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jazzypizzaz's review against another edition
3.0
This book has it all-- mystery, romance, intrigue, friendship, action, puns, magic...
Have you ever felt that no matter how pleasant and cheerful you try to be, your emotions were building up inside you like explosions, waiting to burst and hurt the people you love? Have you ever met someone whose voice was so powerful it warmed you from the inside out, or seemed like it could knock down a building? Have you ever found a talent inside yourself, a talent for creating things, that feels like you're literally able to give your creations life?
Have felt like your own worst enemy was the stuff inside your own head -- anxiety, depression, and other illness -- and wished you could punch it in the face, like the mean bully on the playground?
This book takes those metaphorical ways that so much of us experience life and makes them *literal*: through magic and superheroes; through the setting of a dysptopian literal hellhole where beyond all sense, hope and compassion still bloom; through a diverse array of imaginative characters with disabilities and superpowers and demons and fierceness and, most importantly, love.
This is a heartfelt, sentimental book that culminates in a *painful* action-packed climax sequence with characters you've come to love being put through hell, but overall it's still a book that just feels *good* to read.
Have you ever felt that no matter how pleasant and cheerful you try to be, your emotions were building up inside you like explosions, waiting to burst and hurt the people you love? Have you ever met someone whose voice was so powerful it warmed you from the inside out, or seemed like it could knock down a building? Have you ever found a talent inside yourself, a talent for creating things, that feels like you're literally able to give your creations life?
Have felt like your own worst enemy was the stuff inside your own head -- anxiety, depression, and other illness -- and wished you could punch it in the face, like the mean bully on the playground?
This book takes those metaphorical ways that so much of us experience life and makes them *literal*: through magic and superheroes; through the setting of a dysptopian literal hellhole where beyond all sense, hope and compassion still bloom; through a diverse array of imaginative characters with disabilities and superpowers and demons and fierceness and, most importantly, love.
This is a heartfelt, sentimental book that culminates in a *painful* action-packed climax sequence with characters you've come to love being put through hell, but overall it's still a book that just feels *good* to read.
readalert's review against another edition
The story seems really interesting, but this needed ten more rounds of editing. The pacing is all over the place, details will change randomly, and characters will know something in one scene and not the next. Keeping track of a mystery is one thing, but keeping track of a poorly edited, constantly shifting piece is another
ohmage_resistance's review
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
The plot felt a bit out of control the entire time, and there are definitely parts about the world building that don't make much sense. It's also a bit too sweet/preachy for me at times. I liked the message, though, and the anxiety representation was pretty good.
I read this book for the asexual representation (Regan is ace), and it wasn't too much of a focus so far, but I’m curious to see what will happen with it in future books.
I read this book for the asexual representation (Regan is ace), and it wasn't too much of a focus so far, but I’m curious to see what will happen with it in future books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Addiction
Minor: Transphobia
bluejayreads's review
This book has been on my TBR list for literally years. It came across my radar a long time ago and I heard it had polyamory in it, so I put it on my list. And it managed to stay through several years of sorting and culling the list because the back cover information was so sparse on details that I didn't feel like I could make a good decision. And the ideas here are really cool. There's the city itself, slowly crumbling into the cavern beneath that used to be a river and is now an eternal fire, and the violent military/paramilitary group invested in keeping everybody there. There's the people themselves, changed in strange ways by a "miracle drug" that gave fantastic powers, but often with horrible consequences. There's our protagonists, a lizard-man with the power to turn invisible who had his memories stolen by a ghost and a singer with a super-powered voice, plus other characters like the ghost, a person who's been Frankenstein's monster-ed together out of other people, and the singer's two wives, one of whom is mostly made of plants. People just are queer and are polyamorous and use they/them pronouns and nobody thinks anything of it. There's perhaps an underground rebel organization, and there's definitely weird stuff going on. There are so many good things in this book. But there's also a mental illness/trauma angle that was so overwhelmingly heavy-handed. The characters are okay, but the only aspect of them that's really developed is that they have anxiety and/or are traumatized in different ways. The singer and her family are the most "trauma informed" characters I've ever read, and somehow they became that way while still actively living through that trauma. Every few pages someone else has an anxiety attack and someone else has to talk them through it. I'm not saying that the stuff they're going through isn't traumatic, because it is. But the story keeps interrupting what could have been a truly interesting adventure to shoehorn in stuff about trauma and anxiety. It really feels like one of those thinley-veiled Morally Edifying Literature stories from like the Victorian era, except instead of promoting Modesty and Virginity it's promoting Trauma Is Real and Be Compassionate With Anxiety Attacks. These are not bad things to promote, actually. But the way they're done here is so overwhelming and heavy-handed. If you're here for a good fantasy story, it's going to yank you out of the story repeatedly to go back to preaching about anxiety and trauma. If you're actually here for a Moral and Instructive Tale on Trauma and Mental Health, you're probably going to find much of this very triggering. There were really good ideas here and I did want to read the story. I just got so, so fed up with the excessive mental illness and trauma preaching.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Torture, and Violence
Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Trafficking, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Unrealityfinley's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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? It's complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Violence
Moderate: Addiction and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Transphobia
denimbaobab's review
5.0
I felt known from the first page of this novel. Thank you. More queerness, more hope, more otherness.
