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madipenn'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: Animal death, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Death, Rape, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Transphobia, Murder, and Outing
Minor: War
ceeceegee'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
4.75
Graphic: Rape, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Outing, Death of parent, and Homophobia
sorayah11's review
4.0
Graphic: Rape, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
Moderate: Physical abuse, Stalking, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Transphobia, War, and Classism
r_a_bell'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: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Sexual violence, Outing, Animal death, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, and Homophobia
Moderate: Murder, Vomit, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Panic attacks/disorders
ehmannky'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
3.0
I liked the characters and their relationship, and I liked getting to explore a world where queerness is embedded into the society, but the overall mystery and court intrigue did nothing for me. I think many problems could have been solved had the timeline been drawn out and the characters given more time to adjust to things and interactions with more of the palace residents. Like, this is billed as a slowburn, which I suppose it kind of is considering it's over 500 pages, but the story itself takes place over 3 weeks, with the romance taking place over 1 week. Like for the reader this is a slowburn but it's still soooooo fast in-universe. And since it's such a short timeline, I truly did not care even a little bit about the reveal of who was behind the mysteries, because we really had so little interaction with them throughout the story. I cannot believe there was a villain monologue where every step of the plan was spelled out (because again, the book's timeline is so short, and there's not really any space for the characters to actually solve the mystery or learn about this secondary character). I also didn't care for how there's never any down time. Every single chapter ends with some kind of cliffhanger and interruption. Like, it got to the point where Cae and Vel would have a quiet moment and I'd just brace for someone to knock on the door because they never get to have a normal conclusion to a story.
As many reviewers have pointed out, there is an on-the-page rape very quickly and most of the book is Velasin recovering from it. And even though there are trigger warnings, I think it's important to know that this assault and his first suicide attempt take place within the first 50 pages. Like, avoid if that would be triggering.
Graphic: Death, Rape, Animal death, Violence, Blood, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Murder
purplepenning's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Violence, Rape, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Sexism, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Body horror, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Classism, Animal death, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Ableism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Outing, Self harm, Vomit, and Xenophobia
Though it's a well-handled journey of healing, a main point of view character experiences significant trauma early in and deals with trauma recovery for much of the book.sissizc'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
2.0
Graphic: Outing, Animal death, Sexual assault, Murder, Blood, Animal cruelty, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Self harm, Rape, Homophobia, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Vomit
egcdf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Sexual content, Blood, Animal death, Sexual violence, Rape, and Self harm
Moderate: Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, and Death of parent
hades_hotline's review
4.25
Graphic: Death, Suicide attempt, Grief, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Outing, Homophobia, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood
Minor: Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Sexism, and Fire/Fire injury
bookswithhojo'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
5.0
Graphic: Sexual violence, Self harm, Violence, Death of parent, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, and Murder