kiwij96's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Classism, Blood, and Bullying
Moderate: Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent, Violence, Torture, and War
cecinamo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Spoiler
Raikama! I thought her story was so interesting and the relationship between her and Shiori was so cute ;^;. It was a nice twist to make the stepmother kind instead of evil like in the original fairytaleGraphic: Violence, Murder, Blood, Abandonment, Grief, Misogyny, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture
Minor: War
raypaws'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
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Grief, Torture, and Death of parent
Minor: Animal cruelty, Murder, and War
sydapel'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? No
5.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, and Misogyny
saintyeehaw's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, and Torture
mpbookreviews's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Blood, Death of parent, War, Murder, Grief, Classism, Death, and Violence
chrisljm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Vomit, War, Murder, Grief, Ableism, Self harm, Body horror, and Body shaming
Minor: Sexual harassment
readerperson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Moderate: Violence and Gore
Minor: Torture
rensreading's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
it took me a hot sec to figure out which area of asia this story was drawing inspiration from though. i think i may have just been confused by the studio ghibli comments but idk. the elements of chinese folklore became more clear only once someone pointed them out to me so im probably just slow. the red string of fate was a dead giveaway for sure though.
the plot was okay. it took a little too long to start in my opinion and certain details were brought up in the very end to try and link them as an explanation for why the beginning was so long but it still felt clunky. it seemed like lim had a plan™️ for her ending but didn’t execute it smoothly enough to make sense. there was just a lot of rushing at the end, which i get because its the end but the change of pace was weird and kind of unnecessary too. slow and steady wins the race after all.
i didn’t really care for our mc or how she seemed to enrapture two boys. the romance was just meh to me. it felt like it was missing something but i honestly couldn’t tell you what it was. probably just plain old chemistry. either way, i thought there would be more emphasis on her brothers since they’re the whole reason she’s trying to break the curse anyway but, sadly, we get to learn very little about them. instead we get a good chunk of the book about someone else’s sibling instead :)) how fun :)))
all in all, this was an okay read. there definitely were some overdone cliches and hiccups in the plot but it wasn’t enough to make me dislike this book either.
Spoiler
i didn’t care for the random power-ups or how quickly the stepmother was forgiven though.because of all of the above, i give this 4 stars
Graphic: Abandonment, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Confinement, Cursing, Medical trauma, Violence, Animal death, Death, Blood, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Torture
Moderate: Death of parent and Grief
Minor: War
woolgathering_jane's review against another edition
- 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
“I would tell you stories from dawn to dusk if it meant filling your eyes with happiness.”
The plot was a little predictable, but I didn't mind, I loved it anyway.
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
Moderate: Bullying, Blood, and Confinement
Minor: Death of parent, Torture, and Animal cruelty