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cleot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Gore and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Sexual harassment, and War
maeverose's review against another edition
4.0
I also didn’t love some of the ways the author described Kite’s scarring and Clay’s disfigurement and ‘childlike’ behavior from his trauma. It could just be Joe’s/Kite’s thoughts not the author’s, but it bothered me a bit. It wasn’t horrible though.
Otherwise I really liked this book. I heard someone suggest it as a book similar to The Binding (which I also liked until I found out the author was a terf), and this definitely has a similar feel to The Binding, though a pretty different plot. I knew very little going in and I think that’s the best way to read it. Despite how mostly negative this review is I would recommend this if the synopsis sounds intriguing. Just check content warnings!
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Blood, and Medical content
Minor: Ableism, Fatphobia, and Racism
graphic: Amnesia, Intrusive Thoughts, minor: Eugenicslizzie24601'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
Half a star taken off only because the opening is so slow - until you get to part 3 and it takes OFF. If you haven't read a Natasha Pulley book before, read The Watchmaker of Filigree Street or The Bedlam Stacks before this one - they both are better introductions to her writing style since they start off a bit quicker and are written more chronologically. Then come back and enjoy this one. :)
Graphic: Gaslighting and War
Moderate: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Genocide, Self harm, Sexism, Blood, Death of parent, and Alcohol
augustar14's review
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, and Death of parent
cameronreads's review against another edition
4.0
Two half stars were taken off for me - one because the way that time travel was written, although the right way to make the story work, is the one way I hate for time travel to be written. I love it when time travel is more along the lines of what David Lewis theorised as possible, rather than time travellers having the ability to change the future from the past etc. Still, it made for the right kind of story, so only half a star off for that. A second half star off because I wanted just a bit more feeling out of the characters. I think the emotions they were feeling here were so big that they needed a bit more description or emphasis. I wanted to feel the emotions with the characters, and I just didn't really. Mostly I wanted to see more passion out of the main relationship in here, I think just a little more development could have really added to the impact.
Still, I loved this so much more than I expected to, and I would 100% recommend.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, Misogyny, Self harm, Grief, and Colonisation
Minor: Suicide, Torture, Vomit, and Alcohol
cmaples'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? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Slavery, Violence, Murder, and War
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Sexual assault
spacebornfew's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Self harm, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gun violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, and Blood
Minor: Xenophobia
lilifane'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
5.0
I did not expect this tbh. I couldn't remember how this book ended up on my TBR pile, and the only thing I did remember was that there was time travel involved in the plot. This is usually enough for me to be interested. But I was skeptical when I started reading because I didn't know what to think about the beginning. But when things stated.... moving, I fell in love with the setting and the atmosphere and the writing, and then I got attached to the characters and that was kind of too much for my poor little heart. It was shattering to pieces every few pages, and I was having one emotional breakdown after the other. And even though I guessed a lot of the mysteries early on, it made everything even more emotional. Plus, the ending kept me on my toes until the very last page, and this is something that doesn't happen often.
Be warned, though, this book is gruesome. It takes place during a war and all the horrors you can think of will be described in details. It was hard to read sometimes, but it made everything very believable and kept the stakes pretty high. (I like to pretend that one scene especially didn't happen, though. It was not the most bloody scene but a very much unnecessary one in my opinion.)
I will have to reread the book at some point knowing what I know now and also note down all those beautifully heartbreaking quotes.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
rebeccarudisill's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
This book is an incredibly tough read. Their are VIVID descriptions of war and the carnage that ensues. I had to take it very slowly. Be warned!