cassie_ellie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.5
Graphic: Self harm, Domestic abuse, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Xenophobia
iforgotilivedhere's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
Second, I had a really hard time with some of them. I kinda hated Angelica especially after what she did near the end with Eran. Taesia was interesting sometimes but her “snarky” comments kinda just blew it out of proportion sometimes. I could not stand her sometimes because of how dedicated Sim was to making Taesia be so badass. Sim tried so hard but it just didn’t work out sometimes. Sometimes Taesia really did feel like a interesting character! Nikolas, I love him. He deserves the world. Julian was also really good. At the beginning of the book I could care less about Risha but in the middle of the book I really started to actually find her generally interesting. She’s a good character!
Graphic: Cannibalism, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Mental illness, Gore, Cursing, Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Self harm, Murder, Abandonment, Violence, Physical abuse, Grief, Child death, Body horror, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, and Classism
luckykosmos'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
4.0
On the other hand, I loved the character. The whole last third of the book was a doozy and kept me company during a bad bout of insomnia. For the size of the cast by the end, all of the main and most of the secondary characters had distinct personalities and motivations, and the way Sim wove them together in the last act was masterful. My one exception is
Spoiler
Fin - I like his place in the larger plot, but not really where he belongs in Nikolas' story. This might be personal preference, but the amount witheld made it hard to grow attached to him the way I did with, for example, Cosima or Jas, who play similar roles.I settled on a 4 because, while the issues I had did take me out of the experience and went on for a solid chunk of a long book, I think those won't be an issue in book 2 (at least to the same degree), and I really do adore this cast.
Graphic: Addiction and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, Cannibalism, and Child death
Minor: Self harm
booksthatburn's review against another edition
I think I’m having trouble because of the size of the cast. It starts out with four main characters (with one more important one who isn’t a POV character) and then adds another one. They’re all in the same city and there’s a degree of redundancy as one character learns something and then one or two others figure it out separately. Whatever the reason, I’m not enjoying it and I’m stopping.
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Racism, Blood, Xenophobia, Animal death, Kidnapping, Violence, Medical content, Chronic illness, and Death
Minor: Child death, Self harm, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Alcohol
anxiousnachos's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.25
But the first 150-200 pages are so dense. The worldbuilding is so heavy, in that “I need to explicitly and directly tell the reader all these things about the world” way. It’s such a complex and dense set up, and thus the pacing is very slow and I agree with other reviewers that this could easily have been cut 100 pages and the pacing would have flowed a lot better.
In saying that, I say push the fuck through because the pay off is excellent, the characters and their relationships are wonderful and I support bisexual shadow dagger-wielding monster girls who want to tear the world apart and the boys they fancy.
Content warnings: blood and gore, murder, dead bodies, cannibalism, self-harm, burns/burn injury, animal cruelty and torture, animal death, possession, sex, sex work, violence
Graphic: Murder, Cannibalism, Violence, Animal cruelty, Self harm, Gore, Blood, Animal death, and Grief
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual content
_teoeo'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
3.75
Pros:
- I loved the world building
- A lot of LGBTQ* and POC characters
- Taesia!!!!
- Liked the plottwists!!!
- The story was really interesting and I will totally read the second book
- It took me reeeeaaaaallyyy long to read the book
- A lot of text on the pages, was a pain in my ass to read that
Spoiler
didn't liked the part where Angelica was at a brothel, thought that is problematic because it was portrayed as kind of normalised and there wasn't a word about the suffering that can be involved with prostitution- The last 100 pages there was a lot going on, that overwhelmed me a bit
Graphic: Grief, Addiction, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, and Self harm
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Suicide attempt
allisonwonderlandreads'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? Yes
3.0
What I enjoyed most about this book were the twists and turns, the queer cast, and the reflections on power and privilege. While the relationships were a bit surface level and trope-y for my tastes (especially the romantic plots were predictable and rushed), the political power games were fascinating and kept many surprises until the very end. In terms of queer representation, there are both sapphic and mlm romances brewing among the main cast at the end of this first installment, and an important side character is a trans girl. There is also an established sapphic couple as one of the main character's mom and stepmom. It seems to be a queer-norm society. I appreciated how the characters struggle throughout the book to come to terms with their own power in a magical and political sense. They have to consider their duty, the future of their world, and what role they should play in it. They also have to consider what greater powers are meddling in their lives and those of everyone, powers that perhaps shouldn't be revered once viewed in a more honest light.
Beyond relationships that took a back seat to plot, the main deterrent keeping me from being fully immersed in this story was the drawn-out pacing. I lost motivation at several points throughout because I felt sluggish moving through the plot. I think it's always a risk having a book this long, and it takes a special connection between reader and book to keep interest up throughout. That didn't happen for me here, but I still found a lot to admire and enjoy.
Graphic: Cannibalism, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Body horror, Grief, Gore, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Blood, Classism, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Sexual content, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Police brutality, Animal death, and Confinement
a_modernstoryteller's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Cannibalism, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Addiction, Murder, Death of parent, Self harm, and War
Minor: Ableism
grimdark_dad'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
4.25
Moderate: Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Classism, Blood, Grief, Self harm, Terminal illness, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Sexual content