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saracat's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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
5.0
I knew from the content warnings this would be a hard read in some ways. But there were also tears and emotions I was not expecting to feel from this book.
Despite all of Wyatt's flaws, there is almost never a moment I was not on his side. All decisions he made that from the outside were bad, could be understood based on how he'd been treated in the past and how he continued to be treated by others. This is not to say that Wyatt doesn't have responsibility for his actions, but the reasoning behind them makes sense. And really, when someone is so violently backed into a corner, it shouldn't be a surprise if they lash out.
Watching the evolution of Wyatt as an individual and his relationship with those around him really pulled at my heart so often. I cannot wait to start the next book in this duology.
Despite all of Wyatt's flaws, there is almost never a moment I was not on his side. All decisions he made that from the outside were bad, could be understood based on how he'd been treated in the past and how he continued to be treated by others. This is not to say that Wyatt doesn't have responsibility for his actions, but the reasoning behind them makes sense. And really, when someone is so violently backed into a corner, it shouldn't be a surprise if they lash out.
Watching the evolution of Wyatt as an individual and his relationship with those around him really pulled at my heart so often. I cannot wait to start the next book in this duology.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Deadnaming, Death, Racism, Sexual content, Transphobia, and Violence
Minor: Sexual assault
The 'racism' is not between humans, but from the fae towards the witches.kybrary's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment
rmperezpadilla's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Xenophobia, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Drug use and Transphobia
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Sexual harassment
killahb94's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Strengths: It was cute in places. I liked the Tessa redemption arc. I liked the unique character voice of Wyatt. I loved how queer everything was. I loved how energies were explained. I thought that was unique and cute. I thought it was interesting that the witches were 1. From the fae and 2. The societal outcasts.
Could have been betters: the character motivations seldom made sense. Briar opening the door. Wyatt not wondering where abandoned witch babies go. The characters seem flat? There are no actual consequences for actions so everything feels very uh.... Shallow? Wyatt 1. Steals a dragon 2. Shatters a greenhouse 3. Is like let's kill all fae and insights a riot 4. Is proven to be a traitor 5. The DOOR IS OPEN 6. KILLS THEIR PARENTS 7. Kills another guy 8. Frees prisoners from the dungeon. The consequence is the guy who should be King is and you are free from a contract you always hated.
Could have been betters: the character motivations seldom made sense. Briar opening the door. Wyatt not wondering where abandoned witch babies go. The characters seem flat? There are no actual consequences for actions so everything feels very uh.... Shallow? Wyatt 1. Steals a dragon 2. Shatters a greenhouse 3. Is like let's kill all fae and insights a riot 4. Is proven to be a traitor 5. The DOOR IS OPEN 6. KILLS THEIR PARENTS 7. Kills another guy 8. Frees prisoners from the dungeon. The consequence is the guy who should be King is and you are free from a contract you always hated.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Violence
simplyammee's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Deadnaming, Panic attacks/disorders, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Blood, and Gaslighting
Check the tw!! The deadnaming & misgendering in this book are done very compassionatelypipn_t's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The narrator was great.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Child abuse and Sexual assault
bookishchef's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
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? Yes
3.25
I wanted to love this so much.
And part of me does. The characters were great, I loved the representation and I thought Wyatt was a really enjoyable narrator. The writing style was good too...
But the plot was all over the place. The pacing was inconsistent. And the story couldn't seem to focus on literally anything. To the extent that the main plot point of this book doesn't get a resolution by the end.
I thought Wyatt acted a bit old for his age too. A 17 year old with multiple years of sexual experience and sexual partners? Like... it isn't impossible and I guess some teenagers do mess around a lot but idk.
And part of me does. The characters were great, I loved the representation and I thought Wyatt was a really enjoyable narrator. The writing style was good too...
But the plot was all over the place. The pacing was inconsistent. And the story couldn't seem to focus on literally anything. To the extent that the main plot point of this book doesn't get a resolution by the end.
I thought Wyatt acted a bit old for his age too. A 17 year old with multiple years of sexual experience and sexual partners? Like... it isn't impossible and I guess some teenagers do mess around a lot but idk.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Drug use and Transphobia
Minor: Self harm, Sexual assault, Vomit, and Dysphoria
discarded_dust_jacket's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is a solid YA fantasy, don’t get me wrong. I think it has some strong elements as well as some it could’ve executed better. But overall, I did enjoy reading it. I finished it in a day.
