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valerian_honeybee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Infidelity, Misogyny, and Self harm
Minor: Child death, Incest, and Deportation
zoebooksit's review against another edition
3.0
Moderate: Animal death, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Classism
Minor: Vomit
sternfrl613's review against another edition
2.75
LGBTQIA*, SA survivors and children of abusive families: check the content warnings before reading to make sure you're up to what you're getting here.
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Classism
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Blood, and Murder
Minor: Excrement
animaniac17's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Cursing, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, and Kidnapping
Minor: Alcoholism, Abortion, and Classism
louisallama's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Animal death, Homophobia, Rape, Suicide, Murder, and Outing
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Incest, Physical abuse, Vomit, and Classism
Minor: Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
coffee_and_wool'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? No
4.25
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Vomit, Outing, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Child death, Incest, Pedophilia, and Classism
fe_aye's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Vomit, Dementia, Outing, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism
dananana'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
4.5
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide, and Outing
Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
llyrian's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, and Classism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Biphobia, and Homophobia
Minor: Vomit
wildelwrcase's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
Looking at the back of the book, in a Q&A with the author, it's stated she has written 7 YA books before releasing this adult fantasy, and boy golly can you tell. Every time the characters swore was a mini jumpscare where in I had to remember this was not written for teenagers. Because even with the references to the darker material present in this world (see trigger warnings) it still feels totally juvenile with incredibly flat, black and white morality characterization. In the past I've disliked YA books for this quality, yet forgiven them for the fact that they are geared toward people younger than me, but this is marketed fully as an adult fantasy, giving it no excuse.
On the topic of characters, the ones portrayed in this book are both absurdly flat and painfully boring. Outside of our main duo, every single character is presented so cartoonishly it's impossible to take seriously. They are all either virtuous girls who suffer for the advancement of our male heroes' plot, or legitimately evil peverted monsters, with neither party being offered even the barest of nuance. (The big bad man who takes Emmett to the big city is named de Havilland. Really. I haven't seen anything so heavy handed since Cruella Deville.) Unfortunately, neither Emmett or Lucian are given much further development. This almost astounds me since they are both 1st person POV characters! As individuals they can be surmised easily: Emmett - farmer (it's his last name and occupation), hates monetary hand outs, righteous (except when the plot needs him to not be), Lucian - rich, hates his dad, hates bookbinding (but only kind of and only to stir up plot drama.) Could you guess that they're also incredibly inconsistent? And somehow still, the most egregious character injustice is killing off a main character and then never mentioning her again!
The plot is easily the best part of the book, and yet still so much of my enjoyment is based on it's potential for more. I think the plot twists are satisfying, though predictable, and the magic system is so cool. There are so many moments that expand the world and potential that binding memories could have on a vaugely pre-industrial vaugely British setting, like the one in this book. Does Collins ever actually explore these possibilities, well no, but the thought of it is intriguing.
A large part of the plot though that can't go ignored is the romance, which... kinda sucks. Like the 2nd part of the book is by far the most enjoyable to read, don't get me wrong, but their entire relationship is told to us while skipping through the parts we actually want to read about. Like this novel is 450 fucking pages and the author just tells us they had an affair??? She couldn't be bothered to write even one or two scenes of them just fucking talking, getting to know each other, falling in love? It's so insane, she somehow spends more time talking about the sexual assualt of minors rather than the supposedly loving, consensual intimacy between our main romantic pair! That is simply absurd, and quite frankly deeply frustrating. Much like the characters though, the plot, is just really fucking boring.
The two, reasons this aren't a 1 star: 1. It's very readable once you get through the mind numbing opening. Again the 2nd part is pretty fun to read, if rather lack luster. The author is able to spread out reveals just enough that even though they're ridiculously predictable, you still want to get there to see if maybe that's the turning point into where it gets good. 2. Just the idea of it. I really wish this concept was created by a more competent writer, especially one for adult fiction.
Later losers, gonna go write a fanfiction with this premise, but make it not suck.
EDIT: I can't stop thinking about this book, and the more I think the worse it gets. Bullet points cause I don't want to spoil or rant too much.
- Women are treated horribly no matter what. Either sidelined as enforcers of the homophobic realities of the time period keeping our main characters from living freely or literally killed off and never brought up again.
- Part 1 is rendered completely useless by the end of the book, except basically to stall so the reveal in part 2 is more impactful.
- Zero moral nuance or complexity.
- Completely dropped plot threads and/ or thematic ideas that would have made the 450 pages feel less bloated and actually given some depth to the world.
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicide
Minor: Outing and Classism