The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! š
nicodaa's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Gore, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: War, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, and Stalking
Minor: Grief, Torture, and Vomit
nutmegandpumpkin's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
4.5
I got this at the dollar store and to say it exceeded my expectations would be an understatement.
It has a quick pace and is more on the plot driven side, but I was in the perfect mood for this type of story.
The character dynamics and interactions are so well done and made me smile (though they only go so deep).
The plot is the perfect mix of politics and action. Just the plot being based around a dangerous audition for a job under the Queen thatās filled with
Ā 1. deadly tests
Ā 2. training
and
Ā 3. other auditioners who areĀ allowed to kill you
Is right up my alley. And the setting is mainly the palace grounds? Yes please!
Although the world building wasnāt deeply explored within the book, I could tell the author spent time doing it anyway because every detail fit within the world and felt like it made sense.
It did get a little sluggish around the middle but it soon picked back up and I was just as invested again when it did.
Okay Iām done gushing. Would recommend if youāre in the mood for a fast-paced fantasy that isnāt too bogged down or ādeep.ā Very fun read.
P.S. I also really love that the Queenās left hand have ātitlesā / new aliases named after the rings she wears on her left hand: Emerald, Ruby, Amethyst, and Opal. I thought it was pretty rad.
It has a quick pace and is more on the plot driven side, but I was in the perfect mood for this type of story.
The character dynamics and interactions are so well done and made me smile (though they only go so deep).
The plot is the perfect mix of politics and action. Just the plot being based around a dangerous audition for a job under the Queen thatās filled with
Ā 1. deadly tests
Ā 2. training
and
Ā 3. other auditioners who areĀ allowed to kill you
Is right up my alley. And the setting is mainly the palace grounds? Yes please!
Although the world building wasnāt deeply explored within the book, I could tell the author spent time doing it anyway because every detail fit within the world and felt like it made sense.
It did get a little sluggish around the middle but it soon picked back up and I was just as invested again when it did.
Okay Iām done gushing. Would recommend if youāre in the mood for a fast-paced fantasy that isnāt too bogged down or ādeep.ā Very fun read.
P.S. I also really love that the Queenās left hand have ātitlesā / new aliases named after the rings she wears on her left hand: Emerald, Ruby, Amethyst, and Opal. I thought it was pretty rad.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Blood, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Classism and Transphobia
Minor: Self harm, Violence, and War
The transphobia is done by an asshole character who refuses to call Sal by anything but feminine pronouns. But it is very obvious this character is a bad guy (itās not glorified) and we get some great moments when heās put in his place :)anniereads221's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Murder, and Grief
Moderate: Transphobia
readwithasherreid's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
I am not a fantasy reader so my expectations for this were very low. However, this was a pleasant surprise! I really liked the discussions on gender and how being trans in a cis society is hard, even when you try to cater your appearance to cis people. I loved the fact that this is a fantasy world where magic does not exist because my brain very much struggles with following magic systems. I also just think it was a refreshing take on world-building a fantasy setting! Heavily appreciate the themes of queerness, PTSD, and justice. I do not have a list of content/trigger warnings as I found myself too immersed in the reading experience to jot any down. I would highly recommend searching through StoryGraph and booktriggerwarnings.com for them, though, because this book does not shy away from hard-hitting topics. I will leave below the few warnings I do remember.
