Scan barcode
madamenovelist's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Some aspects of the worldbuilding was absolutely wonderful and clever! Kelsea is a complex and compelling heroine. But all this was overshadowed by a positively glaring lack of anyone not of caucasian English (possibly a little Scottish or Irish?) descent. Despite everyone in the Tearling being refugees of Britain and America. It was incredibly uncomfortable to just pretend a couple stray POC who don’t even stay longer than a page exist in the Tearling, and only got worse when slave trafficking became a big part of the plot. In addition, every historic English caricature lobbed against the French was copy/pasted against the Mort in the laziest way imaginable. It felt like the author wanted to make a commentary on imperialism, without any introspection whatsoever on which countries have had the furthest imperialist reach or what that looks like. I wanted to like this book but too many things kept jarring me from the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
More...