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Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Rape, Suicide, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent
Graphic: Body horror, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation
1.)
The depth of world-building and unending, but never boring explanation of the hard-magic / science system in place for this novel is astounding. It never manages to fall into the trap of info-dumping on the reader, staying crisp and detailed but not overbearing as we move through the story.
It drip feeds what information is necessary at the time it’s needed, fleshing out our understanding of Bright Haven; the clans, the politics, the religion and the biases as we encounter them.
2.)
The characters themselves are intrinsically human; chaotic and difficult, at times so detestably hard to like, shining a light on our own privileges and pitfalls. Each person we encounter gives us a window into societal oppression, and how it manifests.
Sciona, The morally ambiguous FMC is at odds with the most commonly seen female heroines of fantasy: She’s ego driven and inscrutable, logical to the point of delusion. A cold hearted scientist with limited social skills, navigating the most difficult social situations the writer can think up whilst pressing her will against an empire that would squash her like a bug.
3.)
This is an intricate critique of power-structures that holds up a mirror to our own world and the hypocrisy and fallacy’s within our own (present/ and) history. It is not so heavy handed that the points made feel didactic, nor is it so subtle as to lack substance.
Wang injects irony, levity, and moments of softness with a grace that buffs up against the brutality and the grotesque examples of sexism, racism and religious zealotry that make this a more advanced and darker read than other books coming out at the same time.
4.)
Read this book if you want a dark academic fantasy that challenges and provokes with wit, wonder, a touch of body horror and a healthy heaping of emotional sabotage.
5.)
In short, a masterpiece of contemporary fiction.
Graphic: Racial slurs, Sexism, Religious bigotry
Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood
Minor: Child death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment
This book was depressing as hell, but it also manages to capture this little bit of hope. The perfect mix to make me cry without fail.
Even though I’m generally super skeptical about epic fantasy standalones, because I feel like they’re often missing necessary world-building and/or character development, this book was written very satisfyingly and didn’t leave me wishing for more. In a standalone, the author has to flesh out the characters, the world, and the magic on a level that other authors are trying to accomplish in a duology, trilogy, or even longer series. This is extremely difficult, in my opinion, which is why standalones often leave me feeling like many things were missing or were too rushed. This isn’t the case here. I don’t know how M.L. Wang does it, but I don’t care as long as I get to read more books like this by her.
I’m not even going to go into too much detail about anything else. Just know that I adored the characters. Thinking about it, there’s a relatively small amount of significant characters, but the ones that are there are well-realized and serve an important purpose for the story.
Furthermore, the magic system is incredibly unique, unlike anything I’ve seen before. Basically, the magic works by writing code for these special typewriter-like machines. It’s so creative!
The world itself was set up well. I don’t feel like I was missing any important background information and the descriptions were good enough to imagine the setting well.
Excellent book! It’s definitely getting the strongest recommendation from me.
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder
Moderate: Violence, Vomit, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Classism
Minor: Bullying, Gun violence, Infertility, Rape, Cannibalism, Alcohol
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Murder, Colonisation
Moderate: Grief, Gaslighting, Classism
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Death of parent
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Animal death, Infertility, Rape, Suicide, Cannibalism
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Racism, Sexism, Blood, Religious bigotry
Moderate: Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Sexual harassment
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Car accident, Pregnancy
Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Murder
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism