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puddleshoes's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- 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? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Medical content, and Murder
Moderate: Body horror, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death of parent, and Classism
Minor: Xenophobia
witcheep's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
This book was a disappointment to me – for three main reasons.
The first and the biggest disappointment is that the main chatacter Dawsyn is just too stupid to live. Don't get me wrong, she is almost overpoweredly competent in survival and fighting skills, but her stubborn attitude and rash decicions should have had her killed multiple times throughout the book. For example, when Dawsyn is chased for her life, she taunts her hunters, refuses an unlikely ally or tries to spite said ally in every possible way. Even Dawsyn herself thinks she is being childish in a life-or-death situation!
And then she'll have won this childish game of wills.
The ally has to save Dawsyn's life multiple times mainly because of Dawsyn's stupidity. Dawsyn counts on this: she doesn't care what her actions result in because the ally will of course save the day . Annoying! And this makes the ally just a doormat, trying to keep Dawsyn safe from their enemies and Dawsyn's own whims. Their romance (sub)plot doesn't add any real value to the story: I don't buy the level of their infatuation, which makes the romantic parts just cringeworthy.
The plot seems to be that Dawsyn and her ally are constantly in a hurry, but nothing much actually happens. The stakes should be very high (life and death!) but it doesn't feel like that at all. Dawsyn and her ally rush around from a hiding place to another,manage it fairly easily, and defeat the chase parties that find them in combat waaay too easily even when they are clearly outnumbered . While escaping and hiding, Dawsyn manages to make new powerful enemies just because she acts rash and doesn't stop to think things through (and we've come back to her too-stupid-to-live trait).
The plot seems to be that Dawsyn and her ally are constantly in a hurry, but nothing much actually happens. The stakes should be very high (life and death!) but it doesn't feel like that at all. Dawsyn and her ally rush around from a hiding place to another,
Secondly, and this is kindof just a side note... The setting of the Ledge and the Glacian captor race offer an interesting premise for escaping and finding out more about the reasoning behind this captive arrangement. At first, this arrangement and the escape seem to be filled with plot holes (things suddenly being possible when just a while ago they were impossible; new convienient things coming across all the time), but slowly these get explained better by Dawsyn discovering more about the truth of how the kingdom works. I wish the plot holes weren't there at all – don't say something is impossible just to make it doable in a minute. Why not say it is commonly known to be very unlikely to achieve instead?
Finally, another bigger issue: The political and ruling systems are unfortunately very unimaginative, rendering the setting worth less than it should be. Everything comes down to cruel monarchs and selfish nobility who want to hold on to their priviledged lives, even for the cost of the others. The lowest social classes are suffering in a world where resources are very scarce and the survival of the fittests dictates who lives and who dies – teamwork is forgotten outside of the closest family groups. The book presents the people of this world as very violent beings who only think of themselves, no matter the social standing, and that is just a very negative perspective on life used as an easy way to make opponents for the story. Reality is more complex, and I'd like to see that reflected in the people of a fantasy world.
Oh, and just to add to the annoyance of this all, the book has a bloody cliffhanger ending. 🙄
Oh, and just to add to the annoyance of this all, the book has a bloody cliffhanger ending. 🙄
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Sexual assault, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Body horror, Infertility, and Pregnancy
crinkledmochi's review against another edition
DNF at 60%
the plot and point of the story just fell super flat after the first 15% and i really tried to enjoy it
the plot and point of the story just fell super flat after the first 15% and i really tried to enjoy it
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Gore, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Colonisation, and War
kat1105's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
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