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zombiezami's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
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
author_mackenzie_friel's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
4.5/5
Fascinating story
There is some spice (🔥🔥) & 🏳️🌈 representation
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
aqulia's review against another edition
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
4.75
This book is amazing! The way that the two timelines weave together is masterfully done, and the characters feel real. Both of the romances grow naturally, and the characters have great chemistry. The two settings, Strasbourg and Briar Meadow both feel like real places with history, and they both have a sense of magic in them. The prose flows nicely, and it's still easy to understand. McLemore is a wonderful job on this book. I'm going to have to read more book by them soon!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Hate crime, Pregnancy, Homophobia, Racism, and Transphobia
Minor: Sexual content and Fire/Fire injury
clarabooksit's review against another edition
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deadnaming, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Transphobia
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Antisemitism
aseaoftomes's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- 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
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Normally, I don't get along with magical realism/fabulism as a genre, but this one worked for me. It's hard for me to pinpoint why, but I definitely enjoyed it.
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Grief, Pregnancy, Racism, Transphobia, Xenophobia, and Homophobia
Minor: Sexual content
drp_moonlight's review against another edition
tense
slow-paced
- 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
I really wanted to love this book. I first encountered Mclemore's writing in the anthology All Out through their story Rojas which I absolutely loved. I was so excited to read a historical fiction with queer characters that was also an adaptation of a fairytale. But what I found instead were bland characters, slow pacing, and repetitive phrases.
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Death of parent and Blood
Minor: Sexual content
harperhoney's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
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
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