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k_winchester'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Things I liked:
-Gemma was so snarky. She was consistently pretty mean in the early part of the book, which was interesting to me as she felt like an atypical 'heroine'. As well, the group of friends she ultimately gathered was rather atypical to me, too, which I really liked - and she didn't even like any of them for a while, which was amusing.
-There was something about Gemma that even though she was pretty unlikable for a while, I was drawn in by her nonetheless. It was satisfying to her change enough to be more vulnerable and strong instead of just stubborn, and retaining her snark.
-I liked that I could not tell where the story was going and a few of those bombshells in the ending threw me for a loop.
-There was a lot of seriously gorgeous writing.
-the scene where the girls are all utterly crushed by the weight of thier position/status in the world (before taking magic into thier own hands) was SO good - honestly probably the one time in the book that really hit my emotions. Just sooo good. 👌
Things I didn't like so much:
-her thing with Kartik. I really, really wanted to be into it - and it initially felt like he was going to be a big character, but lowkey he ended up so periphery that he felt borderline pointless. It felt like the only times he really interacted with her was to refuse to answer any questions/clarify literally anything about him, his role, etc. and I feel like I know about as much if him at the end of the entire book as I did in the beginning. They had some good tension moments, but thier interactions felt so few and far between that thier interactions in the last 1/4 of the story or so felt very out of place.
-Probably a me thing, but it felt like the majority of this is Gemma having no idea what was happening AND purposefully ignoring it, to the degree that it felt like the whole story was really waiting to get to like the 80% mark before Stuff really started Happening in any meaningful way. I really didn't feel very invested or even super interested until around the 3/4 mark (curious enough to read on, but not Into It, and I wanted to feel Into it).
-just other little things here or there either feel unfinished/unresolved (which, i do realize this is the first in a series so that's probably on purpose to some extent but it's not very satisfying) or underdone or kinda pointless in the end.
- the treatment of Ann overall. It worked for snarky/mean Gemma to be so in the beginning, but it felt like later it changed from outright mean to no comment at all, rather than Gemma realizing/appreciating good qualities in Ann (outside of the realms with magic changing/"helping" Ann). And Pip, it felt like she really only called out her good qualities after she was 'dead' (maybe one other time). It just didn't sit right that these girls became so close, supposedly, and yet... As much as I did overall enjoy Gemma, this aspect felt very lacking to me, especially as she changed over the course of the story.
Tl;dr - Honestly overall, it really was alright enough, so it's a solid 3.25 for me. I did enjoy Gemma, and it was a cool story, but it ultimately wasn't enough of my cup of tea/I don't feel invested enough to feel compelled to read more in the series.
Graphic: Animal death and Death of parent
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Racism, Self harm, Death of parent, and Classism
Minor: Alcoholism, Misogyny, Sexism, and Fire/Fire injury
shartcuterie90210's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual content
sassyykassie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Moderate: Grief and Death of parent
Minor: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, and Death
madisone'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
4.0
Graphic: Self harm, Suicide, and Death of parent
Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, and Sexual content
haleymaxinee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Self harm, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Fatphobia, Racism, Sexism, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Classism
zombiezami'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Reading this as an adult, there are parts that I'm not so enamored with, hence the lower rating. The friendship between the main characters strikes me as much more toxic than it did when I was a teenager, especially since Pippa and Felicity never apologize for tormenting Ann. I also find it hard to root for Kartik to be with Gemma, since Gemma keeps implying threats that she will get him arrested, which, at that time period, would basically be a death threat. That being said, I still really like Ms. Moore as a character.
I look forward to my re-read of the rest of the series.
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Racism, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Infidelity, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation
Neglect, Antiziganism, Seizurescelery's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Classism