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emmajh91's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Transphobia, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Hate crime, Infidelity, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail
batbaby's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Minor spoiler
——————————
3/4 way through I was sure I wouldn’t read the sequel but then when the action finally begins and the last chapter!! Maybe I will 🤔
Graphic: Child abuse and Transphobia
Moderate: Body horror, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Car accident, Murder, Outing, and War
blacksphinx's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
(I am also very tired of books that go "covid happened but we used magic to make it go away" ugh! And blaming the anti-vax movement on warlocks is so distasteful.)
Graphic: Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexism, Transphobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Outing
Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Medical content, Car accident, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Classism
Minor: Ableism, Emotional abuse, Abortion, Murder, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic
TW: transphobic, misogynistic, and ableist slurs. Internalized misogyny. Mention of drowning.kellys_bookcase's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Sexism, Transphobia, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Racism
withlivjones's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
That said, it’s definitely not a perfect book. As I mentioned, it does take a while for the story to get going and the beginning is quite slow-paced. I found Helena as a character to be fairly one-dimensional compared to the others, the way her transphobia consumed her entire personality and motivations - when imo more of a focus should’ve been on her desire for control and unwillingness to be wrong driving her towards these beliefs and actions - felt quite heavy-handed. Even if her being an abuse victim had been explored further than just being vaguely mentioned, that would’ve fleshed out her character quite a bit. She served her purpose in the story but I think she could’ve been an even more interesting character (while still being a nasty TERF).
Graphic: Death, Transphobia, and Murder
Moderate: Sexism and Outing
Minor: Domestic abuse and Racism
readingelli'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: Death, Sexual content, Transphobia, Murder, and War
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Racism, and Violence
sloth_phd's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Transphobia
Moderate: Murder
mandaleigh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Transphobia
Moderate: Death and Murder
mariajustmary'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
3.75
Graphic: Confinement, Transphobia, Violence, Murder, and War
Moderate: Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Classism
tayleigh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Okay, it’s been a few days. I stand by the 4 stars I gave it. I loved this book so much until the last few chapters. It wasn’t the climax that was disappointing it was the resolution and set up for book two that really threw me off. It’s hard to explain why without crazy spoilers so I will put the spoiler tag on:
Okay back to safe space:
This book followed the lives of four women (witches), who were best friends growing up, and how each of their lives changed as they grew older and after a devastating war among witches that took place about 10 years prior. Looking back on it having 4 POVs was a lot and I felt like two of the four I wanted more from or could have been cut out, though I feel that those two were the stories that I was most interested in.
The main plot though was about a doom brining child who is said to bring the ending of days and life as we know it. You know the normal doom and gloom of apocalyptic prophecies.
I loved following the women’s stories and more of the slice of life content we got as well as the heartbreaking story of Theo’s past and fining hope and friendship as the story progressed.
Major trigger warnings for Transphobia, we have a POV of a TERF, and on page violence against a trans woman.
This book took on many different social commentary issues, mainly in one of the POVs I wish we had more of from, about systemic racism, elitism, transphobia, homophobia, and feminism benefiting straight white women. We also had grief from the loss of a loved one during the war (sister, fiancé and husband) and the guilt associated with moving on which I found really touching.
Graphic: Transphobia, Violence, and Murder