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mariajustmary'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
3.75
Graphic: War, Confinement, Violence, Transphobia, and Murder
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Racism, Sexism, and Classism
fannylaine's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: War, Death, and Transphobia
Minor: Toxic relationship
lorriss'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
4.5
Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Transphobia, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Racism, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Car accident, Confinement, Deadnaming, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Violence, and War
Moderate: Medical content, Miscarriage, Gaslighting, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Vomit, Alcohol, Classism, Colonisation, and Infidelity
Minor: Child death, Excrement, Lesbophobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, Slavery, Abortion, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship
foxwish'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
4.0
It was wonderful to read a fantasy story from the perspective of adult women, where many of them have kids/kid charges and it's an accomplishment that the children were all dynamic characters and not frustrating to read about or detrimental to the plot in a way they sometimes are. Themes of motherhood and found family are very strong here.
The romances and friendships all felt organic to me and I was definitely rooting for the budding new romance in the book.
The trans storyline was by far the strongest and was what made this book 5 stars for me, it used a great many talking points I've heard from trans people, allies and TERFs so it was bone chilling how accurate to real life the arguments the characters were having felt.
We also get POC characters and lesbian characters, but their struggles were sidelined somewhat and I am hoping they will get their chance to shine in the next book.
I'm glad the second book is out because I can't wait to read it and find out where these characters go next.
Edit: After reading the second book I've changed my rating to 4 stars as I realised the ending to this book destroys multiple characters storylines and is partially responsible for book 2 being disappointing.
Graphic: Death of parent, Kidnapping, and Transphobia
Moderate: Car accident, Infidelity, Murder, Outing, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Sexual content, Classism, Ableism, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, and War
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Eating disorder, and Toxic relationship
risaleel'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? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Death of parent, Outing, Death, Transphobia, Racism, and War
Moderate: Sexism, Toxic friendship, Grief, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Kidnapping
Minor: Drug use, Confinement, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Infidelity, and Kidnapping
black_cat_iiix's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Transphobia, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Racism, Animal cruelty, and War
Minor: Slavery, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Car accident, Toxic relationship, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
traa'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
4.25
Graphic: Dysphoria, Murder, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, Violence, War, Death, Animal death, Blood, Car accident, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Fatphobia and Outing
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic
th18's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
- Fast pace and seemed more YA than anything, too many modern references for me personally but each to their own.
- This also felt like the second book of the series at the start there was just so much unexplained things thrown in.
- Whilst the book did deal with modern topics such as race and trans rights, I wish it also talked a bit about harmful beauty standards due to Elle literally hiding her true self from her husband.
- I feel like the amount of swear words was also unnneeded.
- I love the idea of queer witches and empowered modern women but I feel like the talk about adulthood was very bleak
- The writing and worldbuilding also felt quite underdeveloped which was disappointing
- Finally the use of the d slur was completely unneeded
Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Death, Deadnaming, Gaslighting, Classism, Cursing, Car accident, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Transphobia, Child abuse, and Alcohol
Minor: Abandonment, Toxic friendship, Racism, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Outing, Kidnapping, Self harm, Infidelity, and Abortion
ktkeps'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Infidelity, Misogyny, Outing, Child abuse, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
meliemelo'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
5.0
Did I have a tremendous amount of fun reading it? YES.
Some parts may seem heavy-handed, and all the Spice Girls reference may not age well, sure. I maintain my five stars, if only because I thoroughly enjoy this novel - which I read entirely within the course of one day and two train journeys. The characters are interesting, the queer rep pretty good, the you-know-who tackles feel great, and most of all I really loved the story and the universe it is set in. Also hands down one of the best (or most fun) closing lines ever.
Graphic: War, Murder, Grief, Transphobia, Violence, Sexual content, Outing, Animal death, Blood, and Alcohol
Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, and Toxic relationship