lizzie24601'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, Murder, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Slavery
Minor: Death of parent, Self harm, Genocide, Sexism, Alcohol, and Blood
clarabooksit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Child death, Animal cruelty, Violence, Murder, Mental illness, Death, Gun violence, War, Kidnapping, Sexism, and Animal death
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Xenophobia, Blood, Colonisation, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Homophobia, Racism, and Suicide
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: Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Violence, War, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, and Gore
Moderate: Misogyny, Self harm, Gun violence, Cursing, Colonisation, and Grief
Minor: Suicide, Alcohol, Torture, and Vomit
cocacolor's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.5
Spoiler
even after Joe/Jem regains all his memories, it's difficult to place his relationship with Kite in the context of his marriages to Alice / Madeleine, and what Agatha and Jem also felt for each other is a mysterySpoiler
When does Kite reckon with the consequences of killing a teenage boy? A freak change killing off Toby and Alice and dropping children into Kite and Joe's laps seems like a cop-out way to give them a nuclear family.Graphic: Gore, Violence, War, Colonisation, Animal death, Death, Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Confinement, Racism, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Suicide, Blood, Child death, Classism, Homophobia, Physical abuse, and Sexism
Minor: Alcohol and Genocide
On rape:Spoiler
though the narrative seems to acknowledge that the main character is forced into sex by his wife, it stops short of condemning her.Spoiler
The aforementioned wife is one of the only Black characters in the novel, and also killed off in order to give the white and white-passing main couple her children.btrz7's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, and War
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, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, Suicide, Violence, and War
seanml'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
5.0
Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Self harm, Misogyny, and Slavery
Minor: Alcohol, Colonisation, Death of parent, Genocide, Sexism, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts