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th18'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? It's complicated
3.75
- Fast pace and seemed more YA than anything, too many modern references for me personally but each to their own.
- This also felt like the second book of the series at the start there was just so much unexplained things thrown in.
- Whilst the book did deal with modern topics such as race and trans rights, I wish it also talked a bit about harmful beauty standards due to Elle literally hiding her true self from her husband.
- I feel like the amount of swear words was also unnneeded.
- I love the idea of queer witches and empowered modern women but I feel like the talk about adulthood was very bleak
- The writing and worldbuilding also felt quite underdeveloped which was disappointing
- Finally the use of the d slur was completely unneeded
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Transphobia, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Classism
Minor: Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Abortion, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment
axel_p's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Outing
Minor: Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Transphobia, Violence, Pregnancy, and War
ktkeps'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
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Grief, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
le_mur's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Transphobia, Murder, and Outing
Moderate: Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Grief, and Toxic friendship
annamorgan27'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
Graphic: Deadnaming, Death, Misogyny, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Car accident, and Alcohol
amberinpieces'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
Graphic: Transphobia
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Racism, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Outing, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Dysphoria, and Classism
kathaarinaa'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
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Torture, Transphobia, Kidnapping, Murder, Toxic friendship, and War
taleofabibliophile's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and War
Moderate: Fatphobia, Infidelity, Medical content, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Colonisation
Minor: Emotional abuse, Gore, and Vomit
jaji's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I loved that we had middle aged women protagonists - something not often seen in Urban Fantasy or fantasy generally. I don't love how they seemed more like charcitures.
I also appreciated the attempt at intersectionality, although I think the racism discussions were a little ham fisted.
It was all over the shop with pacing and its because theres a lots of unnecessary scenes. So much so I had to stop reading for a bit and switch to something a little more cohesive. That makes the beginning and middle very choppy until everything takes off in the last third. It did really hook me once it got going but because that didn't happen until the last third is really why it's 3 stars.
The other thing that stopped me from really getting into it was a bit of a culture clash. I felt for the longest time that the villain was almost cartoonishly evil, that everything was seriously over the top (like the kidnapping attempt).
However, I failed to realise just how entrenched and visible the TERF politics are in Britain (I'm not from the UK). Perhaps if I were British this wouldn't seem that extreme or over the top? Once I had the context I felt the villian made more sense. So no stars off for that but it did impact how much I enjoyed the book.
Graphic: Transphobia
Moderate: Child death, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Violence, and War
barbarella85'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? It's complicated
4.25
Moderate: Misogyny, Transphobia, and Violence
Minor: Domestic abuse and Racism