Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - The Name-Bearer

This book had all the good vibes. Queer representation, Latinx inspired fantasy, found family, strong warrior women, a little bit of romance and finding your true self. This book is very YA. It did have some pacing issues but it is a short book, so easy to get through. I really enjoyed meeting all of the different side character through out the book. The book did end without tying anything up really, but it ended leaving me wanting more. And thankfully book two is on its way!

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erikagibson126's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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lpantoja0295's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.5

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bkwrm1317's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Completed judge review for Indie Ink on 3.28.24.

The following is a personal review, and does not reflect judging for Indie Ink 2024 judging I completed:

This was a really interesting novel, although there were odd breaks in the progress of the overall story arc as the protagonist went from one place (geographically) to another. This created a slightly disjointed/jarring reader experience for me, and also made the pacing feel slower than it would have otherwise, I think. I'd suggest the pacing of the novel is slow/medium, with some sections more solidly in each category.

The world building, magic system, and overall story was distinctive, if not unique. I wasn't particularly compelled by the use of Spanish words/how they were integrated - it didn't feel as thoughtful as some other Latine bilingual authors' works are in their use of English and Spanish words.

The end of the novel represents a fairly unsatisfying cliffhanger for me personally, as a reader, but would likely feel more compelling for other readers.

All CWs as mild, as there is either a brief/not emotionally intense engagement in the text with the CW, or it is threatened/mentioned, but not done (e.g. sexual harassment rather than sexual violence, as it was a verbal threat towards the protagonist, but not one that was carried through or anywhere near that).

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avacadosocks's review

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

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charliebites's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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searobin's review

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adventurous hopeful slow-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

4.0

I absolutely LOVED this book, but it does have its issues, so rating it is a bit hard. The two main things are that it ends up feeling like one long prologue, and that the writing feels like YA but some of the violence are detailed to a degree that doesn't suit YA. I really loved the characters, I liked getting to know the friends and some and the travelling companions so well, but it's a bit weird for an adventure book; it felt much more "slices of life" than adventure. I'm also curious about how our MC got so much education, but had so little awareness of how her situation was developing on the outside. It felt like she just ignored/didn't learn anything it for those 10 years.

All in all, I loved how immersed we were in the story, but it is unusual for the genre.

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cozyscones's review

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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

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