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sophiesmallhands'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
4.75
Graphic: Xenophobia
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Racial slurs, Racism, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Fire/Fire injury
shugentobler's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Death, Gore, and Death of parent
littlelizzieborden's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism
bree_h_reads'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
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexism, Xenophobia, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Religious bigotry
craftysnailtail's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Chronic illness, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and War
Minor: Hate crime, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
amberinpieces'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
3.25
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Drug use, Gun violence, Suicide, Vomit, Medical content, and War
wilybooklover's review against another edition
4.0
There were a few plotting issues. The two main plotlines were a little too disparate through most of the book and felt like they were kind of forced together towards the end rather than naturally converging. It was a bit jarring jumping straight from Onna's POV into Tsira's or Jeckran's. Some of the subplots seemed a bit pointless or didn't really make sense
Overall though, this was great fun and very entertaining.
Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Child death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, Pregnancy, and War
ohnoitskylie'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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Death and Death of parent
Moderate: Gun violence, Sexual content, and Violence
booksthatburn'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
Onna's storyline involves sexist expectations of her as a girl, not quite yet a woman. The whole reason she leaves her home country is because she was denied entry to a magical academy because the examiners dismissed her as a village girl. Her class was less of a factor than her gender, but the combination of the two meant they ignored her on a technicality.
This is the first book in what is thus far a set of two books in the same world. This one doesn’t seem to be specifically setting up anything to be resolved later, but I suspect that if and when I do read the next one I might realize things I didn’t notice on this read through. For now, this functions as a stand-alone book and can be treated as such. It resolves its own major plot points and while it gives an idea of what the characters may do next, it's in the broad strokes of the trajectories of their lives, not in way that specifically teases a sequel. There’s been a series of murders of trolls, spread across a pretty large area, but it seem that the humans of various regions don’t know that the problem is more widespread. While wealthy and well-connected trolls are at the highest levels of society with a great deal of control, individual trolls are being seemingly randomly murdered and their bodies mutilated for some unknown purpose. Onna becomes involved in the investigation as part of pursuing her magical studies. Tsira (who is half-troll and half-human) and the human she rescued end up working together to try and track down the murderers after someone close to Tsira is killed.
I love the relationship between Sara and her Pink (the human man she found in the snow). More than any individual facet of the dynamic between them, I like how they continually work at their relationship in a way that makes sense, but also shows that it’s some thing that takes work to maintain. They don’t always understand each other perfectly, but they end up finding a cadence that works for them and gives them the tools to deal with whatever happens.
The trolls have a system of social roles that are separate from gender in a way that doesn’t neatly map onto human conceptions of sex and gender. To them, a human system that’s based on anatomy seems completely nonsensical. I put a lot of thought into how to denote the kinds of queer rep rep contained in the book. Ultimately, I think the best analog for is Tsira as genderqueer and trans, because even though that definitely does not perfectly map onto how she would describe herself, it is the most analogous language I have to denote the kind of character she is and the way she is understood (or not) by the humans around her.
There's a lot of excellent worldbuilding. There’s little things like how those who do know of Onna's home, as she gets further away, know of it because it has a pencil eraser factory. Eventually, they only know about the factory and haven't heard of her village at all. I found that to be a fun detail, and her reaction to each new mention changes throughout the book as she hears it over and over. As for the broader worldbuilding, the more foundational element is the way that the magic is done through a form of advanced mathematics involving specify parameters for what will be affected by the spell. It’s a bit like making calculus magic, and the book never attempts to teach any particular magical equation because the process is the point, not the details. It means that in practical terms, the role that magic can play in the book is extremely flexible, able to be adapted for the needs of the plot, but also having limitations in a way that never feel contrived. I also noticed the while way the humans have sexism is a manner that I find broadly familiar, there are a little things that make it clear that it’s not meant to be a direct copy of the way the problems would play out in the real world. One of these little ways is that the human men are frequently described as wearing skirts. It's a little way of making it clear that this isn't just Earth with magic added, but a wholly different place which has broadly similar problems that play out in its own particular ways. It’s nearly the end of the book before the two main plot threads converge. It lends some sense of scale how wide flung the troll murders are, spanning countries and at least one sea voyage.
I thoroughly enjoyed this and will likely pick up the other book set in this world. This seems like a hidden gem, and I hope more people try it.
Graphic: Death, Gore, Hate crime, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Classism
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Physical abuse, Suicide, Excrement, and War
massivepizzacrust'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? No
3.0
However, I will never be able to enjoy Tsira and Jeckran's relationship. Tsira decided what was going to happen from the moment she laid her eyes on Jeckran. D/s relationships are still partnerships but this relationship was only Tsira deciding how things will happen and Jeckran putting up the mildest of fights that never get considered. When he says he's uncomfortable with something, Tsira rolls his eyes at him and thinks he's cute. Jeckran just happens to always give consent after the fact (except before the explicit non-con scene, which I did appreciate). How lucky for Tsira that she never oversteps his boundaries. Except she does and there are no consequences, even when Jeckran is so embarrassed he can't even look at her.
Graphic: Death, Gore, Racism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail