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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
drp_moonlight's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
The book alternates between 3 POV characters (Lala, Emil, and Rosella) but the extremely short chapters cut into each character's limited development. On top of that, Alifair (Lala's love interest) was ignored almost until the end. Emil and Rosella are supposed to follow the trope of childhood friends to lovers but there is nothing to actually develop them as such. They barely interact until they are together.
The writing dragged on and on without going anywhere. It took nearly half the pages to get to the plot. I was bored out of my mind half the time. The only time I left my stupor was when McLemore would reuse the phrase "given a girl's name at birth". When I first read this phrase in Rojas, I was enthralled by it's magic but by the 5th time in this book I was annoyed.
The ending was sweet, though unrealistic, but this is a fairytale after all.
In conclusion, read Rojas instead. It's the same plot with better writing and pacing.
Graphic: Racism, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Death of parent and Blood
Minor: Sexual content
mandkips's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Racism, and Torture
Minor: Homophobia
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
lettuce_read's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism
Moderate: Transphobia and Homophobia
katesigrist's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Transphobia
Moderate: Racial slurs
Minor: Antisemitism