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ailsaod's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Homophobia, and Religious bigotry
The rape is only implied but features pretty heavily.bookhoarderbea'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
4.0
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism, Slavery, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Colonisation, and Dysphoria
Minor: Racism, Rape, and War
caitlyn_maesa_wandless'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
4.5
Graphic: Slavery
Moderate: Racism, Rape, Kidnapping, and Sexual harassment
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Vomit, Grief, Outing, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Homophobia and Lesbophobia
Self-injury for magical purposes. Misgendering of a side character.foreverinastory's review against another edition
- 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
Rep: Japanese inspired cast. Dark skinned genderfluid queer MC, sapphic cis female MC, dark skinned male side character, nonbinary side character, indigenous cishet male side character.
CWs: Torture (water boarding), violence, blood, death, murder, slavery, alcoholism, alcohol consumption, trafficking (slaves), colonisation, gun violence, physical abuse, grief, addiction, gore, rape, injury/injury detail, misogyny, sexism, sexual assault, child death, confinement, xenophobia, general queerphobia/queermisia, drug use, emotional abuse, sexual harassment, animal cruelty (mermaids), drug abuse, child abuse, racism. Moderate: vomit, genocide recounted, pedophilia, kidnapping, death of parent, lesbophobia/lesbomisia, classism, gaslighting, war.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Genocide, Pedophilia, Vomit, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, War, and Classism
luna_is_superior'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: Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, and Colonisation
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Trafficking, and Classism
Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Vomit, Grief, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
sssssoup'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: Bullying, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Homophobia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Vomit, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria
Minor: Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and War
falchionm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Alcoholism and Torture
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Murder
booksthatburn's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The characterization is layered and subtle; the author used multiple POV characters to their best advantage, using their different perspectives on the same events to keep the reader in the loop even when not everyone had the full picture. I loved the pacing, both how its broken up across the main sections and how the story is handled within those sections.
This is the kind of book where no one is safe but it's mostly going to be okay in the end. It takes the time needed to get there so that when things get resolved it feels like everyone earned their endings, for better or worse. There's a lot of traumatic backstory but it's revealed a little at a time, giving the reader time to acclimate before more details (or more traumas) are revealed. That's so important here because it's ultimately a book about extricating from bad situations and coming to terms with the past in a way that lets them be whole and wholly themselves. Not everyone chooses to work through things and get better, because it's also about choices and complicity under a colonialist and brutal system writ large as well as the smaller setting on the ship. It doesn't shy away from trauma, because to show any less than it does would be to rob it of impact and importance with regards to its broader themes. A few scenes were definitely written with a particular focus to be shocking, but in a way that sharply focuses the characters and makes the stakes clear. It didn't treat trauma as a plot twist, but it understood that inflicting trauma is a form of escalation. While they might be the most traumatic or shocking to happen by that time in the narrative, they weren't necessarily the worst things that had happened to the characters at that point.
While this is marketed as YA, I would hesitate before recommending it to anyone under 16, and at any age I would definitely recommend reading the CWs first. Having said that, there's a lot of really good catharsis in this book because it is fundamentally a book about processing trauma and being whole even when you've felt broken, and that's such an important thing to show younger readers.
Graphic: Death, Torture, and Blood
Moderate: Child abuse and Racism
Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Slavery
CW for homophobia, colonialism, racism, sexual assault (not depicted), mutilation, child abuse, vomit, blood, slavery, torture, major character death, death.