CWs/Tws: Murder, death, blood, PTSD, body gore, etc.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death, Blood, and Body horror
oceanherd's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Death
Moderate: Genocide
Minor: Transphobia and Colonisation
lolajh's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
5.0
DUDE definitely one of my favourite fucking books after reading this. A nonbinary genderfluid protagonist, Sal, who is an assassin and uses the pronouns he/him, they/them, and she/her, which flunctuates along with his gender. Sal uses cis peopleās stereotypical view of gender and the clothes that are often assigned to it to their advantage, so when she identifies as a girl they wear fem clothes, when they identify as a guy he wears masculine clothes, and when they feel like neither he wear androgynous clothes. As a non binary person myself who experiences my gender expression in such a different way it was so lovely to learn and experience how Sal expresses their gender through clothing. Along with this, Sal is not at all shy of her identity, happily communicating his gender fluidity and boundaries that are made with everyone regarding pronouns and what to use for them and when, very much normalising gender feeling like this not only in this fantasy world but in real life too. Sal allowing herself to get mad at people who disrespect their identity is completely valid, and as someone who finds it difficult to correct people misgendering me, reading stuff like this is empowering, and the fact I was able to take all this away from a fictional book? What you consume in media does truly affect you, and this book did it in a way that was so positive. Also the fact that the author never discloses salās biological sex is lovely and important for deconstructing societyās views of gender, especially that of non binary people. Very very very good book.Ā
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Transphobia
bloodyvalentine's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
If you liked the Grishaverse but thought it was just not queer enough, this Book is a must read in my opinion. Compelling, emotional, tense, youāre always waiting for the next twist and turn and fearing for Sal.Ā
Thereās few books where Iād say that the main character is one of my favorites, but this one is definitely one of them. I started on the second one as soon as I could and I canāt wait to see how the story continues.Ā
Thereās few books where Iād say that the main character is one of my favorites, but this one is definitely one of them. I started on the second one as soon as I could and I canāt wait to see how the story continues.Ā
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Gore, Blood, Violence, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcohol
salainen's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, and Murder
Moderate: Transphobia, War, Torture, and Death of parent
julesadventurezone's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Transphobia, and Violence
taliahsbookshelf's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I chose to read this book while simultaneously listening to the audiobook available on Spotify. I loved the narrator's voice. They did a fantastic job staying consistent with the voices, which made it super easy to follow along with the story. Anyways, now onto my thoughts about the actual book itself.
The best way to describe this book would be if you took the competition from the Selection, the murder game from the Hunger Games, a magic system that felt almost kind of loosely related to something you might read in Shadow and Bone, and then threw in Skyrim's Dark Brotherhood storyline (yes, I am quite confident that is where the idea for the third test is from and will hear no criticism on this point).
As for the writing, despite what I'm seeing a lot of people claiming, it's not similar to SJM or Leigh Bardugo? I just didn't get that comparison. I think all three of these writers are unique and have very different writing styles, and I wouldn't lump them all into the same category. (Additionally, those of you who continue to compare this book to ACOTAR, besties, do you understand that a) ACOTAR was not SJM's first book, and her writing style did develop significantly from her actual first book and b) SJM is... questionably good at writing? But that's pretty debatable and not what my point is here.)
Now, onto the characters. I liked the characters. I liked the almost impersonalized way of developing the background characters. Everyone wore masks, and physical appearances weren't as important as in a lot of other books. Readers get to make up our own assumptions and ideas. I get some people's point when suggesting that it can be hard to track who is who when everyone is just a number for the majority of the book, but... if you take the time to write it out, or just keep track of things, or color code, or whatever works for you, it's actually not that difficult at all. If you can understand the different Grisha and keep them straight, you can keep 1-23 separated especially since most of them die.
The main love interest, Elise, was... certainly a love interest. I think this was the most boring part of the book for me. I liked that Elise is unlabeled queer, but the relationship between her and Sal felt almost rushed, and not well developed. I wasn't sold on their feelings for each other, and it was kind of boring to read through the "romantic" parts. I found myself no longer paying attention and kind of zoning out during these parts, but everything else kept me engaged, so I can't complain too much.
Onto my biggest frustration with other reviewers: I was reading through reviews and trying to condense my thoughts when I came across a few suggesting that Sal's gender identity (gender fluidity) was "pointless, distracting, and not important to the plot." Hey, guys, I hate to break it to you, but someone's gender identity doesn't actually have to be a main plot point! Shocker, I know, that people exist with characteristics and life events outside of just their sexuality and/or gender identity. It's good to sometimes read a book where the main character is coming to terms with their identity, or growing into it, or facing huge hurdles as a result of it. But this isn't that book. Instead, it's a novel with a plot line totally separate, and our main character happens to be genderfluid. I personally prefer reading these types of books, because you can be LGBTQIA+ without it being the main point of your story. It's a part of you, rather than the main point of your life.
I actually really liked this book. It was recommended to me by a creator on TikTok, and it looked semi-interesting. Y'all. When I tell you this book blew my mind, I mean it. The twist with Ruby (I'm leaving it at that because Ruby is my favorite character - I will fight anyone who says otherwise) was so well-crafted. I was jumping back through my annotations and realized that Linsey Miller hid the most obvious conversations and tiny details in the most obvious places, but it worked really, really well.
