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aliyachaudhry'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
3.0
will I be reading the next one? yes
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gore, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Biphobia, Homophobia, and Slavery
jane_calamity's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Child abuse
Moderate: Racism, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Grief, and Death of parent
pinkupengu'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 cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Cultural appropriation
tangleroot_eli's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Graphic: Toxic friendship
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Hate crime, Racism, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Biphobia, Suicide, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate:: Saneism, Spiders, Mind control Minor: Whorephobiajeyjeyyy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Also loved the historical and anti colonial aspects of the story, as a French it did really push me to question our history more and perhaps see it in a more nuanced way
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, and Colonisation
barda's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
It had all of the elements of a great read - a unique setting (19th Century alternative history Paris), cool magic system, intricate heists, and a likeable cast of characters. It was very much like Six of Crows, which I adore, in spirit. But in the end it just couldn't come together in a cohesive way.
The author clearly put a lot of thought into the puzzles and heist elements, as well as the world-building; however, much of it was written in a confusing way, such that I couldn't really picture in my head what was happening in a scene. The characters were broadly likeable and very diverse (Hypnos in particular was hilarious), but much of the characterisation was done by telling the audience what they were supposed to be like (such as it being banged over your head repeatedly that Severin and Laila slept together once and had residual feelings) rather than letting the backstories and personalities of their individual characters be revealed gradually through the text.
One element in particular knocked back my rating quite a bit, and that was the ending. Without spoilers, what I thought was the ending was a pretty good cliffhanger, and had huge emotional ramifications for the characters which could be explored in the next book. But then...there's more pages. And any emotional impact of the ending is completely wiped away as the characters deal with them over the space of a single chapter. This all leads up to a second cliffhanger, which in itself was fine and could have easily stood on its own, but it felt like the author had two ideas for how their book should end and just took the worst of both worlds and put them together in the same book.
I can appreciate what the author tried to do with this book, with the richly detailed setting and magic system, and I really liked the inclusion of neurodiversity among the main characters and the critiques of colonialism in the context of the setting. However, it was let down by confusing writing, the lack of "show not tell", and the ending.
Graphic: Child abuse and Blood
Moderate: Death, Violence, Grief, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Torture
luna_bear'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
4.25
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Torture, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Colonisation
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, and Religious bigotry
girlgetsbook's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I loved the idea behind this book, I had no idea it was going to tackle these kind of issues and was pleasantly surprised by that. I love when the fantasy element of a book serves as a tool to further enhance the themes the author wants to portray, and it's done beautifully and tragically here with the Order representing the hold Europe has on other continents it invaded and the magical artifacts being symbols of pieces of culture, history and lives stolen from said places, and the representation of the real-life racism, xenophobia and exploration that people of color suffered at the time, especially, as the author mentioned represented by the gross Exhibition that is the scenary for a big part of the plot, that is inspired by events that actually happened.
The magic system was very ingenious, a mix of mythology, religion and science and the worldbuilding was incredible even if it took a while to be fully explained which dragged the pacing a little bit. I think the action scenes and the heists should've been planned out better because a lot of it was told and not shown and some things came super easily to the characters and some aspects of the mission were never fully explored to create a better rhythm to the action.
I love that most characters were BIPOC and I loved the discussion around the biracial characters and the angst some of them feel for being a mixture between invader and invaded, I relate to that as a white latina myself. In this aspect the characters really stood on their own, their history, their struggles and how this systemically racist and unfair society impacted their lives and their goals for the future, it was all really important and full of impact to read about. The characters were amazing and their representation well done but I think the problem for me was when they came together, especially during the action. Some of them, really had their places and were able to shine during key moments, like Zophia and Enrique. I LOVED Zophia and I loved the neurodivergent representation, I absolutely relate to her struggles fitting in and one scene in particular hurt me personally because of how real it was, besides that she was brilliant and basically did most of the work, I want her to be happy forever. Enrique also shines amongst the others, I feel like more than anyone else we get to understand who he is, where he's been, his stregnths and weaknesses, for me he was the main character of this book, and I'm not complaining, I love my queer historian to pieces. Now to the others: Séverin was the leader, yes, but sometimes I felt something was missing, it didn't feel like there were any stakes for him when it came to his goals until much later in the story, he had his revenge plot but nothing felt precisely urgent, driving him to his goal at that precise time (what I meant to say was that he was successful and financially stable enough to continue not having what he wanted for a long time, maybe if something financial drove him, his plot would be more engaging to follow). Aside from Séverin, there was Laila, I loved her, and like I said she stands on her own, to the point where I would read a book about her adventures chasing what she wants and her haunting background and interesting magic, however I felt like the author herself didn't know her, when it came to interacting with other characters she felt like a caregiver most of the time, never really living for herself, and during the action it never felt like she was in synch with the rest of the characters, like the author just used her because she needed someone to do something, she has amazing powers but it was mostly used before the action. Tristan and Hypnos were very much supporting characters in this book so I don't have a lot to say about them, except that I like Hypnos and am confused by Tristan, nothing was really well explained about him.
When it came to the characters' dynamics I also felt like they were a bit weird, and after thinking about it I came to the conclusion that it just feels like they already know each other for too long, there isn't for most of the time any conflict of interest or anything for them to discover about one another that is important for the plot, I feel like their relationships are book three level and we didn't see most of the developments between them. The ones that do have conflict are exactly the ones I'm the most invested in, like Séverin and Hypnos and Enrique and Zophia, all these characters feel like they have something to learn from one another and that makes for more interesting dynamics, aside from them, though I appreciate the warmth that surrounds the group, it just didn't feel earned enough, with one character in particular retreating to a worse version of himself by the end of the book.
Because of how everything happened off-page I also struggled to root for Séverin and Laila, it felt like they already had resolved this a long time ago but somehow they still acted like hormonal teenagers around each other, it felt like they were only physically attracted to each other because the author wanted to create that tension every time, which gave less space for me to believe in their partnership as thieves and even as friends really.
The love triangle was unnecessary, I think the author had the idea for the first relationship and as she wrote the book realized the chemistry of the other couple but decided to maintain both anyway, I don't want to see any of them suffer.
The villain paled in comparison to the actual threat of the systems surrounding the country and the systemically racist and invader institutions running the country, it felt very villain of the week and not an actual problem to be faced, the villain was very mustache-twirling to my liking.
Overall this was an okay book with an interesting worldbuilding and premise but that lacked a bit in terms of plotting and pacing. I will continue reading the series and maybe my opinion will change.
About the end
Graphic: Biphobia, Child abuse, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Grief, Murder, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Biphobia
friendly_neighborhood_grandma's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Gore, Racism, Sexual content, Torture, Xenophobia, and Gaslighting
Minor: Self harm and Suicide
jessicaludden'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
I loved this so much. The characters immediately grabbed my attention with their unique personalities. I love Roshani’s writing style when it comes to characterization. I would read the words and think “that was the perfect way to say that.” It would just make so much sense in my brain. She managed to give every character little quirks that helped shaped them into realistic people. She also put so much care into their interactions that I very quickly began caring about their relationships and friendships and understood how deeply they all care for each other. I also love the setting of this book and think the historical and fantasy aspects blended really well together, while also touching on the racism that existed at this time. Exploring the glamour and horror of this time period. As someone who is half Filipino, it was so exciting for me to learn that one of the characters was also half Filipino. That has never happened to me before and it was just really nice. I do think some of the action sequences were a little bit hard to follow and some settings were difficult to imagine. Overall, I love these characters, this world drew me in immediately, and I’m excited to read the rest of the series.
Minor: Child abuse, Death, Racism, Blood, and Grief