranny and hardship.
Something that concerns me is I am not aware if the author is a traveller or has consulted with travellers for sensitivity reading. The community seemed to be portrayed well to me, however I know this community has a lot of closed practises and as someone who is not a traveller myself I can't really say whether the representation is accurate or not.
Overall though it was a good book, just be prepared that is is very dark and has a lot of triggering and sad bits.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Misogyny, Trafficking, Alcohol, Body horror, Kidnapping, Violence, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Hate crime, Slavery, Racism, Physical abuse, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Slavery and Vomit
isabella18's review
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Death, Racism, and Slavery
Moderate: Death of parent, Gore, Murder, and Confinement
Minor: Homophobia, Rape, and Sexual assault
violetends's review
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Death, Racism, and Confinement
Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Rape
itisnatal's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Confinement, Murder, Sexual assault, Death, and Death of parent
leona's review
- 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? It's complicated
3.0
The book is short, and I feel like it is targeted in some aspects to an older YA audience, but the writing seems a bit younger, it is quite simplistic. However there is still some nice imagery and good foreshadowing which I noticed throughout the book. The characters weren't bad but I didn't really feel strongly connected to them at any point and I think the sisterly relationship between Kizzy and Lil was nicely done, if a little bit cringey potentially at times. I enjoyed the presentation of the traveller people in this book, as well as learning about their culture.
This book talked about some difficult topics, the two girls are enslaved and presented with a future as 'serving girls'. I think the author handled them well, but not in a particularly new or enlightening way. This book was mostly just sad, it kind of lacked hope, and the ending was even sadder.
I liked the ending of the book very much (the last 30 pages or so) as it was relatively fast paced and entertaining, however I feel like the rest of the book had a tendency to feel kind of slow and I didn't feel like a whole lot actually happened in this book. It didn't exactly grip me, nor was I that interested that I felt particularly inclined to pick this up.
Overall, I don't think this is a bad book by any means, I just don't think it really met my tastes - I may have enjoyed it more if I had read it when I was a bit younger. So I am rating my fourth Kiran Milwood Hargrave book 3 stars.
Graphic: Death, Slavery, Blood, and Racism
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Confinement, and Death of parent
Minor: Racial slurs, Kidnapping, Animal death, Rape, and Trafficking
soswiin's review
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Death, Racism, Confinement, Murder, Sexual content, Slavery, and Violence
Moderate: Classism, Body horror, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
kirareads02's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
This book takes a classic story and tells it from the perspective of marginalised women and I think that's amazing. The book is beautifully written and the characters are so full and special you can't help but love them or hate them with everything you have. I could picture the characters so well and if I had to pick someone to play them in a film it would be so easy. The plot was well paced and never felt pointless or as though it was rushed or dragged out.
Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Animal cruelty, Blood, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, and Murder
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Animal death, Genocide, Rape, and Sexual violence
tashayns'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: Grief, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual harassment, and Slavery
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts
columnclub's review
- 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: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Confinement, Grief, Misogyny, and Murder
Minor: Sexual violence, Rape, Medical trauma, Torture, and Lesbophobia