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citrus_seasalt's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
2.75 stars. The Brilliant Death was a book that captivated me with its premise, but I didn’t really enjoy it as much as I thought it would. Firstly, I found the way the story tackled gender and identity to be a mixed bag. Gender seemed to be almost intrinsically tied to sex, and with Cielo especially, there was more of an emphasis on that than expression/presentation(which made for a few uncomfortable sentences?). It felt pretty gender norm-y, which I would’ve expected from the macho, sexist dudes of the story but not in regards to the POV of our genderqueer protagonist. (To be fair though, this book was published in 2018, and the author writes under a different name now so I presume from the deadname on the cover they didn’t have as much of an understanding of gender, perhaps their own, and that impacted Teo and Cielo’s characterization.) By the end, though, there was more of a dissection/discussion of gender and I felt it improved.
Magic/power system was basically nonexistent here, too. We got a vague idea of Teo’s limitations(which were improved upon more, oddly, when they got a sort-of-power-upgrade towards the end), and I thought their abilities were silly. I can’t really take seriously a person that points a hand or finger at a foe and poof! now they’re a music box or some other fancy-schmancy object of choice. (If it actually described how a person or entity was altered by it, bit by bit, I probably would’ve been able to take it seriously.)
I was also on-the-fence about the main romance, which was a disappointment because it was actually a factor that drew me in based on what I heard of the book. It was very inta-lust(romantic feelings weren’t developed until later), and as a result I felt Cielo and Teo’s relationship moved a little too quickly until the end. But, there were some sweet moments, I’ll admit: I’m a sucker for love interests who put themselves on the line for whoever they love, and this was no exception. (Cielo was a pretty average “sarcastic, handsome dark-haired love interest” archetype though. To those who love that kind of thing, great, you will absolutely eat this up, but I’m not one of those people. To each their own.)
I also didn’t like the plot. It felt very Typical YA, there wasn’t a single twist I was surprised by and the characters overall fell very flat.
Even with its flaws, though, it was immensely enjoyable and I lost track of my pages until I reached the end and stared at my copy stunned at my progress. So…maybe it’s too harsh to call it a bad book, but don’t call it top-notch fiction either.
Magic/power system was basically nonexistent here, too. We got a vague idea of Teo’s limitations(which were improved upon more, oddly, when they got a sort-of-power-upgrade towards the end), and I thought their abilities were silly. I can’t really take seriously a person that points a hand or finger at a foe and poof! now they’re a music box or some other fancy-schmancy object of choice. (If it actually described how a person or entity was altered by it, bit by bit, I probably would’ve been able to take it seriously.)
I was also on-the-fence about the main romance, which was a disappointment because it was actually a factor that drew me in based on what I heard of the book. It was very inta-lust(romantic feelings weren’t developed until later), and as a result I felt Cielo and Teo’s relationship moved a little too quickly until the end. But, there were some sweet moments, I’ll admit: I’m a sucker for love interests who put themselves on the line for whoever they love, and this was no exception. (Cielo was a pretty average “sarcastic, handsome dark-haired love interest” archetype though. To those who love that kind of thing, great, you will absolutely eat this up, but I’m not one of those people. To each their own.)
I also didn’t like the plot. It felt very Typical YA, there wasn’t a single twist I was surprised by and the characters overall fell very flat.
Even with its flaws, though, it was immensely enjoyable and I lost track of my pages until I reached the end and stared at my copy stunned at my progress. So…maybe it’s too harsh to call it a bad book, but don’t call it top-notch fiction either.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Violence
Minor: Sexism
lizreadssurprisinglyoften's review
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
My mind feels too cluttered to really process books right now, so I'm not sure why I keep reading them at this pace. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that this book seemed to go by too quickly for me to connect.
I really liked Capetta's writing style and how detailed the world was. The romance had a lot of potential, but it relied way too much on physical stuff (I saw one reviewer describe it as 'insta-lust' rather than insta-love, and I think that's fitting) which I'm just too tired and ace for.
My other main concern was with the non-binary representation. I've seen several reviewers praise it for 'destroying the gender binary', but it doesn't really? It felt like the main characters were only genderfluid because they had the magical capability to transition to 'male' and 'female' bodies whenever they wanted to. There was no exploration of how they'd identify if they couldn't do that, no exploration of any gender that isn't binary, a weird subtext assumption that the only way you can be male or female is if your body looks like the cis ideal, and no discussion of pronouns beyond one short, unsatisfactory paragraph at the start of the book (you could make the argument that it's a historical fantasy and thus they wouldn't know about neutral language, but in my opinion, if you can invent a magic system, you can invent a way to include they/them pronouns.) I know the author is non-binary, and if this is how she represents her experience, then she's free to do so, but as a genderflux non-binary person it really didn't click with me. I hate to over-critique representation, and I'm glad that non-binary characters are becoming more acceptable in mainstream fantasy, but I don't think I'd recommend this book.
I really liked Capetta's writing style and how detailed the world was. The romance had a lot of potential, but it relied way too much on physical stuff (I saw one reviewer describe it as 'insta-lust' rather than insta-love, and I think that's fitting) which I'm just too tired and ace for.
My other main concern was with the non-binary representation. I've seen several reviewers praise it for 'destroying the gender binary', but it doesn't really? It felt like the main characters were only genderfluid because they had the magical capability to transition to 'male' and 'female' bodies whenever they wanted to. There was no exploration of how they'd identify if they couldn't do that, no exploration of any gender that isn't binary, a weird subtext assumption that the only way you can be male or female is if your body looks like the cis ideal, and no discussion of pronouns beyond one short, unsatisfactory paragraph at the start of the book (you could make the argument that it's a historical fantasy and thus they wouldn't know about neutral language, but in my opinion, if you can invent a magic system, you can invent a way to include they/them pronouns.) I know the author is non-binary, and if this is how she represents her experience, then she's free to do so, but as a genderflux non-binary person it really didn't click with me. I hate to over-critique representation, and I'm glad that non-binary characters are becoming more acceptable in mainstream fantasy, but I don't think I'd recommend this book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content and Blood
Minor: Homophobia
My mind feels too cluttered to really process books right now, so I'm not sure why I keep reading them at this pace. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that this book seemed to go by too quickly for me to connect. I really liked Capetta's writing style and how detailed the world was. The romance had a lot of potential, but it relied way too much on physical stuff (I saw one reviewer describe it as 'insta-lust' rather than insta-love, and I think that's fitting) which I'm just too tired and ace for. My other main concern was with the non-binary representation. I've seen several reviewers praise it for 'destroying the gender binary', but it doesn't really? It felt like the main characters were only genderfluid because they had the magical capability to transition to 'male' and 'female' bodies whenever they wanted to. There was no exploration of how they'd identify if they couldn't do that, no exploration of any gender that isn't binary, a weird subtext assumption that the only way you can be male or female is if your body looks like the cis ideal, and no discussion of pronouns beyond one short, unsatisfactory paragraph at the start of the book (you could make the argument that it's a historical fantasy and thus they wouldn't know about neutral language, but in my opinion, if you can invent a magic system, you can invent a way to include they/them pronouns.) I know the author is non-binary, and if this is how she represents her experience, then she's free to do so, but as a genderflux non-binary person it really didn't click with me. I hate to over-critique representation, and I'm glad that non-binary characters are becoming more acceptable in mainstream fantasy, but I don't think I'd recommend this book.