Scan barcode
bookishperseus's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
sleepy_stardust's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This book started out great. O'Donoghue's prose is magnetic, and it pulled me into reading around 160 pages in one sitting without boredom setting in. She includes a diverse cast of characters with different races, religions, gender identities, and sexualities.
But oh my god, does Maeve Chambers ruin it.
At first, a romance subplot began with one of the side characters, Roe. It's eased into, and I found myself enjoying their relationship. Then, out of nowhere, they share a passionate kiss. No build-up, nothing, nada. From then on, I found it difficult to empathize with the main character's love problems; it's difficult to be surprised that a relationship isn't going well when the couple doesn't know one another.
Maeve's also pretty unlikeable in general. In the beginning, she seemed realistically imperfect. Were her flaws difficult to tolerate? Yes. Could I understand where she was coming from? Also, yes. However, as the novel progresses, her perspective becomes increasingly infuriating. She invalidates her partner's insecurities about their unstable relationship (which started after his sister went missing, mind you, and partly because of Maeve). She's overly capricious and causes mini-conflicts in the novel that are entirely superfluous and unworthy of the reader's attention.
Besides Maeve's characterization problems, the novel's ending is incredibly cliché. It reads like the end of a pilot episode of a crime-fighting show, where the main characters have finally realized that they're meant to take on the mysteries of the world together. It's horrendously underwhelming; O'Donoghue would have been better off starting the second book and adding exposition throughout to explain the characters' backstories.
Roe and Fiona were enough to save this book from being a total drag for me, though.
2.5☆ / 5☆
But oh my god, does Maeve Chambers ruin it.
At first, a romance subplot began with one of the side characters, Roe. It's eased into, and I found myself enjoying their relationship. Then, out of nowhere, they share a passionate kiss. No build-up, nothing, nada. From then on, I found it difficult to empathize with the main character's love problems; it's difficult to be surprised that a relationship isn't going well when the couple doesn't know one another.
Maeve's also pretty unlikeable in general. In the beginning, she seemed realistically imperfect. Were her flaws difficult to tolerate? Yes. Could I understand where she was coming from? Also, yes. However, as the novel progresses, her perspective becomes increasingly infuriating. She invalidates her partner's insecurities about their unstable relationship (which started after his sister went missing, mind you, and partly because of Maeve). She's overly capricious and causes mini-conflicts in the novel that are entirely superfluous and unworthy of the reader's attention.
Besides Maeve's characterization problems, the novel's ending is incredibly cliché. It reads like the end of a pilot episode of a crime-fighting show, where the main characters have finally realized that they're meant to take on the mysteries of the world together. It's horrendously underwhelming; O'Donoghue would have been better off starting the second book and adding exposition throughout to explain the characters' backstories.
Roe and Fiona were enough to save this book from being a total drag for me, though.
2.5☆ / 5☆
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Suicide attempt
cstefko's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-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
4.5
I really enjoyed this one, and Caroline O'Donoghue is quickly become a must-read author for me. This one was obviously very different from [book:The Rachel Incident|63094957] (adult, literary fiction vs this book's YA fantasy), but there's some crossover in terms of the superb queer rep and strong character development. There were a couple of times I got a little confused about the lore but it all worked out in the end. I'm excited to read the sequels now!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Gore, Hate crime, Suicide, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Lesbophobia
copper_ink's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Blood
Moderate: Self harm and Suicide attempt
Minor: Domestic abuse and Xenophobia
pumpkinbread's review against another edition
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Xenophobia
Minor: Bullying and Blood
lunaxlore's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Death, Blood, and Dysphoria
Minor: Domestic abuse
sarahnoffy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Transphobia, Xenophobia, and Suicide attempt
abigailc0x's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
i literally read 250 pages today so be impressed!!!
it was really really good hence why i read most of it in a few days but ended not how i expected it
side note the made up song lyrics made me slightly cringe but maybe that’s a me thing
it was really really good hence why i read most of it in a few days but ended not how i expected it
side note the made up song lyrics made me slightly cringe but maybe that’s a me thing
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicide, and Violence
Moderate: Bullying, Deadnaming, Self harm, Suicide, Transphobia, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Outing
Minor: Xenophobia
fiostrid's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-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
5.0
I loved it :D
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Bullying, Deadnaming, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Xenophobia, Blood, Suicide attempt, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, and Toxic friendship
rinku's review against another edition
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
All Our Hidden Gifts was a really nice urban fantasy witch story. For what it was, I enjoyed it and especially the diverse cast and modern themes that were thematized. Still, I couldn’t stop myself from comparing the book to the Engelsfors trilogy, an urban fantasy witch story set in a small city as well, and this one just executes this kind of story better.
But those story elements are some of my favorites, especially the small city setting, so I still loved it. The story centres around Maeve who finds some tarot cards one day and becomes popular quickly at school since she can seemingly tell her schoolmates the future. When she reads her former best friend Lily some cards out of peer pressure, she lays the card of the Mamsell. After this, Lily disappears, and Maeve tries to find where she went while learning about her new magical powers. Thus, the magic system focusses on tarot cards and witches. I generally liked this witchy vibe, but some aspects were not explained properly, like how it was possible for Maeve to be suddenly in Roe’s head and vice versa.
Besides those fantasy elements, the book also deals with many modern topics with a special focus on LGBTQ+ which I quite enjoyed. There’s a religious cult that is against a progressive society and full of bigotry. I also really liked the setting and there especially the catholic girls’ school. It was depicted so well and reminded me so much of my school life; for example, when there’s one guy that is a bit younger and decent looking, everyone in school freaks out lmao, or how fast fake rumours are spreading.
Both the writing style and characters were nice as well. The writing style was funny most of the time but also serious and even creepy when it was appropriate. The diverse cast of characters the story had to offer was interesting as well and I liked our main characters. Maeve herself was interesting since she had both good and bad traits. I loved to see how her friendship with Fiona slowly started to bloom.
Like I mentioned above, I had the feeling that this book was similar to Engelsfors, especially the second book Fire. I believe that those similarities are probably coincidental, but I still noticed them. Both stories take place a small city and a religious cult plays a big role. The character constellations are similar too, with for example an old lady that has an esoteric shop in town but is a witch in reality and becomes the mentor for our main characters. But there are of course differences: Engelsfors also deals with LGBTQ+ topics but All Our Hidden Gifts does it way more extensively and is generally more progressive. The stories also have very different vibes; Engelsfors is more strange and less funny which I personally just like more.
As a sidenote, a little thing that annoyed me is how the author mixed up grunge and goth music – if you want to mention 80s/90s music in your book so that it sounds cooler, you should at least do your research. I find it a bit weird though that out of all musicians from the 80s, the author chose Morrissey, since he’s known to have controversial political opinions. The author is so careful with progressive topics generally that I think that she could’ve chosen another artist just as well. I also find it weird that it is never critically reflected but rather admired by Maeve that the underage Fiona has relationships with older guys.
There’s definitely much potential for the sequel of All Our Hidden Gifts since there are many open plot lines, and I’m excited to read it and see in which direction it develops.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Hate crime, Homophobia, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Death