The reason I didn't give this book a five star review was because although I really enjoyed the premise and the competition and the characters (Ruby especially), the magic system was just confusing and very poor, not well explained, and didn't have understandable rules (if you are looking for a book with a solid magic system, this isn't it), and the romance (if you could even really call it that - see above) was weak and I didn't sense any real chemistry.
Was this the best book I've ever read? No. But it didn't have to be. It was good and I enjoyed reading it. I looked forward to times when I could just sit down and read it for a while. I found it easy to get lost in the plot and lose track of time because I was so invested. This got me out of a reading slump, and I think that's pretty important for a lot of people.
Spoilers:
High-level spoiler:My favorite characters went Rath, who we never heard from again, Four, who, well, y'know, got MURDERED, and then Ruby WHO GOT MURDERED. Are you kidding me? I am very upset. Why Ruby? (I get why, but let me have my dramatic moment of crying for Ruby because that was rude) Ā
The best way to describe this book would be if you took the competition from the Selection, the murder game from the Hunger Games, a magic system that felt almost kind of loosely related to something you might read in Shadow and Bone, and then threw in Skyrim's Dark Brotherhood storyline (yes, I am quite confident that is where the idea for the third test is from and will hear no criticism on this point).
As for the writing, despite what I'm seeing a lot of people claiming, it's not similar to SJM or Leigh Bardugo? I just didn't get that comparison. I think all three of these writers are unique and have very different writing styles, and I wouldn't lump them all into the same category. (Additionally, those of you who continue to compare this book to ACOTAR, besties, do you understand that a) ACOTAR was not SJM's first book, and her writing style did develop significantly from her actual first book and b) SJM is... questionably good at writing? But that's pretty debatable and not what my point is here.)
Now, onto the characters. I liked the characters. I liked the almost impersonalized way of developing the background characters. Everyone wore masks, and physical appearances weren't as important as in a lot of other books. Readers get to make up our own assumptions and ideas. I get some people's point when suggesting that it can be hard to track who is who when everyone is just a number for the majority of the book, but... if you take the time to write it out, or just keep track of things, or color code, or whatever works for you, it's actually not that difficult at all. If you can understand the different Grisha and keep them straight, you can keep 1-23 separated especially since most of them die.
The main love interest, Elise, was... certainly a love interest. I think this was the most boring part of the book for me. I liked that Elise is unlabeled queer, but the relationship between her and Sal felt almost rushed, and not well developed. I wasn't sold on their feelings for each other, and it was kind of boring to read through the "romantic" parts. I found myself no longer paying attention and kind of zoning out during these parts, but everything else kept me engaged, so I can't complain too much.
Onto my biggest frustration with other reviewers: I was reading through reviews and trying to condense my thoughts when I came across a few suggesting that Sal's gender identity (gender fluidity) was "pointless, distracting, and not important to the plot." Hey, guys, I hate to break it to you, but someone's gender identity doesn't actually have to be a main plot point! Shocker, I know, that people exist with characteristics and life events outside of just their sexuality and/or gender identity. It's good to sometimes read a book where the main character is coming to terms with their identity, or growing into it, or facing huge hurdles as a result of it. But this isn't that book. Instead, it's a novel with a plot line totally separate, and our main character happens to be genderfluid. I personally prefer reading these types of books, because you can be LGBTQIA+ without it being the main point of your story. It's a part of you, rather than the main point of your life.
I actually really liked this book. It was recommended to me by a creator on TikTok, and it looked semi-interesting. Y'all. When I tell you this book blew my mind, I mean it. The twist with Ruby (I'm leaving it at that because Ruby is my favorite character - I will fight anyone who says otherwise) was so well-crafted. I was jumping back through my annotations and realized that Linsey Miller hid the most obvious conversations and tiny details in the most obvious places, but it worked really, really well.
The reason I didn't give this book a five star review was because although I really enjoyed the premise and the competition and the characters (Ruby especially), the magic system was just confusing and very poor, not well explained, and didn't have understandable rules (if you are looking for a book with a solid magic system, this isn't it), and the romance (if you could even really call it that - see above) was weak and I didn't sense any real chemistry.
Was this the best book I've ever read? No. But it didn't have to be. It was good and I enjoyed reading it. I looked forward to times when I could just sit down and read it for a while. I found it easy to get lost in the plot and lose track of time because I was so invested. This got me out of a reading slump, and I think that's pretty important for a lot of people.
Spoilers:
High-level spoiler:
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Gore and Violence
Minor: Abandonment, Grief, Torture, and Transphobia