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hannan_'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? Yes
4.0
Overall, nice and slow story — there isn’t too much action, and any action is very very curt.
Katherine Addisons main strength comes in her characterization. Maia is such a complex, empathetic character. The way he thinks about other characters also brings them to life. Maia’s longing for companionship, working through his trauma, his developing emotional intelligence, and overall kindness was a delight to read. The most unrealistic part of this story? The fact that he’s a teenage boy (18, but still…).
I do think that there were some themes that were introduced that I felt could have been explored a bit more. For example, I felt that the prejudice that goblins felt in the elven court (including Maia) was hinted at but never fully resolved. (Which, now thinking about it, might have been intentional on the author bc can racism be solved overnight?) another aspect is that Maia learns of a fortress built on top of a sacred indigenous burial ground, and feels bad about it— but this conflict was brought up and never resolved (maybe in a future novella?)
This is often recommended as a “cozy” fantasy. While 80% is cozy, I’d recommend checking content warnings for the other 20%, because they are quite grim, to the extent that I wouldn’t recommend this as a cozy fantasy.
I think that the pacing was nice and slow, and the beginning was super interesting. There was a middle book slump, but a really engaging payoff in the last 150ish pages. The book just takes a while to set up this complex net of a political machination.
The world building was complex. It presented this small slice of this larger world, alluding to but not fully developing the world beyond the court.
I think my biggest problem is that for the first time in my life, I’ve had trouble juggling characters in my head. There were so many, and each of them had multiple names and titles based on an imaginary and unnecessarily complex naming system. There were so many similar names, from people who weren’t related, making it even worse. Addison needed to realize, that naming 10 people in a paragraph— some multiple times with different titles and different honorifics— made it impossible to read. I’d understand if the naming system was based off of an already established culture, but you had terms 20+ characters long, and a 30 page glossary which took up alot of time to get through and really broke immersion in the story.
Thankfully, there were parts where I realized I didn’t necessarily need to recall who a person was. But there were also multiple parts in the story where I had to put the book down to take a breather because the book was throwing alot of information at you at once.
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, and Death of parent
misty_kb'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? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Death and Grief
Moderate: Child abuse and Death of parent
Minor: Homophobia
kers_tin'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
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
birdofalltrades's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Classism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Colonisation
Minor: Chronic illness, Infertility, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, and Injury/Injury detail
clarabooksit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Grief, Abandonment, and Classism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
bergha1998'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
5.0
Political Fantasy, Heartwarming, Incredible Character Development
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
xandry'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
5.0
Graphic: Death, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Murder
Minor: Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, and Sexual harassment
philamot'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
4.5
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and War
hybridtulips'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? Yes
5.0
I'm usually not a huge fan of steampunk, but the theme is light enough and handled well enough for me to actually enjoy it. A first time for everything!
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Suicide, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Racism, Terminal illness, and Violence
Minor: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and War
The while book is themed around moderate to mild racism towards (darker skinned) goblins within the (lighter skinned) elven society, externally from other characters, and internalized by the main character.amandaterasu'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
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Colonisation, and Classism
Minor: Alcoholism and War
A lot of the Content Warnings (but not all!) here are about recovering from the trauma inflicted by the content listed. This is a book about healing and moving forward after trauma.