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frankiejo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
like basically every other YA novel I've ever read, I wish this was longer. I would have loved to see more fleshing out of the characters (I thought Jacque's character was fascinating and her development engaging to read, but I wish the other characters had the same level of depth, Caseem in particular I felt was underwritten.)
I also would have liked to see more of therebellion at the end, it felt like it went by too quickly.
otherwise, i really enjoyed this! I found the romance between Larkin and Amias extremely believable. I actually found this book on a "sapphic books" site, and because the blurb didn't refer to Amias by any pronouns, I assumed the sapphic bit was their relationship and that Amias was a woman. This was not the case, although there is some lovely sapphic representation! I am not saying "Amias is a man" as a downside of the book and it does not factor into the rating, this is just to let people know if they also assumed the romance was a sapphic one. Again, I found the romance extremely believable and natural, not forced like I've felt in other books. I was rooting for them and honestly believed that they would fall for each other even in their extremely grim situation. Really, my only complaint isn't a complaint at all, it's just that there was a part of me hungering for Amias/Larkin/Elf, I felt that Larkin and Elf had chemistry as well and I'm always starving for more polyam rep, but again, this is just a me thing and is not at all on the author, their platonic relationship was just as strong and I was satisfied with it.
highly recommend.
rep; sapphic major character
I also would have liked to see more of the
otherwise, i really enjoyed this! I found the romance between Larkin and Amias extremely believable. I actually found this book on a "sapphic books" site, and because the blurb didn't refer to Amias by any pronouns, I assumed the sapphic bit was their relationship and that Amias was a woman. This was not the case, although there is some lovely sapphic representation! I am not saying "Amias is a man" as a downside of the book and it does not factor into the rating, this is just to let people know if they also assumed the romance was a sapphic one. Again, I found the romance extremely believable and natural, not forced like I've felt in other books. I was rooting for them and honestly believed that they would fall for each other even in their extremely grim situation. Really, my only complaint isn't a complaint at all, it's just that there was a part of me hungering for Amias/Larkin/Elf, I felt that Larkin and Elf had chemistry as well and I'm always starving for more polyam rep, but again, this is just a me thing and is not at all on the author, their platonic relationship was just as strong and I was satisfied with it.
highly recommend.
rep; sapphic major character
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Slavery, Torture, Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Self harm
Moderate: Genocide, Vomit, and War
Minor: Sexual content
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