eloise_bradbooks's review
4.0
This was a joy to read.
The plot was interesting and developped quite well, but the heart of this story is the characters.
They are all so loveable in their own way. All different, all flawed in some way but well rounded enough that you can't help but feel part of their family. They all love each other and want to protect each other and that is so beautiful.
It was also great to see an asexual dragon-scale-skinned guy filled with anxiety as the main character, along side a brilliant cast of polyamorous married women who love each other and their child to bits, with agender and transgender rep too. These representations aren't forced or explained to the other characters, they just ARE. Many of the characters are disabled in a certain way but all heroes nonetheless.
I got a little confused at times reading it because there isn"t one POV per chapter - it's an all-seeing type of narration where one phrase could be one character's feelings and the phrase after is another's. Sometimes my mind struggled to juggle that, but that is one tiny detail in the grand scheme of things.
I am one of those readers who seems to be more interested in the characters than world-building or plot. So based on that, I enjoyed it so much, and can't wait to get book 2.
The plot was interesting and developped quite well, but the heart of this story is the characters.
They are all so loveable in their own way. All different, all flawed in some way but well rounded enough that you can't help but feel part of their family. They all love each other and want to protect each other and that is so beautiful.
It was also great to see an asexual dragon-scale-skinned guy filled with anxiety as the main character, along side a brilliant cast of polyamorous married women who love each other and their child to bits, with agender and transgender rep too. These representations aren't forced or explained to the other characters, they just ARE. Many of the characters are disabled in a certain way but all heroes nonetheless.
I got a little confused at times reading it because there isn"t one POV per chapter - it's an all-seeing type of narration where one phrase could be one character's feelings and the phrase after is another's. Sometimes my mind struggled to juggle that, but that is one tiny detail in the grand scheme of things.
I am one of those readers who seems to be more interested in the characters than world-building or plot. So based on that, I enjoyed it so much, and can't wait to get book 2.
felicitybennett's review
3.0
I got this book for free in a bundle. I thought the plot was good and the world was interesting, at times I had double to check the year the book was written because of some of dystopian world-building was a little to close to certain world events in 2020. And for better or worse, reminding me of the present marks a good dystopian sci-fi for me. The plot failed in the regard that the pacing was really slow in the beginning and I was constantly confused until about a third in. I almost gave up a few times but was glad I didn't.
The characters were diverse which was great, some were more memorable than others. Some show up for 5 seconds, seem important, then you never find out anything about them. But I guess that's what book 2 is for. Others were really cool and I loved their emotional arc.
The biggest problem for me was the dialogue. I get being positive but every conversation was either "Everything is going to be okay" (the last thing you want to hear when you're upset) or "Remember to Breathe", which is fine but it was really repetitive with how many conversations went the same way. I think what bothered me about it was that the characters would speak like a mental health app chatbot.
Overall: It was good, it ended on a cliffhanger but I'm passing on the second book.
The characters were diverse which was great, some were more memorable than others. Some show up for 5 seconds, seem important, then you never find out anything about them. But I guess that's what book 2 is for. Others were really cool and I loved their emotional arc.
The biggest problem for me was the dialogue. I get being positive but every conversation was either "Everything is going to be okay" (the last thing you want to hear when you're upset) or "Remember to Breathe", which is fine but it was really repetitive with how many conversations went the same way. I think what bothered me about it was that the characters would speak like a mental health app chatbot.
Overall: It was good, it ended on a cliffhanger but I'm passing on the second book.
sanamun's review
5.0
Dystopian superhero polyamory.
I love how hopeful this book is, the themes of redemption and choices and chosen family. I also love the diversity, the worldbuilding, and the characters. It's just really good.
I love how hopeful this book is, the themes of redemption and choices and chosen family. I also love the diversity, the worldbuilding, and the characters. It's just really good.