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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.kalmia31's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Transphobia and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Deadnaming, and War
becksusername's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Deadnaming, Sexism, Transphobia, Blood, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War
hannahbailey'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
From beginning to end, I truly loved this book! There were many elements of it I didn't expect, from the trans and bigender characters to the paganism and magic system which I think enhanced my reading experience. It's a retelling of a ballad I'm unfamiliar with, yet whilst it brings modern ideas (which aren't as modern as people think) the narrative and setting still felt very authentic and real.
Despite the focus on the three siblings, the side characters also had a lot of depth to them and I found myself enjoying each POV equally (which is very unusual for me!). I was also captivated by the plot as well as the tenuous relationships between the siblings. I wasn't sure if the ending could do the rest of the book justice, but Lucy Holland certainly pulled it out of the bag! That said, there were some subplots I could see coming from a mile-off, but because the novel is rich in its descriptive atmosphere and characterisation, this didn't affect my enjoyment of the story. Seeing these themes in an ancient/historical setting was really refreshing and different too, so I hope to see more historical-fiction or retelling authors weave this into their stories.
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy
nicnevin's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail
mo345's review
- 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
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Sexism, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Cursing, Sexual content, and Alcohol