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megelizabeth's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.0
I really enjoyed this book overall. Not being much of a fantasy reader, it took me a minute to get into and I did find some parts either to drag a bit or go slightly over my head, but the powerful and devastating explorations of siblinghood and historical truth and societal advancement and change really pulled me through and I ended up both invested and ultimately devastated. The writing is absolutely gorgeous and the balance between meticulous historical detail on the one hand and invention and characterisation on the other is perfectly struck. There's a lot going on and at times I did feel as if it was really trying to be two stories when it could have worked as one, but ultimately it did all come together and I felt satisfied (if also heartbroken) by how things turned out.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement and Pregnancy
Minor: Child abuse and Rape
maeverose's review against another edition
3.0
That being Keyne’s. As a genderqueer person I’m always interested in books with trans rep, and even though I don’t believe this is own voices I thought it was done really well. There is misgendering and transphobia from certain characters throughout, but it’s not a trans trauma story, and there are many characters who accept his identity (tho it does take them a minute to catch on), and his transness isn’t his whole character. It is a bit binary though, feeding into stereotypes of what a man should be, but given the time period it makes sense? So idk. Overall decent rep. (Loved chapter 23)
I didn’t care for Riva’s pov because it was primarily focused on the romance, which I didn’t like, and I didn’t like Sinne’s pov because of the jealousy plotline between her and Riva. I did appreciate that the author didn’t go full on ‘I’m gonna steal your man’ with that plotline but it still annoyed me. Especially because this is trying to be a feminist book but the two women’s povs we get are so tied to this one man and their feelings for him and their new dislike of each other because of it.
I’m also both disabled and disfigured (though in different ways than Riva or Os), and I found the rep in this book was neutral overall. Not offensive but not exactly empowering either. Anytime Reva’s scars were mentioned it was often in a negative context, but we were shown through Riva’s pov her struggles with it and how much it hurt when people did say negative things about it, and there were characters who didn’t treat her any differently because of it. Os’s mutism was handled the same I would say. I did like to see Sinne learn to communicate with him, and I thought their friendship was really sweet. I would just like to see a disfigured/disabled character be confident in their body rather than focusing solely on the negatives of it. My scoliosis has negatives; pain and physical limitations, but I also genuinely like how my body looks, and that seems to be a hard concept for some people to grasp.
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Sexual content, Vomit, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, and Classism
Minor: Rape and Excrement
The worst of the gore is in chapter 40, but it’s moderate here and there throughout the book.mostlyvoidpartiallystars's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Finally, a recurring section I'm going to be adding to all my reviews going forward: Do they bury their gays?
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gore, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Deadnaming, Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Murder, Colonisation, and War
Minor: Physical abuse, Rape, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy