some_random_person_hi's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Violence, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Injury/injury detail, and Blood
Moderate: Abandonment, War, Death, and Murder
Minor: Grief, Bullying, and Ableism
clarabooksit's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
I do think more exposition would have helped at some parts and the pacing was a little too fast, but overall I loved it. It’s full of depth and nuance, and the touches of humor added a lot, too. Highly recommend this one.
Graphic: Violence, Gaslighting, Racism, Xenophobia, and Colonisation
Moderate: Injury/injury detail, War, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Death and Blood
anniereads221's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, War, Violence, Death, Racism, Injury/injury detail, and Xenophobia
emily_mh's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Spoiler
half the recruits changed their mind on colonisation after one discussion was downright unbelievableGraphic: Colonisation, War, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Violence and Injury/injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Physical abuse, Death, Cursing, and Torture
Major: ethnic racism Minor: famine, capital punishmentaardwyrm's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Violence, Colonisation, Death, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Xenophobia
rnbhargava's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Confinement, Death, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Racial slurs, Violence, Trafficking, Gaslighting, Gore, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/injury detail, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Toxic friendship, and Xenophobia
This book has all of these themes but does it all in a fairly most ages friendly way. Think of the sensibility of a show like “Avatar: The Last Airbender”tinyelfarcanist's review
- 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
For such an easy-to-read graphic novel, the characters are well-developed.
Graphic: Racial slurs, War, Classism, Xenophobia, Racism, Colonisation, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Violence, Outing, Injury/injury detail, and Death
Minor: Emotional abuse
amortristis's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Spoiler
Aiza putting on a bandage to cover her tattoo (major plot point!) only for that bandage to be missing a couple of pages later.Spoiler
At first I was annoyed that General Hende was the chief antagonist. It felt like an easy out – our heroes defeat the Big Bad and so we get a nice and tidy conclusion to the story while not properly addressing the colonial power that’s supposed to be the focus. But, upon reflection, I think what they did with Hende works quite well. She represents Bayt-Sajji. Her demise can be read as parallel to the eventual fall of the empire, in that she wasn’t defeated by a gang of plucky young heroes, she was defeated by her own hubris and her self-destructive refusal to stand down. I suppose you could argue that Aiza represents Ornu, in that she’s the catalyst to that downfall. There’s a satisfying contrast between Hende refusing to give up and Aiza proudly announcing “guess I’m a quitter” at the very end of the story.Squire isn’t bad but it could have been better. Both the art and the writing needed further development. I can’t bring myself to give it a higher rating because it feels so incomplete. I’ve seen other reviewers wondering if there’ll be a sequel and while the idea that every piece of media needs to be transformed into a series frustrates me to no end, I do understand where this yearning/speculation is coming from. It does feel like there should be more. Squire is similar to Locatelli’s Persephone in a lot of ways – good and bad. Persephone’s execution was just a tad better.
Moderate: Injury/injury detail, Racism, War, Blood, Bullying, Colonisation, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, and Xenophobia
Minor: Death, Child abuse, and Torture