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annahelle'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? No
4.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Racism, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Child death, Racial slurs, and Murder
bill369's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
The characters were complex, gripping and overall perfect. Nevertheless, I didn't grow to like them. I was more interested in the plot than the characters.
Twists, illegitimate bastards, séances, past disputes and an immense amount of money missing. Contained. The plot is fabulous! I must acknowledge that it was hard getting into the book. Primarily because of the high number of characters and their detailed descriptions. However, once I remembered who each character was, I was hooked. The story has a tremendous quantity of details. I am firmly impressed by that.
Page 480, unrequited love.
I was hoping the book would end with chronilogical summary of the events yet it didn't. Thankfully, this summary exists online therefore I understood what I didn't understand.
I'm proud I managed to read this book and understand the more extensive portion of it since it wasn't an easy read. I'm glad I read it because it was a personal challenge.
Graphic: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, and Trafficking
Moderate: Addiction, Miscarriage, Sexism, Violence, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Drug use, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism
miamcmillan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, and Colonisation
tictactoney's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Everything astrological went right over my head. And it might help as you're reading to make a timeline or keep a list, because there's a lot of characters and a lot of clues and a lot of connections.
But what a hell of a book.
Moderate: Racism
eilidhfisher's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism
itkit'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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Bullying, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Sexism, Grief, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
Minor: Blood
sneako's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Police brutality, and Trafficking
cursedepub's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The prose itself does kind of... "put on airs," as the novel is meant to remind a reader of the writing conventions of 19th century literature, to match the setting. In this vein the novel is very clever and very witty, and is very aware of how witty and clever it is. You get the sense that this nothing in this novel is there by accident, and that it's proud of itself for that. To me this was part of the charm, but others may be put off.
One thing to note is that there is a lot of anti-Asian racist violence in the novel, a lot of casual racism in general, and anti-Asian and anti-sex work slurs tossed around liberally. I guess this would be typical of the period and setting. The novel does not excuse the racism and misogyny, but it's very there.
Graphic: Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, and Trafficking
Moderate: Miscarriage and Misogyny
hrhacissej's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Racism
Storygraph suggested this book to me, but I didn't decide to read it until I started a Book Bingo Challenge that had a square for a Story set in New Zealand. I'm glad that I read it and will probably be more inclined to read other Storygraph suggestions. ;-) I found the structure of the story as interesting as the story itself, but the planetary charts were incomprehensible to me despite the author's note at the beginning. I'm interested in watching the miniseries now.