kitvaria_sarene's review
5.0
4,5 stars
I started reading this one - and when I next looked on the clock I noticed it was 2 hours past my bedtime (again...) and I already read half the book in one go... That is the biggest compliment to a book in my eyes! It also make me jump, when I read while on the subway, and when I looked up next I noticed that the seats next and opposite to me had filled up without me even noticing it!
The writing style was really good and kept me sucked into this world all the way through. It had a bit of a lower point shortly after the middle for me - but picked up again quite fast.
After Smilers's fair, this is the second fantasy book in a row with a gay/bi main character. It was well described and fitted snuggly into the story, feeling like a natural part of it (as it should be in my eyes) and didn't stick out a lot. There are no graphic/descriptive gay sex scenes in here if you are sensitive to those, and only a few detailed sex scenes all in all. And they were done really well. Who follows my reviews knows that I dislike any kind of sex scene in books - these ones didn't make me cringe and roll me eyes - which isn't easy, as that is one of my pet peeves.
I really liked the characters (and be prepared, not everyone will make it to the end of the book!), even if Rhodri sometimes did some quite stupid things - he is a teenager when the book starts after all. I feared for them and cheered for them and was completely enthralled by their fates and stories. They were quite divers, and didn't feel like carbon copies, or blank slates, but like real people.
There are quite some unexpected twists and turns that kept the story fresh, even though the underlying storyline isn't completely unique.
I definitely highly recommend this series - I already bought book two, and hope I'll manage to have it third in line on my TBR!
I started reading this one - and when I next looked on the clock I noticed it was 2 hours past my bedtime (again...) and I already read half the book in one go... That is the biggest compliment to a book in my eyes! It also make me jump, when I read while on the subway, and when I looked up next I noticed that the seats next and opposite to me had filled up without me even noticing it!
The writing style was really good and kept me sucked into this world all the way through. It had a bit of a lower point shortly after the middle for me - but picked up again quite fast.
After Smilers's fair, this is the second fantasy book in a row with a gay/bi main character. It was well described and fitted snuggly into the story, feeling like a natural part of it (as it should be in my eyes) and didn't stick out a lot. There are no graphic/descriptive gay sex scenes in here if you are sensitive to those, and only a few detailed sex scenes all in all. And they were done really well. Who follows my reviews knows that I dislike any kind of sex scene in books - these ones didn't make me cringe and roll me eyes - which isn't easy, as that is one of my pet peeves.
I really liked the characters (and be prepared, not everyone will make it to the end of the book!), even if Rhodri sometimes did some quite stupid things - he is a teenager when the book starts after all. I feared for them and cheered for them and was completely enthralled by their fates and stories. They were quite divers, and didn't feel like carbon copies, or blank slates, but like real people.
There are quite some unexpected twists and turns that kept the story fresh, even though the underlying storyline isn't completely unique.
I definitely highly recommend this series - I already bought book two, and hope I'll manage to have it third in line on my TBR!
alisonalisonalison's review
2.0
I picked this up for free on a whim because I love queer fantasy and it sounded like the sort of thing I might like, but it was disappointing. Aside from the often problematic queer representation, I found it to be a little flat overall and the story just didn't grab me or make me care. I didn't really connect with any of the characters and the plot gets a little unwieldy and implausible and loses focus towards the end. A lot of what happens seems a little meaningless and I wanted more depth and emotion.
While I was initially happy to see queer characters (especially the bisexual main character), I found much of the queer representation to be problematic and stereotypical in a pretty negative way, which was really unfortunate. There's a particularly nasty Villain Queer, a really sad and melodramatic Tragic Queer, and an Unsurprisingly Unfaithful Bisexual. The main character is bisexual, which is really cool and is mostly handled in a good way, but there's also some ugly negative stereotypical stuff about his bisexuality thrown in, which was irritating and didn't seem to serve any purpose. The villain is just super rapey and a really nasty and abusive bully. It's great that there's a trans character, but his transness is handled with an upsetting lack of sensitivity and respect. It really bothered me and made me sad. While I really appreciate the inclusion of queer characters (it's one of the main reasons why I read this), much of the execution was clumsy and irritating and full of unpleasant tropey queer stereotypes. I was disappointed by this book and it left me feeling a little sad. Most people on GR seem to like this, but it was really not for me.
While I was initially happy to see queer characters (especially the bisexual main character), I found much of the queer representation to be problematic and stereotypical in a pretty negative way, which was really unfortunate. There's a particularly nasty Villain Queer, a really sad and melodramatic Tragic Queer, and an Unsurprisingly Unfaithful Bisexual. The main character is bisexual, which is really cool and is mostly handled in a good way, but there's also some ugly negative stereotypical stuff about his bisexuality thrown in, which was irritating and didn't seem to serve any purpose. The villain is just super rapey and a really nasty and abusive bully. It's great that there's a trans character, but his transness is handled with an upsetting lack of sensitivity and respect. It really bothered me and made me sad. While I really appreciate the inclusion of queer characters (it's one of the main reasons why I read this), much of the execution was clumsy and irritating and full of unpleasant tropey queer stereotypes. I was disappointed by this book and it left me feeling a little sad. Most people on GR seem to like this, but it was really not for me.
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