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triley'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
4.0
Graphic: Death, Gore, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Racism, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, and Death of parent
Minor: Physical abuse, Vomit, and Grief
bedtimesandbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Self harm, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and War
Moderate: Child death
katievallin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, and Death of parent
Minor: Body shaming, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
bitteralbatross's review against another edition
Very insta-love for someone from the order that killed her mother and countless other women, and thinks she and her people don't deserve human rights. Before he has had any kind of character growth. Also thinking someone is hot is not chemistry. I did not need every sentence to mention how sexy she thinks he is. The yearning was so ham-fisted, going into way too much detail instead of being subtle and giving the reader credit for understanding the tension, which should grow over time. "My breath hitched, and not from the cold" - I know that from context, I don't need the constant over explanation that actually diminishes the tension.
The whole first part was repetitive and felt so disjointed and jarring. Travel, a bit of conversation, then a thing would just happen, and they'd go back to travel.
I was surprised to learn their ages given how childish and over the top the adult women mean girls at the beginning were. There's such thing as subtlety - she can feel like an outsider without having been literally abused by her entire village her whole life. And if she wanted to go that route, she could have written an interesting character affected by the trauma she experienced - she did a much better job of that in Juniper & Thorn but didn't even seem to attempt it here.
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Child death
toffishay'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? No
3.75
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Antisemitism, Murder, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Child death, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Death of parent
claudiamacpherson'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
4.0
Graphic: Self harm
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Hate crime, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Vomit, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War
internationalreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, and War
oliverreeds'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
3.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment
bi_n_large'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
4.75
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Self harm, Violence, Vomit, Antisemitism, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Racism and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual assault
booksthatburn's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
One of the strengths of this as an enemies-to-lovers story was that the MC and the eventual love interest had pretty good reasons to dislike each other as kinds of people, but not to already hate each other specifically, which made the transformation from ire to romance feel believable but not rushed. A lot of really excellent emotional groundwork and world-building was laid in the first half of the book, which meant that the second half could carefully subvert some (but not all) of those expectations and play with their implications in some really great ways. I feel a little as though that’s just how good books work, but the first and second half feel so distinct to me. Each had their own unique flavor which made the whole book sing. The world building is really good. I like the way that there were canonically several paths to magic, all of which are different in their particulars but involve some combination of access, mastery, and sacrifice. The MC begins the book thinking that she is unable to use the path that everyone has been expecting her to have. she finds her way into the path that’s good for her; not wholly new ground, something recognizable to those around her even if her specific blend is a bit strange.
Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Vomit, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Ableism, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, and Cannibalism
CW for ableism (minor), bullying, kidnapping, homophobia (minor), racism, antisemitism, religious bigotry, blood, gore, vomit, sexual content, physical abuse, domestic abuse (backstory), emotional abuse, self harm, murder, torture, cannibalism (not depicted), animal death, parental death, child death, death (graphic).