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scrubsandbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- 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
4.0
Found family, and sapphic love, in a beautiful Latinx-inspired world that is very queer-normative, as well as a bully getting to face consequences, nearly all my boxes were checked with this book. It was such a lovely story, and I loved the prose, cementing in my heart that you don't need to be traditionally published to actually be considered a worthy read. The ending's cliffhanger felt a little jarring because of the way it was written but besides that, I would absolutely give the next book a read and continue to reading anything that Natalia Hernandez puts out in this world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Violence
Moderate: Bullying, Sexual assault, and War
Minor: Slavery and Trafficking
takarakei's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I really loved this when it first started off! I was immediately intrigued by the concept of this child 'name-bearer' and the world building. I love a prophecy gone wrong. However, once I got about ~30-40% into the book it really began to drag plot-wise and ultimately by the end I didn't really feel as if much had happened (feels like all the action will be coming in a sequel). So ultimately a bit of a disappointment overall - if this is just a duology I might still listen to the sequel to see the conclusion of the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault, Xenophobia, and Trafficking
Minor: Rape and War
cozyscones's review
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- 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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Trafficking
Minor: War
wy_woman's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, and Murder
starrysteph's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I truly enjoyed The Name-Bearer! It was vibrant, creative, and filled with generous sprinklings of Latin American culture.
We follow the Name-Bearer, a young girl who was selected as a baby to fulfill a critical royal role: deliver royal names from the magical Flowers of Prophecy. Her identity is stripped alongside her birth name; she knows nothing of life outside the palace. But when her first naming ceremony doesn’t go as planned - and she receives an unexpected prophecy instead, putting her in grave danger - she must journey away from all she’s known and find the true heir to the throne.
The world was so fun and colorful; I could picture every scene and character. I thought the depictions of strong & healthy friendships alongside budding romances were so lovely. There are a lot of potential romantic pairings and I would have been happy wherever we landed.
The main character’s journey with her identity - her entire sense of self and her place in the world - unfolded in a beautiful way. Her entire life is dictated by those above her; she is marginalized and powerless. I loved watching her slowly cement her personhood and discover who exactly she is outside of the expectations placed on her.
There were some clumsier elements - the editing seemed to be lacking (typos/other issues on a significant number of pages) and some plot points moved far too quickly. The story spans 10 years, and considering the large amount of characters and events, I think it could have perhaps been better served being split up into multiple books with more time to linger and develop the characters and storylines.
Overall though, Natalia Hernandez is bringing a fresh voice to the fantasy genre and I think her ideas are spectacular. I know she will continue to strengthen as a writer and I’m excited to witness her journey.
CW: violence, bullying, sexual assault (mention), confinement, trafficking, kidnapping, child abuse, death, xenophobia, classism, grief, abandonment, war, slavery
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Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Abandonment, War, and Classism
gwenythepooh's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I loved the idea of this book when I first heard the author talking about her dream on TikTok and I am still in love with it now. I enjoyed the book but it’s resting solidly in the fun reading but not good book where it is now.
I love the idea of the Danrayen characters and the Xena vibes I’m getting from them. I love the magic system and I love the arc the character is going through even though I can’t really get into the main character. My problem comes into the execution. The book feels incomplete. There are pacing issues, plot issues, and some of the writing falls flat due to those as well as variations in style of writing. I feel like this book could really have benefitted from the whole series being written and then broken into the separate books as this one felt like the first half of a book not a whole one.
I love the idea of the Danrayen characters and the Xena vibes I’m getting from them. I love the magic system and I love the arc the character is going through even though I can’t really get into the main character. My problem comes into the execution. The book feels incomplete. There are pacing issues, plot issues, and some of the writing falls flat due to those as well as variations in style of writing. I feel like this book could really have benefitted from the whole series being written and then broken into the separate books as this one felt like the first half of a book not a whole one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Gore, Xenophobia, and War
Minor: Sexual assault and Trafficking
lexi17d's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- 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
I really enjoyed the premise of this book. The representation was great, the story was unique, the characters interesting and well developed. I am a huge fan of our main character. Her development as a character felt very realistic, and I loved reading her journey. The side characters were all very distinct people, and I loved watching her relationships with each one progress and develop. This book has one of the most unique plots that I’ve read, and I love the diversity included in this book within the Latinx and LGBTQ communities.
The biggest critique I have of this book is the writing itself. I recognize this book is an independently published book and is the authors first novel, so I am overlooking simple editing errors in grammar, punctuation, sentence structure etc. (I’m no editor, so I can’t reliably comment on those anyways). However, many of the large plot points and scenes were quickly glossed over and briefly explained rather than shown, which threw the pacing off and left me feeling slightly unfulfilled. I think this book would have greatly benefited with an extra 50-100 pages to really fill out the story and add the detail, world building, and development of side characters that I felt was missing. As this is the first book in a series, I have confidence that it will only improve, though I wish we got to see more of what was happening with other characters later in the book, and got more context with the world earlier in the book. The ending was also very abrupt, and left me feeling confused.
That is all to say that I want more from this book! I think this is a great start for this author and series, and I will be continuing the series once the next books come out. I can’t wait to see how this author improves in the next books, and to see what happens next to our MC!
The biggest critique I have of this book is the writing itself. I recognize this book is an independently published book and is the authors first novel, so I am overlooking simple editing errors in grammar, punctuation, sentence structure etc. (I’m no editor, so I can’t reliably comment on those anyways). However, many of the large plot points and scenes were quickly glossed over and briefly explained rather than shown, which threw the pacing off and left me feeling slightly unfulfilled. I think this book would have greatly benefited with an extra 50-100 pages to really fill out the story and add the detail, world building, and development of side characters that I felt was missing. As this is the first book in a series, I have confidence that it will only improve, though I wish we got to see more of what was happening with other characters later in the book, and got more context with the world earlier in the book. The ending was also very abrupt, and left me feeling confused.
That is all to say that I want more from this book! I think this is a great start for this author and series, and I will be continuing the series once the next books come out. I can’t wait to see how this author improves in the next books, and to see what happens next to our MC!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Abandonment