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gabe_escobedo'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Colonisation and Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual content, and Death of parent
capriqueen'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
4.0
The romantic subplots, while minor overall, are really interesting and I can’t wait to see where they go
The prejudice and institutional racism and white propaganda at every turn was disheartening and infuriating, and really well portrayed. Since the setting of the book is our world but a bit different, it really puts our world and history into perspective
Speaking of the world, the book comes with a map, a pronunciation guide, and a period table of athers (elements), but it really could’ve used a glossary. Some vocabulary is the same as ours (fabrics and animals, for example) but a lot isn’t, and trying to figure out what we call things was frustrating (anglereckoning is geometry, erelore is history, skiltakraft is alchemy, kolfni is carbon, etc). Half the time I just let my mind glaze over the unfamiliar terms, especially the chapter which covered Anequs’s entire first lesson of skiltakraft in exact unintelligible (to the reader) detail
The tone of the book feels almost a little detached, the sentence structure fairly basic. I think this is intentional, but it means a lot of narration is covered by “this happened, and the next day this happened”
Regardless, the world and the story and the characters still captured me and I look forward to the next book
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racism, Xenophobia, and Colonisation
Moderate: Slavery
Minor: Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and War
scramuel058'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Homophobia, Racism, Transphobia, Xenophobia, and Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, and Dysphoria
Minor: Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, and War
jjvaldezbooks's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Bullying, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Blood, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Genocide, Police brutality, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Biphobia, Homophobia, Slavery, Death of parent, Murder, and War
grace_b_3's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I enjoyed the ride of this book, but there were definitely some flaws. The world-building was kind of clunky. There are lots of long paragraphs of exposition. The main character, Anequs, has that problem where she says and does whatever she wants, and even when there should be consequences, she somehow gets out of them. She is never paying attention to the political ramifications of her actions.
Graphic: Colonisation
Moderate: Bullying
Minor: Death, Murder, and War
dragongirl271's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism
Minor: Animal death, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicide, and Death of parent
chasinggrace's review against another edition
- 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? No
3.0
This book reminded me a lot of Babel by R. F. Kuang. There was a heavy, heavy dose of racism that the main character(s) had to endure, and complex side characters that gave insight into how different personalities navigate a colonialist society. This book, in the latter half, became heavily political as well.
Of course, I enjoyed the dragons in this book. They seemed to have distinct personalities and I appreciated how they were tied to their owners. I also liked how Anequs, our main character, was very vocal. She refused to assimilate to colonial society and was very good at advocating for herself. The cast was also extremely diverse - other than race, there were LGBTQIA+ characters, neurodivergent characters, and a clear socioeconomic divide between many people.
What distracted me from the story was the heavy writing style. Somehow, it worked for me in Babel and did not work for me here. The magic/dragon system was complex, as were the explanations of the local politics. The dialogue was stiff, and the descriptions of surroundings were long-winded. It took me almost a week to read this book, when I can usually consume novels that I enjoy in 1-3 days. Lots of things happen TO our main character and she is forced to play an observational role that can get stale after 400+ pages. In the end, I am not invested enough in the politics or budding romances to read the next installment.
Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Genocide, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism
lpdx's review
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Xenophobia, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Death, Genocide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, and War
Minor: Confinement, Transphobia, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
magicant's review
Graphic: Bullying, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, and Classism
znvisser's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
In a way this is all fine - it probably made it all relatively easy to follow and helps laying ground for plot, but it also made all of it… quite unsurprising, at some time close to uninteresting? There was little friction, struggle or mystery, and it all just floats on (sometime there is drama over nothing and then it turns out to be… nothing indeed); it made me wish for accelerated plot development but we just kept learning new Anglish words for known concepts (I really would have preferred a glossary over the pronunciation guide). Maybe I’m just looking for more complexity than what YA is for; and these characters sure didn’t provide that, suffering from being either flat or incoherent.
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Murder, War, and Classism
Minor: Bullying, Homophobia, Death of parent, and Lesbophobia