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takarakei'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? It's complicated
3.75
It felt a tad dated or basic in terms of discussions of trans people, but that’s definitely my opinion as someone who knows trans/non-binary people irl and interacts with the community. For the average person perhaps this will be a great starting point to trans inclusion and why it matters especially in feminism.
I wish the magic system was explained a bit better. The witches seemed to be able to do almost anything which just seemed a bit too convenient at parts. I would also say it generally leans much more character driven vs plot even tho there is some plot. I did appreciate the multiple POVs cause I think that structure really worked for this story. I can’t say whether I will continue the series or not
Graphic: Death, Transphobia, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, and War
Minor: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Dysphoria
emw29's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Deadnaming, Death, Hate crime, Transphobia, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Homophobia and Racism
jaynovara'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Deadnaming, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Abandonment, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail
fourhand13's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I feel like a lot of people are jumping the gun to be like "thing bad so that means book bad >:(" with any of the iffy things depicted (e.g.
The dialogue comes across as quite cheesy and stereotypical at times and I do think the writing quality went down a touch towards the end with the action scenes but over all, not the worst read.
Aside from the openly noted content warnings I will say that if you have an aversion to animal death skip chapter 1 (niamh's first one) at least and possibly parts of chapter 21.
Also if you're susceptible to paranoia about having people read your thoughts, this might be a miss too cos there's a LOT of that.
Graphic: Animal death, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, Murder, and Outing
Moderate: Child abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Violence, Grief, and War
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
tw for mind reading/ invasion of thoughts,literarydumpling's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
A very creative way to pose fantasy into real life, and has stark parallels to current social issues we see and may experience.
Graphic: Transphobia
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Death and Murder
jhbandcats'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? Yes
4.0
The author does a great job at showing the different personalities, not so easy when there are a lot of characters. The women are no longer close like in childhood; there’s friction between the power-hungry head of England’s coven, the mild witch who pretends to be a simple housewife, the Black lesbian who started her own LGBTQ-friendly coven, and the veterinarian consumed with grief at the loss of her fiancé during the witch war eight years ago. There are spouses and lovers and children and parents and, new to the group, a trans orphan who’s terrified and lashing out in fear. The story is told from four points of view and the voices are distinct.
I read reviews where the readers felt the race and gender issues overshadowed the story. I thought the author raised really important points relevant to current racism, homophobia, and transphobia. The transphobia was heavy-handed but it seemed realistic given what I read online.
I liked it enough where I’m about to start the second in the series. I want to see what happens to these people.
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism
livcashmere'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? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Murder, and War
bessadams'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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death, Transphobia, and Violence
Moderate: Racism, Murder, and War
Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Death of parent
ashley_reya's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Dawson writes a wonderful story of how sisterhood, ignorance, and fear can truly muddy the waters of a coven. A coming of age of mixed with the trials and tribulations of an older group of friends. It’s always so refreshing to read stories of older friend groups/people not in their twenties hahaha.
Graphic: Deadnaming, Death, Transphobia, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Blood, Kidnapping, Car accident, and War
Minor: Child abuse
ourxstorybegins's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Okay truly have not finished a book and immediately felt the need to go buy the next one in the series until THIS SHIT. Would've been okay with never being in
Truly my only critique was there was a few times where the author dropped very specific brand names to such an extent that I was like "ok is this book sponsored?" But it was just a couple of times and I got over it real fast for the sake of the story.
Graphic: Transphobia, Murder, Outing, and War
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Fatphobia, Racism, and Sexism