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colorcrystals'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
The story is presented in two timelines and 3 points of view. Lala is a Romani girl in 1518 forced to hide her heritage and her love for the trans boy her aunt has raised. The second timeline is in the modern day, with our narrators being Emil and Rosella. Emil is Romani, and has purposefully not learned his family’s history to distance himself from it. Rosella is Latina and proud of her family and heritage, but still strives to fit in with the other girls.
I have to be honest, it took a little bit for me to really get into the book. But once I hit like the 50% mark, I was hooked. The prose is absolutely gorgeous. The terms “rich” and “lucious” come to mind. This is a very lyrical, poetic style that made the audiobook particularly nice to listen to. It artfully tackled topics racism, misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia in the most perfect way. The characters were wonderfully developed and multifaceted. My only issue was that it took so long for me to get truly sucked in.
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Racism, Grief, Lesbophobia, Sexism, Classism, Homophobia, and Transphobia
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
Minor: Pregnancy and Antisemitism
zombiezami's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Child death, Grief, Racism, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Death
Moderate: Blood, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Confinement, Antisemitism, Self harm, Transphobia, Classism, Hate crime, Homophobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Bullying, Outing, Sexual content, Cursing, and Genocide
Minor: Sexual violence, Cultural appropriation, and Rape
sarahaf712's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Deadnaming, Death, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Outing, Racism, Sexism, Cultural appropriation, Hate crime, Misogyny, and Transphobia
Minor: Biphobia, Classism, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Genocide, Acephobia/Arophobia, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Police brutality
bookbabe0614's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Minor: Death
aseaoftomes'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
This book is told in a dual timeline, one in 1815, and the other in present day, or some equivalent. It follows a cast of characters both past and present as they deal with an outbreak of a plague (the Dancing Plague to be specific) and how the events of the past are intertwined in the present. And I think that's all I'll say to avoid spoilers.
The writing was absolutely gorgeous. I loved it a lot. It's captures the atmosphere of the book and the emotions and it was just some of the most gorgeous prose I've read in a long time. I normally don't pay attention to the writing in detail, but this time it was hard to avoid. Definitely a highlight for me.
The plot is pretty much what I mentioned above, and is hard to fully describe because it's a quieter book. There's a good mix of plot and character work but it's a bit more character focused. Pretty much all you need to know though is there's a plague and we follow certain characters from different backgrounds who are involved in it all in a specific way.
The setting was also lovely. The 1815 portion primarily takes place in Strasbourg and the Alsace region in Germany and it's slightly unclear where the present day portion took place. But both settings played an interesting role, and while it wasn't the main focus, I enjoyed it regardless.
Finally, the characters. I really enjoyed all of them - Lala, Alifair, Emil, Rosella...they were all great characters. The first two characters were back in 1815 and I loved their portions the most. I loved the exploration of groups of people we normally don't see at the forefront of novels like the Romani for example. That was a huge part of the novel and I adored it for a variety of reasons. Rosella and her background was also interesting and added an extra layer as well. It was absolutely fantastic. I loved the romances as well and the relationships in general. And the themes that were explored as well like identity, love, friendships, how the past matters for our present...all of it was just so good.
All in all, a pleasant surprise and one that I plan on revisiting in the future.
Moderate: Death, Grief, Pregnancy, Racism, Transphobia, Xenophobia, and Homophobia
Minor: Sexual content
ehmannky'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
4.5
Graphic: Xenophobia, Racism, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Child death, and Grief
erinsbookshelves'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
Graphic: Racism, Transphobia, Death, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Antisemitism, Ableism, and Violence
booksthatburn'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? It's complicated
5.0
As a brief aside: it’s fascinating to me that one of the realistic and very believable parts of this book is the dancing plague. They’re real things that have really happened at different times in history (including Strausbourg, 1518), but they fit right into the magical feeling of this story.
The chapters are on the short side and rotate pretty consistently between the three main characters, only breaking the pattern a couple of times. I sometimes felt stymied because just as something really interesting was happening in one section it would end and switch to the next narrator, but towards the end the switches started really working for me and I liked the effect a lot better. It’s a structural choice that leads to some pretty cool transitions between sections as they are thematically linked (two perspectives share a time and the third does not).
Moderate: Misogyny, Transphobia, Homophobia, Racism, Blood, and Death
Minor: Ableism, Antisemitism, and Death of parent
CW for ableism, misogyny, transphobia, homophobia, antisemitism (backstory), racism, blood, parental death (backstory), death.mirichasha'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
4.75
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Death, Transphobia, and Racism
Minor: Homophobia, Sexism, Rape, Racial slurs, Antisemitism, and Violence
harperhoney'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
4.25
Graphic: Racism, Death, and Mental illness
Moderate: Body shaming, Death of parent, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual content, Transphobia, Xenophobia, and Grief
Minor: Bullying, Deadnaming, and Hate crime