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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
squirrellydirge'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
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Moderate: Racism, Gore, and Transphobia
tahsintries's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Homophobia and Transphobia
iridium's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Graphic: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Racism, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Genocide
Minor: Bullying
sistinem24'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? No
4.5
Graphic: Homophobia and Transphobia
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
bookwyrmknits's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
I enjoyed the book, and both of its main plots and characters, but I really only felt a sense of immediacy for the historical characters. I felt their dangers much more than those of the contemporary characters, and so I was looking forward to the historical sections most. However, I really liked seeing how the two timelines meshed together. I also especially loved the author's note at the end about the history of the story that served as the inspiration for this retelling. And I liked that—given how little explanation we have for the real events—there was no attempt at fully explaining things in this story. In many ways, it is more of a character study focused on humanity than anything else, and in that sense it fits in very well with the fairy tale it is retelling.
Minor: Transphobia
aqulia's review against another edition
4.75
Moderate: Hate crime, Pregnancy, Homophobia, Racism, and Transphobia
Minor: Sexual content and Fire/Fire injury
clarabooksit's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Deadnaming, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Transphobia
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Antisemitism