The queer representation was good. I empathized with Wyatt—his self-loathing, his anger, his tendency to lash out instead of facing his emotions, and his selfishness—even when he frustrated me SO MUCH.
I did like a lot of the secondary characters as well, but overall it seemed like the author was so focused on examining Wyatt’s internal struggles that not enough focus was spent on making any of the other characters very nuanced or multi-dimensional. (Tessa’s arc is, I think, meant to involve growth and development, but it comes across more as a clumsy and sudden about face.)
I also didn’t think the author did a good enough job of making us understand why Emyr found a marriage to Wyatt so necessary that he was willing to force him into it under penalty of death. It just didn’t feel fleshed out enough to read as believable, which gave the entire premise of the story a sort-of unmoored quality. (Maybe multiple POVs would have helped here?)
Plus I felt like a lot of the plot development got squished into the last 20% or so of the book, making it read very much like an attempt to quickly tie up lose ends and insert twists where they didn’t feel necessarily natural just to set up the events of the second book. (The big “aha!” moment at the end when the villain is confronted felt very similar to the end of a Scooby-Doo episode: “and I would’ve gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids!”)
Finally, a lot about the way witches in this story are born to (and subsequently rejected by) Fae families seemed to be an allegory for the queer experience, especially when at one point, that similarity is explicitly pointed out on page by Wyatt.
You have the Fae (conservative) businesses refusing service to the witches, then the guard (police) siding with the Fae when they protest/incite violence against witches using language most readers would immediately associate with white supremacists.
But at the same time, this allegory breaks apart when you consider this magical realm is also supposed to exist WITHIN the current, human world (and that there also exist Fae queer people). If an allegory is meant to be a fictional representation of a real-world people, institution, or concept, how can that allegory exist in a fictional story where the very real thing it’s meant to be representing ALSO exists? So maybe it’s not meant to be allegory at all, I don’t know, but I found my confusion over it very distracting as I was reading.
The queer representation was good. I empathized with Wyatt—his self-loathing, his anger, his tendency to lash out instead of facing his emotions, and his selfishness—even when he frustrated me SO MUCH.
I did like a lot of the secondary characters as well, but overall it seemed like the author was so focused on examining Wyatt’s internal struggles that not enough focus was spent on making any of the other characters very nuanced or multi-dimensional. (Tessa’s arc is, I think, meant to involve growth and development, but it comes across more as a clumsy and sudden about face.)
I also didn’t think the author did a good enough job of making us understand why Emyr found a marriage to Wyatt so necessary that he was willing to force him into it under penalty of death. It just didn’t feel fleshed out enough to read as believable, which gave the entire premise of the story a sort-of unmoored quality. (Maybe multiple POVs would have helped here?)
Plus I felt like a lot of the plot development got squished into the last 20% or so of the book, making it read very much like an attempt to quickly tie up lose ends and insert twists where they didn’t feel necessarily natural just to set up the events of the second book. (The big “aha!” moment at the end when the villain is confronted felt very similar to the end of a Scooby-Doo episode: “and I would’ve gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids!”)
Finally, a lot about the way witches in this story are born to (and subsequently rejected by) Fae families seemed to be an allegory for the queer experience, especially when at one point, that similarity is explicitly pointed out on page by Wyatt.
You have the Fae (conservative) businesses refusing service to the witches, then the guard (police) siding with the Fae when they protest/incite violence against witches using language most readers would immediately associate with white supremacists.
But at the same time, this allegory breaks apart when you consider this magical realm is also supposed to exist WITHIN the current, human world (and that there also exist Fae queer people). If an allegory is meant to be a fictional representation of a real-world people, institution, or concept, how can that allegory exist in a fictional story where the very real thing it’s meant to be representing ALSO exists? So maybe it’s not meant to be allegory at all, I don’t know, but I found my confusion over it very distracting as I was reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness
Minor: Infertility
tiredreader51'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? It's complicated
4.25
I really enjoyed this book and love the analogy that it is. Fyi there is a lot of current day lingo/phrasing when the characters talk/text, a lot of it is hilarious though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deadnaming, Death, and Transphobia
Moderate: Sexual assault, Blood, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Colonisation
totalgreyspace's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual assault