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splendidmusings's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, War, and Classism
augustar14's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
It's difficult for a book this long not to feel slow paced. There was plenty of action that got me through, but it still overall felt a little slow.
I also struggle with the main character and her actions/choices at times. I understand her motivations and that her situation is complex, difficult, and influenced by significantly different cultural beliefs. And, at the same time, it is painful to see her grow into the person she becomes. The parallels with the eunuch general are fascinating, and I do plan to at least try to read to sequel to see where that thread goes. His story and decisions are painful to follow, though, too. Overall, it is a difficult read, one that offers little reward for the suffering and pain it puts the reader through. It is not a happily ever after story.
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Medical content and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Excrement and Vomit
queerandtalkative's review against another edition
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Colonisation
readbyella_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, and Murder
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Vomit, Grief, and Death of parent
errie's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail
meganparfitt'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual content, Torture, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury
aileron'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: Ableism, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Xenophobia, Excrement, Cannibalism, and Classism
emhromp'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? It's complicated
5.0
At no point in the story could I predict what was going to happen next and although this took me more than a week to finish (which must be some kind of record), I was never bored and continually intrigued. Wow.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
hmatt's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
3.25
I persevered because Natalie Naudus, and of course the hype. And also it takes a lot for me to DNF a book, so I just pushed through.
Some things I wasn't into:
- As I alluded to before, I had a hard time keeping track of all the characters
- This might also be a genre (/part one in a series) thing, but there are so many events that happen one after another that I didn't feel were super necessary to building the story. This and the multiple time jumps made the story seem both rushed and too long.
- So many of the pivotal moments are glossed over? Like I didn't even realize that a lot of them had happened until after?
- The above also fed into my lack of conviction over the characters relationships with each other. There were really only one or two relationships that felt fleshed-out and genuine to me, and these were the rare ones where we spent a lot of time with both characters together. The main character and their love interest was completely blank for me, I didn't feel any of the build up and had no investment in their relationship.
All this said, it's a "fine" story for me. I did like the writing style, despite my thoughts on how the story comes together. The steamy scene that has received a ton of social media attention is incredibly random in the context of the book but like, lives up to the hype and I could have done with more of that honestly? Well done. I really appreciated the book in audio form for its accurate pronunciations of words/names I would read wrong in my head, and I'd love to read more historical fiction focusing on this area of the world.
Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Grief, and Alcohol
Minor: Infidelity
aellwy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Violence and War
Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Slavery, and Death of parent