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orchidd'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? N/A
3.75
Graphic: Confinement, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Racism, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Gaslighting, Stalking, Misogyny, Sexism, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Alcohol, Death of parent, and Murder
doylee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.5
I needed someone cute & queer & I got exactly that! Love that for myself. I love these fantastical historical fiction stories that allow the past to be a little better than it actually was. I was invested in this story fairly quickly & I was able to get to know & love (or hate) all the characters pretty quickly too which I love.
Sometimes I was confused a bit by the writing. And I almost never notice writing faults. Some scenes were very rushed & not descriptive enough for my taste & then sometimes the descriptions just didn’t really make sense in my mind.
Apart from that, this is a fun story that I really enjoyed after being in such a reading slump for all of February. It was quite sad at times but the overall emotion is pretty happy & I loved that.
Graphic: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Torture
Moderate: Racism and Kidnapping
Minor: Gun violence, Homophobia, and Death of parent
rey_therese07'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? No
4.25
Graphic: Confinement, Murder, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Kidnapping, Grief, Gaslighting, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Alcohol, Death of parent, Drug use, Racism, Homophobia, Sexism, and Sexual content
dobbsthedog's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book!
I think it's the first historical Shaun Hutchinson has written and I thought it was well done. I liked that he included a note at the end to explain the intentional historical inaccuracies, which I did notice while reading. (I won't go into them because mild spoilers!)
So, the book is basically about two magicians, one real and one not. And by real, I mean he's actually really magic, and by not I mean he's a skilled illusionist. They both have similar, though quite different upbringings, and they meet at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle in 1909. I liked the cast of characters and the setting, I think everything worked really well together.
Reading it kind of reminded me of being at Expo 86, all the people and the grandeur and wonder of it all. All the different pavilions and technologies and performers. Honestly, it was a pretty spectacular thing, seeing as I have fairly vivid memories of it yet I was only 3 years old when I attended with my family.
Despite the CWs, it was a fun read, and I do recommend.
Graphic: Child abuse and Confinement
Moderate: Kidnapping
Minor: Death of parent
puddlemud's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, and Sexism
criticalgayze's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Coming in at 504 pages, there's a lot of room in this YA tome for streamlining. A better editor would have talked Hutchinson into slimming this down by cutting down on the performances and the ruminating on abuse and the " white gay man reflects on how hard America has been for marginalized people" and the "is this thing that is definitely the plan the plan?" Then we could have had a really great 300 page novel.
I know this is asking a lot of the "too much to read" among us, but the back 30% contains the evidence of a really great novel waiting to be edited out. Once the thing that has obviously been the plan is officially revealed to be the plan, the novel kicks into high gear. The romance becomes achingly cute (see the bottom two quotes), the tension ramps up to WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN levels, and the inclusion of illusions becomes a really fun plot device.
To add a quick note on white men including greater inequality in their MM romances, I did find it troubling how much "America was really racist" plays into the novel, yet the story also exists in a world in which sodomy laws aren't a big deal with the moments at the end of the story in which the leads display fairly public displays of affection.
Quotes:
"'I was running because I didn’t want to be late,' Wil said. 'He was waiting for me and I said I would meet him. I was afraid I had taken too long, but then I saw Jack standing by the entrance to Cairo, and he smiled when he saw me as if it were his happiest day instead of my own.'" (52%)
“'Yes. Yes to today, yes to tomorrow, and yes to whatever comes after that.'” (76%)
"I think it must’ve been a person who’d wished for love but had never known it who’d created the first clock. Because time is a reminder of how quickly the present passes and how little of the future remains, and no one in love would want to know that." (76%)
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Ableism, Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, Racism, and Gaslighting
Minor: Murder, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Death of parent
scorpioreads_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse
Moderate: Misogyny, Homophobia, Sexism, and Racism
Minor: Death of parent and Kidnapping
simixfe'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? No
4.75
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Racism, Sexual harassment, Torture, Violence, and Vomit
Moderate: Alcohol and Death of parent