kbrinkman93's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deadnaming, Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Transphobia
This boom gets extremely graphic and weird. It's very disturbing.mostlyvoidpartiallystars's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
A beautiful, heartbreaking, but inspiring book. The worldbuilding is rich. I love the combination of magical realism & historical fiction, it felt seamlessly woven in. I appreciated the strong anti-colonial themes. The disability representation is decent - I started out hesitant over how it was being handled, but I loved the progression.
Finally, a recurring section I'm going to be adding to all my reviews going forward: Do they bury their gays?
Finally, a recurring section I'm going to be adding to all my reviews going forward: Do they bury their gays?
Spoiler
No. The only queer/queer adjacent characters are a trans man, a bigender person, and the trans man's girlfriend, who isn't queer herself, but is part of a queer romance given her boyfriend is trans. None of these characters die, and no queer romances end tragically
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Child abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Sexual content, Murder, Ableism, War, Transphobia, Deadnaming, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Rape, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, and Physical abuse
kalmia31's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry and Transphobia
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Suicide attempt, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, War, Animal death, and Deadnaming
lady_moon's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Rep: trans masc MC, bigender side character
To be honest I'm not sure I'm satisfied with the path each sibling had. S was annoying for the better part of the book but she didn't deserve this sort of ending. Riva started out well, I liked her in the beginning. And then came Tristan 😐 After they got together, Riva became insufferable. Her whole ending was definitely not what I wanted it to be.
K was fine the whole time <3 In the beginning he was less interesting the his sisters but as the novel progressed, he was honestly the only POV character who hadn't annoyed the hell out of me.
I'm not a fan of kind of stories. I really didn't enjoy that. The author tried very hard to leave each of them in some sort of hopeful note but for me it's not hopeful when .
I didn't quite get the ending with K. Like,
Anyway, I have certain opinions (obviously) but I'm really not feeling that strongly about any of that for it to matter to me. I'm happy how stuff turned out for K (I guess?) and that's the most important thing. Historical fiction with trans characters will never be not fun.
To be honest I'm not sure I'm satisfied with the path each sibling had. S was annoying for the better part of the book but she didn't deserve this sort of ending. Riva started out well, I liked her in the beginning. And then came Tristan 😐 After they got together, Riva became insufferable. Her whole ending was definitely not what I wanted it to be.
K was fine the whole time <3 In the beginning he was less interesting the his sisters but as the novel progressed, he was honestly the only POV character who hadn't annoyed the hell out of me.
I'm not a fan of
Spoiler
siblings torn apartSpoiler
sibling relationships are destroyed in such a wayI didn't quite get the ending with K. Like,
Spoiler
so he's immortal now? He had lived through the centuries? Or it was just him after many decades?Anyway, I have certain opinions (obviously) but I'm really not feeling that strongly about any of that for it to matter to me. I'm happy how stuff turned out for K (I guess?) and that's the most important thing. Historical fiction with trans characters will never be not fun.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Deadnaming, Transphobia, and War
Moderate: Pregnancy, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Confinement, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
khazlettwrites's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Deadnaming, Fire/Fire injury, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Gore, Murder, Transphobia, and Injury/Injury detail
catherinedsharp's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
sad
slow-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
3.75
Beautiful text that wasn’t what I expected! With twists at every corner, characters you can’t decide whether to love or hate and a beautiful plot with magic, religion, war and a well written trans story.
Would recommend.
Would recommend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dysphoria, Death, War, Blood, Deadnaming, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Transphobia, and Fire/Fire injury
becksusername's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation, Deadnaming, Ableism, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Sexism, Transphobia, and War
mooshake's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
i have never felt so many intense emotions all at once as i did spending an entire day reading this damn thing.
there’s a review below mine that says they went through pride, anxiety, anger, despair and i absolutely agree. i’m so riled up that i’m writing a serious review at 1:16 in the morning
if sistersong was solely about keyne it would have been the easiest 5 stars i’ve given to a book this year. his journey into becoming confident in his own skin and growing as a leader was fantastic and heartwarming and i loved every chapter he had. 11/10. i love my son. it’s his world and we’re just living in it.
but that’s also the problem because there’s two other main characters in this book lmao
on one hand i can appreciate that riva and sinne are flawed, and i like how the narrative allows them to be messy and make mistakes and be kinda unapologetic about it. even though sinne was a massive pain in the backside, and riva whos character started out one way and then…… girl lmao. but i can’t stop thinking about how dirty the both of them were done in the end like or even more horrifyingly i really wish i could have seen more of riva and sinne coming into their own and discovering their abilities and ties to the land like keyne instead of bickering over some MAAAAAN. BOO URNS.
but maybe that was the point????
i’m from ireland and it made me really happy seeming celtic pagan culture and history being portrayed properly in a big fantasy book. that was cool too
in my heart i really can't rate this book any lower bc even tho i felt like there should have been more of an even distribution of narrative weight between the siblings, i absolutely loved what was on the page. stirring up this much emotion in me, no matter how messy, deserves recognition and praise, and i think invoking that messy jumble of emotions was the point.
like seriously i’ve had teary eyes and a massive lump in my throat for the past 20 minutes lmao
there’s a review below mine that says they went through pride, anxiety, anger, despair and i absolutely agree. i’m so riled up that i’m writing a serious review at 1:16 in the morning
if sistersong was solely about keyne
Spoiler
/constantinebut that’s also the problem because there’s two other main characters in this book lmao
on one hand i can appreciate that riva and sinne are flawed, and i like how the narrative allows them to be messy and make mistakes and be kinda unapologetic about it. even though sinne was a massive pain in the backside, and riva whos character started out one way and then…… girl lmao. but i can’t stop thinking about how dirty the both of them were done in the end like
Spoiler
one forsakes her culture, her magic that i felt like she never got the chance to fully explore, and her siblings to go marry the enemy and that just makes the saxons call truce….. somehowSpoiler
the other drowns in a river, gets skinned posthumously, and becomes a semi sentient harp that only knows how to play one song for god knows how long.... that’s it that’s the tweetbut maybe that was the point????
Spoiler
that their relationship gets pulled apart and is sadly never resolved??? towards sinne sings this cute little song about how close the 3 of them were and they'll always have each other in spirit and i was like... grand but it would have been nice to see some more of that ON THE PAGE PLEASEi’m from ireland and it made me really happy seeming celtic pagan culture and history being portrayed properly in a big fantasy book. that was cool too
in my heart i really can't rate this book any lower bc even tho i felt like there should have been more of an even distribution of narrative weight between the siblings, i absolutely loved what was on the page. stirring up this much emotion in me, no matter how messy, deserves recognition and praise, and i think invoking that messy jumble of emotions was the point.
like seriously i’ve had teary eyes and a massive lump in my throat for the past 20 minutes lmao
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, War, Ableism, Transphobia, Deadnaming, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Medical content, Blood, Colonisation, Death, and Dysphoria
Minor: Pregnancy
katie_11's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
fast-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
5.0
I loved this book! The development of the characters and the twists and turns are so well written! The trans representation is also great and so affirming over the course over the whole book. Would recommend!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Deadnaming, Transphobia, and War
thealienamongus's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Blood, Grief, Body horror, War, and Transphobia
Moderate: Deadnaming, Terminal illness, and Death of parent