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voidature's review
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Mental illness, Murder, Outing, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Homophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Self harm, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Vomit and Transphobia
meridianriver's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Sexual assault, and Suicide
kayleypew'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
2.5
The intro was so painfully wordy and over descriptive of nothing happening I almost frogged it, but truly had to reread sections multiple times to stay focused long enough to put meaning to the words. Thankfully the wordiness subdues and becomes more readable.
Graphic: Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Abandonment, Rape, Sexual assault, Murder, Violence, and Homophobia
sabertoothjello'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: Homophobia, Suicide, Ableism, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Outing, and Blood
Moderate: Vomit, Animal death, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Emotional abuse, Transphobia, and Infidelity
tesshersh's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I do overall think the authors note is truthful in that it is a story of healing at the end of it all. it’s rough that the triggering content happens so soon into the book before you’ve really gotten the chance to get into the story/characters, so I can def see how it would put someone off from continuing the book.
overall, though, I had a lot of fun reading this! I found the characters likeable and the casual diversity very refreshing. The writing felt a bit like a debut novel at times, and the pacing was overall a bit awkward (a 500+ page book taking place over a week? like 10000 things happen every single day), but tbh I had a really good time with it because I love gay drama!
Graphic: Sexual content, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts
angel_hardy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Rape, Vomit, Self harm, Homophobia, Violence, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Suicide
Moderate: Animal death
skitterythump's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder
Moderate: Rape
nely'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
4.5
Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Suicide
madelegg's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
As angry as I am about it wasting so much of my time with the plot bloating, the characters were just spot on and excellent, every dialogue exchange was killer, and I was invested in almost every main character. This book would have soared if it cared more about characters than plot. The two just didn't mesh right.
Oh but my real biggest complaint is how poorly the manufacturers bound this book. Brand new copy and I had huge chunks of pages falling out of the back because they were poorly glued. Do better, Tor. This is a fucking disgrace.
Graphic: Rape, Homophobia, Suicide attempt, and Suicide
Minor: Ableism and Panic attacks/disorders
marareading'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
4.0
This story centers around Vel and Cae. They find themselves in an arranged marriage from different kingdoms and then all hell breaks loose, and they have to figure out what is happening. They are learning to trust each other. Vel has to find a way to heal his trauma and has his best friend and valet Markel with him in this new kingdom with new customs. This new kingdom, where Cae is from also happens to have a wonderfully queernorm society.
I loved that Vel is such a genius with politics. His character is wonderfully written. This is a great fantasy that had a cozy renaissance feel, but also had danger, politics, and mystery to it. I loved the magic that was tied into the story. This is exactly how I would love to read my fantasy from now on. The atmosphere and scenery were so well thought out that I felt immersed in the story every time I picked up this book. There were some slower parts in the beginning, but I definitely think the pacing overall balanced.
Graphic: Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts