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sebnia_05's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- 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
3.25
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gore, Incest, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and War
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Racism
beldaran1224's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
There were so many things wrong with this book. Let's start with something objective: there are five main POVs in the story, and they swap approximately every half page to page and a half. They are all labelled...but the labels were sometimes wrong, or the POV of the passage would literally shift from one sentence to the next. It was very frustrating.
The plot is very slow, and I kept hoping for a good payoff, but frankly felt it wasn't worth it.
The diversity was shallow, especially in regards to Bea. With Liyana, there is at least one running theme that felt more than a little racist, especially because it was rooted in the family's immigration story. The book explicitly positions itself as feminist, but has nothing of interest to say about feminism, womanhood, or any related topic. Several of our characters experience economic hardship, but any opportunity to say interesting things about them is left by the wayside.
Folklore is used throughout, but in a kind of ham-fisted way. Three of the four girls clearly fit folklore archetypes or are meant to. One is left out for no apparent reason. The folklore didn't particularly enhance the story.
There are quite a number of horrible things that happen to these girls, and it really seems to just be checking tragedies off a list without delving into them or exploring them or how they shape the character of the girls. Check the trigger warnings, because there are a LOT of triggering things. It's meant to be a character driven book, but between the many POVs and the hopping around in time, its hard to get invested in any of them. Both the past sections and the present frequently lacked anything of real interest.
What does this book do well? The ending was interesting. Not amazing, but solid. It doesn't really deliver on any of the elements the blurb sells. All in all, if you're looking for a book that integrates folklore, has themes of anger, feminism, sisterhood, etc., read the Once & Future Witches instead.
The plot is very slow, and I kept hoping for a good payoff, but frankly felt it wasn't worth it.
The diversity was shallow, especially in regards to Bea. With Liyana, there is at least one running theme that felt more than a little racist, especially because it was rooted in the family's immigration story. The book explicitly positions itself as feminist, but has nothing of interest to say about feminism, womanhood, or any related topic. Several of our characters experience economic hardship, but any opportunity to say interesting things about them is left by the wayside.
Folklore is used throughout, but in a kind of ham-fisted way. Three of the four girls clearly fit folklore archetypes or are meant to. One is left out for no apparent reason. The folklore didn't particularly enhance the story.
There are quite a number of horrible things that happen to these girls, and it really seems to just be checking tragedies off a list without delving into them or exploring them or how they shape the character of the girls. Check the trigger warnings, because there are a LOT of triggering things. It's meant to be a character driven book, but between the many POVs and the hopping around in time, its hard to get invested in any of them. Both the past sections and the present frequently lacked anything of real interest.
What does this book do well? The ending was interesting. Not amazing, but solid. It doesn't really deliver on any of the elements the blurb sells. All in all, if you're looking for a book that integrates folklore, has themes of anger, feminism, sisterhood, etc., read the Once & Future Witches instead.
Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Racism, Self harm, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, and Suicide attempt
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