Scan barcode
fuzzyhebrew's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The reason the rating is not higher is because sometimes I felt the book was holding your hands too much. YA readers are not dumb, and they don't need to be told things that they were just shown moments before. For example, in one scene the sisters are told that to get Taraana his powers he needs to bond with a door, which probably means bleeding on it. So then in the next scene one of the characters says something like "so do you think we should go bleed on a bunch of doors?" I just feel like that discussion didn't need to be in there, the readers know that is what the characters are going to do and it didn't add anything.
I also found the magic council very jarring. It was a piece of the real world politics that didn't really fit with the rest of the middle world. In general the worldbuilding did not hit home for me.
I agree with other readers that making this into a series could be interesting, where we learn more about the other sisters.
Moderate: Child abuse
Children are often sold and bought in this booknerdybookqueen's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This book felt more focused on making a point than telling a story, at the detriment of the point it's trying to make.
Things I liked:
I loved the premise and concept. A badass, diverse group of women rescuing other women from awful shit and giving them the chance to heal? Fantastic. And the bits of that I got were great.
Some parts hit so hard, and they were so good. I loved those bits, especially the ones separate from the characters- there are these unlabeled paragraphs centered on the page and they almost all hurt in a meaningful way.
I really liked the bits we got from the "Book of Memories" (which I don't think is ever mentioned in the actual story?) that introduced the other women.
The concept of two traumatized characters learning to recover from their trauma so they can trust and have a relationship? Great, I love that.
What I didn't like:
I found this book super hard to follow. I have no idea what was going on in the world, it felt like a ton of information was tossed at me but not in a coherent way, I really don't know anything about the other women besides our main girl, Paheli. I feel almost like I was dropped into a sequel that already expects me to know what's going on. I wish I knew more about the world and characters. Except the food, there was so much talk of food that felt super out of place for the most part.
The writing was...weird. I really didn't enjoy most of it. Beyond being hard to follow, it also felt kind of bland. I'm not really sure how to explain it, it was just very frustrating. Especially the weird unnamed narrator bit. The characters were already hard enough to keep track of, having a narrator not identified was just extra confusing. I found I really didn't care about most of the characters, which is frustrating, because I don't want to feel that way, and not in a book with such a good concept.
This book dealt with very heavy topics in a poor manner. It felt like a lot of it was just presented to us and then the reader is hit on the head with "hey this thing is bad" and I feel like people who disagree and don't view these traumatic things as bad probably wouldn't pick up the book. It didn't feel like there were any emotions when these were discussed either, between characters, that they were just stating "hey this is bad, we need to help women from it." Which yes, is true, but it's weird to write it that way.
The ending was so anticlimactic. I got to it and was left feeling just... "what, that's it?"
Overall, I thought it would be really good, and the cover is gorgeous, but I was left feeling kind of disappointed. Which is so frustrating. It had such a cool concept, but it was executed poorly.
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy
the_book_bee'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? No
3.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Suicide
Moderate: Rape
nostoat's review
- 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: Suicide
Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual violence, and Violence
Minor: Death
shadeyc'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
I know a lot of people don't like the style but I found it lent to the atmosphere, the chaotic, exuberant, wildness of how the girls want to be/see themselves.
There is so much sadness and pain here, but the Wild Ones absolutely seek out the wonder and make a point of finding the magic in every place they visit.
I have to say one of my favourite things was all the food. I MUST go to all these places and eat all this food - oh it spoke to my heart.
As many have said, there are multiple trigger warnings, and while nothing is shied away from, it's also not thrown in your face. It feels gentle but firm.
I love all these characters fiercely, and I can say without a doubt that snuck up on me. I wasn't ecpecting to love this as much as I did (mostly because of the content warnings).
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment
nessas_lair's review
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for the ARC! I thought the concept of this book was very intriguing and I loved the discussion about the struggles women face in the world. There's lots of great quotes in this book. It's quite a slow-paced story until the last 50 pages or so where all the action happens. The face-off scene with the villain and the Wild Ones was a bit underwhelming because there was so much buildup to the moment and it ended so quickly. I also thought the characters could have been a little more fleshed-out because the girls didn't really have distinct personalities aside from Paheli and Valentina. The worldbuilding was really fascinating though, and I liked the concept of the Between. Overall, this is a very dreamlike written story with interesting themes, but I wish the characters were a bit better written.
3.5/5 Stars
Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Violence
nugenmak000's review
- 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
4.25
Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual violence
herfleurs's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy
foreverinastory'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
Rep: Indian female MC (aro-spec coded), French BIPOC trans female sapphic side character, Korean female side character, Indonesian female side character, Filipina female side character, West African female side character (wears a head scarf), Pakistani female side character, Fijian female side character, Turkish female side character, Muslim Iraqi female side character, Japanese female side character. Unsure who is queer but at least half are not attracted to men.
CWs: Abandonment, blood, confinement, death, emotional abuse, grief, homophobia, injury/injury detail, infidelity, kidnapping, lesbophobia, misogyny, murder, physical abuse, sexism, torture, trafficking, prostitution, violence. Moderate: child abuse, child death, pregnancy, mention of attempted abortion, rape, sexual assault, sexual violence, suicide by running into traffic, bullying.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Pregnancy