ladybug12793 's review for:

Firebird by Juliette Cross

DID NOT FINISH: 34%

dark slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Even if you ignore the bonkers slave and slaver/colonizer trope (by the way that’s just rape bro. A slave can’t give consent to a slaver), this book was bad. The pacing was slow. The characters lacked any emotional depth. Lots of telling and not showing. I felt nothing even though this should be heartbreaking. Well nothing but ick. World building was alright. This was a STRUGGLE to get through. Again, not even based off of the taboo trope (which should be rated low based on that alone anyway but I digress..).

I want people to know that are curious about trying this book that it was not good even if you take away that red flag aspect.

Lots of SA glossed over, also. Honestly, would’ve been nice to have some TWs.

I’m not sure this book was even proofread one time. Here’s one example: “I wanted to stay longer, but I could couldn’t as Kara called me to the kitchen moments later with the master’s meal.”

This wasn’t part of dialogue so it definitely wasn’t a stutter. Just one of many errors.

I would not recommend

* please disregard grammatical errors due to accessible voice texting. Thanks.

Content Warnings