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courtnoodles's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Colonisation
Minor: Body horror and Abandonment
caitlink's review against another edition
4.5
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
Minor: Grief
booksthatburn's review against another edition
Setting aside the audio for a moment, I can't stand Gul. She was fine but a bit annoying, then midway through she shamed a girl for what she thought was a history of sex work but turned to actually have been rape and other abuses while a small child. Gul ended up apologizing and the only thing I liked about it is that the other person didn't accept the apology. Even if she'd been correct that it was sex work and consensual, that still would have been awful to try and shame her for it. In terms of the writing for the other girl, she was wielding that history of sexual abuse to try and say Gul wasn't ready or tough enough because she hadn't suffered enough as someone who'd "only" had her parents murdered in front of her.
The oppression olympics are noxious, I have zero emotional investment in Cavas (supposedly the love interest but at over halfway through I'm not seeing that yet, he's just a boy who's there), and I don't like Gul.
Moderate: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Excrement, and War
beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death, Sexism, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism
Moderate: Confinement, Gore, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Blood, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual violence and Torture
maregred's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
nitya's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.0
The pacing was a little rough, especially at the beginning, but the ending scenes definitely made up for it. And the instalove might not appeal to everyone but I didn't mind it here. The use of Hindi and Urdu worked so well (even for the words I didn't know - thankfully there's a glossary).
I can't WAIT to dive into the ARC for the sequel!
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, Genocide, and Slavery
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt
decklededgess's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I really enjoyed this book. I loved the cross of mythology and fictionalized fantasy throughout and the use of multiple South Asian languages to create the worldbuilding. I was a bit underwhelmed by the chosen one plot but not so much that it was boring. I have yet to read enough brown chosen one tropes before they get tiresome. I think this book would have been far more enjoyable had the narrator been able to pronounce literally ANY of the non English words INCLUDING the names. She could do only the basic ones and even then they sounded a little off. Publishers if you could be so kind as to find narrators who KNOW PRONUNCIATIONS that would be great. Especially when these books are SET abroad. South Asian American stories are different. American accents are part of diaspora. They are not part of indigenous South Asian stories.
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder