Reviews tagging 'Lesbophobia'

The Midnight Lie by Marie Rutkoski

15 reviews

dreamdust1600's review

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Its sapphic and it slaps

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jainabee's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I got this in the Banned Books Box subscription and was curious to read something totally new to me. Had a hard time putting it down and now am hungry for more! The story twists and turns in ways that startled me and I gave up trying to predict anything about the characters. How refreshing! And lovely writing. A pleasure to read and I'm so glad there's more!

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amazingracerose's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • 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

4.25


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strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

The beginning wasn’t very interesting but then the middle got better. I was getting excited to read the second one until the very last line. That last line made me so very angry, however I still need to read the second book to see what happens with said last line. 

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nicnevin's review

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

So this is the first book I've read from this author and its... Alright? I found the ending quite... Abrupt and the worldbuilding is a little slapdash however I realise that this is already set in a world from other books she wrote. 

Sid and Nirrim are a cute couple but I don't know how it ends. I guess leaving the book on such an abrupt ending ticked me off because it felt like a lot of build up for not much pay off bit I suppose that's why is more than one book. 

the magic blood reveal was pretty obvious so it annoyed me it took everyone so long to figure it out. Also shouldnt diluted blood be a yellowy orange colour? Maybe magic blood hits different idk


Don't get me wrong, the book is okay but just didn't gel with me. 

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annaki_laila's review against another edition

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fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

The bulk of the important plot points only started happening past the halfway point. There were enough moments of miscommunication to get on my nerves, though it could've been worse. Overall lacking in the world-building department; the base concept was interesting but there just wasn't enough to get properly immersed in.

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uraveragelesbianreader's review

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adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced
  • 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

I would give this book more stars if I could. Although I do not consider myself particularly vulnerable to tiktok marketing I will admit tiktok made me read this book and for once I would like to thank them for it. The writing of this book is wonderful and its prose keeps your interest and leaves you putting together the pieces at the same speed as our main character, leading to an engaging experience. On the note of the main character, Nirrim as a main character is a wonderful decision. Her development feels slow and steady but is not necessarily linear. She struggles, she progresses and she regresses as she finds her morals and values in a confusing world. Every element of the plot is wonderfully discovered and although not all the plotwists are gasp-inducing ones they all feel earned and powerful to the plot. I will not spoil anything but the ending is just wonderful and so so beautifully well earned. The ending felt like the final note of a wonderful song and if I do not get my hands on the second book as fast as possible I will not know what to do with myself. The main romance of this book was just spectacular. It didnt feel contrived or like it was forced into a plot that did not really need romance, this book NEEDED its romance subplot and it is used expertly to enhance the plot. I have to say Sid and Nirrim are most definitely in my top 3 sapphic book couples of all time. To give you an idea of just how good it is, I annotate my books with pink flags to denote romantic scenes, I went through at least 1/4 of my pink flags in this book alone. The way this book uses its fantasy setting to touch upon real issues in society was done expertly and although it is not technically a dystopia the parallels are quite clear. I would recommend this book to just about anyone but specifically; those who enjoy HEAVY romance subplots, those who enjoy mystery books and are looking to reach out and people who think reading about lesbians uncovering secrets of the past sounds fun.  

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alsoapples's review

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adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0


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claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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k_aro's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

WHEW! I really didn't expect much from The Midnight Lie—be as it may, I'm a little bit of a snob over fantasy novels due to the fact that I read a large quantity as a kid, and I saw it recommended from BookTok, which, based on my previous BookTok books has been... a mixed bag. Admittedly I wasn't shocked by many of the reveals, but I don't think that's a critique of the book; I think it's smart about revealing just enough that it makes sense on re-reads.

That said, I did not expect the ending! It's not like, a cheap plot twist, but it's such a painful refusal of closure that it hurts me just thinking about it. I didn't cry over the ending, but sheesh, I'm really looking forward to reading the next book. I also think it's a super well-written villain ending—I've read some books *coughs* The Young Elites *coughs* that REALLY muck up the villain ending and essentially spoil the experience of having read the book at all.


I do have some things I don't love about this book: for one, that Nirrim is so blind to Raven's consistent emotional/domestic abuse, despite her ability to spot it in other people (i.e. Aden). Like, I get that Nirrim and Raven's relationship is different to that of her and Aden's, but it just feels kind of weird that up until the proper reveal of who Raven is, Nirrim's insistent on thinking of her as the same one-dimensional mother figure who sometimes makes mistakes and hurts her. I'm not saying Nirrim has to be on board to condemn Raven the first time she does something bad, but it's just... weird, I guess.

I also think that the first like... fourth? Of the book is a little slow. It's got a lot to set up, so I'm not, like, mad that it's slow, but it does make it a bit hard to get into.

Also, there's certainly NO commentary going on about how the Half Kith's body parts are literally being used for the pleasure of the High Kith. Nope. No commentary at all. Not even about how Raven extorts families to get them families to move up in the world. Nada. Zip. Nothing. (This is sarcasm—sometimes, fantasy caste systems can be a bit... overstated, which to a certain degree could be true here, it also I think treats it with a bit more real parallels that it feels more verisimilitudinous to me.)

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