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corvinscorner'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? Yes
Graphic: Transphobia
Moderate: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Grief, Lesbophobia, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, and Classism
neni's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
1 - The biggest flaw for me was the writing. I'm aware this can be somewhat of a personal preference, but the writing style felt juvenile, empty and overly descriptive. There were often massive chunks of info-dumping about the world-building that could have been introduced in other ways, as well as long descriptions of common place objects/concepts intersperced with unnecessary pop culture references that just added clunk to the flow of the story. This is a great example of "telling, not showing". Everything was told to us in the same tone, so that descriptions of outfit colours and characters emotional status felt like they had the same weight.
2 - I went into this not knowing anything at all about the story, so I was quite surprised by the themes in the second half of the book. Not in a negative way. Trying to be as spoiler free as possible here, I think this was an interesting setting to explore the "arguments" that get thrown around when approaching the subject, and I wish we could have focused more on this instead of trying to do 10 other things with the story and the characters. It felt like the author wanted to cram as much representation and equality issues as possible in there, while also keeping it fun and light, and also dramatic and adventurous at the end. It all just felt shallow and not developed enough. I would have prefered to see Theo's story developed in a more sensible, complex way, instead of having the theme thrust upon the reader out of nowhere and have one of the main characters turn into an obnoxious Disney movie Villain half way through. I think it took away from the emotional connection the reader might have had with the characters, and it all ended up feeling a bit like those run of the mill adventure action movies you go see in the theater and immediatelly forget after. Then again, if you're looking for a fun fast read about LGBTQIA+ witches I suppose this isn't a bad choice.
3 - That ending! Brought the writing down half a point I'm sorry to say. I HATE it when author's do that. Just completely unnecessary, out of the blue, plotwist cliffhanger just so the reader feels compelled to immediately jump into reading the next book. I'm sorry. That's cheap af and I will not be continuing on.
Finally, and this isn't really a criticism, more of a funny observation - after the developments of the second half of the book, I cannot, for the life of me, not picture J.K.Rowling anytime a certain white rich TERF bitch is in a scene and that's kinda funny and probably on purpose lol
Graphic: Body shaming, Cursing, Deadnaming, Hate crime, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Outing, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Animal cruelty
frmeden'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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Hate crime, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Child abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Car accident, and War
bookforthought'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? Yes
4.0
I received an advanced review copy of this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Murder
Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Kidnapping, and War
Minor: Domestic abuse
georginathelibrarian's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Transphobia, Violence, and War
Moderate: Deadnaming, Death, and Murder
Minor: Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, and Car accident
miniingrid'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
La historia es un cliché detrás de otro, y quiero creer que el dumping superficial de la diversidad en los personajes de debe a que es la primera novela de la serie. Quizás sea el tono, que me parece muy básico y simple.
En general me gustan las novelas de fantasía/ciencia ficción que tratan temas importantes y duros, pero sin perder ese punto de desconexión con la realidad que te permite evadirte aunque solo sea un poco. Aquí se recrea tanto en la transfobia sin aportar una réplica al mismo nivel, que me parece una oportunidad perdida y un simple (pero perfectamente comprensible) desahogo. Y me ha dejado con la sensación de estar leyendo a las terfas de Twitter más que una novela de fantasía.
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Hate crime, Infidelity, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Murder, Outing, and Alcohol
Minor: Domestic abuse and Racism
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
blueberries's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Deadnaming, Hate crime, Racism, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Outing
Moderate: Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
azebrareads'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
5.0
Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
applepieandeve'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? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Transphobia
Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Murder, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Classism