Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Saint Death's Daughter by C.S.E. Cooney

5 reviews

clarabooksit's review

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adventurous dark medium-paced
  • 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? Yes

4.25


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minervacerridwen's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

How to start reviewing the ride I've just been on?
From the opening letter, I was hooked by the story. Events immediately took off, and meeting Nita, the tension between the sisters was immediately palpable, even as a lot of information about the characters was being shared. The pacing was inconsistent - suddenly it skipped seven years, and I had to recover from the time jump as if it had been my first ride in a TARDIS. Only to be dragged along with just as much enthusiasm into the next part, and the next, never knowing what the destination might be, but fully absorbed in the journey.
I adore so many different aspects of this book. The writing style! The footnotes (and the way the typesetting was somehow so cleverly done that reading them never made me get lost in the original sentence)! The cover! The poetry! The worldbuilding! And most of all: the main character, Lanie! It's such a breath of fresh air to have such a positive main character, without it ever feeling fake. Every other emotion is welcomed and even explored, but the way Lanie looks around herself in the world and LOVES made me want to read about her forever.
Also, the slow-burn relationship between her and Canon Lir is described so beautifully courteously that even I, aromantic ace as I am, swooned.


There was a lot of description and background information, but to me it stayed just on this side of balanced, enriching the worldbuilding. At many times Saint Death's Daughter felt like the book equivalent of a pastry, or a whole bag of them. Sweet, layered, with a hidden core of sharp citrus tartness every now and then. Covered with a suspiciously blood red mirror glaze and sprinkled with crushed skeleton flakes. (As you may notice, it is also one of those books that makes me confirm my love for language and stories and books in general, and renews my inspiration and will to write.)

I marked a lot of content warnings (and possibly even missed some), as this is a story of someone born in a family of assassins and torturers, in a world with a history of war and hate against neighbouring nations - but much more importantly, I do want to mention that in spite of all that, an incredible amount of kindness is shown throughout the story. It's about death, but it's also bright and colourful, inspiring and hopeful. I look forward to the sequel.

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smileyblue's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced
  • 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

Within twenty pages, I fell in love with Miscellaneous ("Lanie") Stones and was entranced by the world that CSE Cooney had crafted. In sharp contrast with gothic, edgy tone adopted by other books with necromancer main characters, the energy of Saint Death's Daughter was bright, loving, and hopeful. The author's prose, reminiscent of parlor room period novels, held down the wondering tone throughout. 

I was impressed by how deeply character-driven the plot was given that "new" magical properties are introduced at intervals. Despite some involvement of the world's twelve gods, at no point did it ever feel nauseatingly deus-ex-machina. Character deaths, too, felt in line with the story, not chosen to pluck at the reader's heartstrings.
For example, after being so horrible to Lanie, Nita's gruesome death struck me as cathartic in a Roald Dahl sort of way.


All this praise aside, I found myself hungering for more of the first part of the book. In some ways, it felt like the heart of the story was with fifteen-year-old Lanie. Cooney's voice truly sparkled off the page when working with young Lanie's voice, reminding me of the whimsy of Terry Pratchett's Discworld. Perhaps this glittering nostalgia helped underpin the pain and nostalgia of the later portions of the book, but I wished to have had a bit more.

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thoughtsontomes's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful mysterious tense 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

4.0

If you like spooky bone magic, this is for you. This is more whimsical gothic than other weird necromancy books I’ve read, which was a delight. There’s some pretty heavy worldbuilding at times and not everything is wrapped up nicely (I originally didn’t realize it was a series) but knowing there’s more books to come leaves me interested. 

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aardwyrm's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious slow-paced
  • 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

Cooney's prose is rich on the scale of croquembouche and should be treated accordingly. The prose and general structure walk a tightrope that passes over twee and saccharine, and there are occasional stumbles, but the overall effect is worth it. The book is the epitome of "no plot, just vibes" for nigh on 500 pages despite having a few vague throughlines. The feeling of being a fourteen year old goth listening to The Black Parade just before falling asleep. There aren't characters so much as beautiful paper dolls with clever joints being puppeted across a stage made of pitch-black cotton candy.

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