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roseandivy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
okay so. i really wanted to love this book. i really did. i'd heard so many good things about it from so many people that i was sure coming in that this would be a 3.5 or higher. unfortunately, there were a myriad of things that i absolutely couldn't stand.
the first was elias as a character. listen, i like a morally gray mc, i like complicated people, i like characters rebelling against the systems they were raised in, but everything about this man fell so flat for me. he was boring, and the attempts at making him seem complicated were lackluster, and i couldn't buy the fact that despite being raised in blackcliff for the majority of his life, he somehow clung to the values he was taught as a five year old and became the sole mask to want to oppose the empire. he felt stilted and unrealistic, and i couldn't stand the way he talked about both laia and helene. his constant objectification of the both of them (especially when laia was enslaved) grossed me out so much,as well as his insistence upon "protecting" helene from marcus by having his classmates follow her, and acting like he knew better than her when she told him to stop . he's posited as the "good" man, but i feel like he still falls into the same misogyny as all the other male characters, just in less violent way, which would make sense if we had an arc of him unlearning the misogyny he's been taught, but his actions aren't ever really recognized as wrong or something he needs to change, just part of his "protective: and "dominant" character.
which leads me into the handling of misogyny and rape in this book. it feels like rape is used as a plot device or for shock value so much. every other chapter one of the female characters is being threatened with rape, or is scared of being raped, or a male character is joking about rape. as a survivor i think having depictions of and discussions of rape culture in books is important, but this felt less like a genuine attempt to engage with the weight of rape as an atrocity and more like the author was just using it as a tool to demonstrate that certain people were villains, and the fact that this is a young adult novel just makes it more uncomfortable. i certainly could've done with mature and meaningful discussions of rape in books as a child and teen, given that that aligned with my experience, but i've seen this book recommended as for ages 12+, and i think reading this book that young would've been more damaging than helpful for me.
there are a lot of other things in this book i could critique-- the one-dimensional villains, the fact that i found laia so boring, the lack of care given to the inclusion of magical elements (so many things just come out of absolutely nowhere with no warning or explanation seemingly just because it's convenient, especiallyhelene's magical singing )-- but the one thing i did like was helene herself. i've seen mixed opinions on her amongst various people who've read this book, but i actually found her far more nuanced and interesting than i ever found elias or laia, given her unique position within blackcliff as the only female mask. if the two main characters had been helene and laia (with or without the romance component) i would've been much more excited to see their interactions and watch the two of their stories intertwine, as well as the arc helene would've gotten.
unfortunately, my love for helene only made the end of this book even more disappointing.i cannot stand how illogical and ridiculous elias' decision during the final trial was-- if he's motivated by a desire to minimize the damage the empire does, wouldn't it make more sense to ensure that he or helene won, therefore giving him a chance to enact change? wouldn't letting helene kill laia and then going on to save the rest of the scholars from further brutality and oppression be more in line with his goals? why does he condemn his lifelong best friend to servitude to a man who's threatened to rape her multiple times in order to save a girl he's known for a fraction of that time? wouldn't letting marcus become emperor and continue to slaughter thousands of scholars be doing far more damage than sacrificing one life for the sake of an entire population? throughout the entire book, helene is presented as an accessory to elias, there to support him rather than to have her own autonomy or wants and goals-- her being in love with him really only hammers this in. and why can we never have a man and a woman be best friends without one of them being in love or wanting to have sex with the other? i found this so incredibly frustrating, because it felt like such a waste of a character with so much potential.
overall, very disappointed, but it gets one star for helene. i considered reading the next book just to get her pov, and i might still do it, but at the moment it doesn't seem worth my time.
edit: i forgot laia is seventeen and elias is 20. yikes.
the first was elias as a character. listen, i like a morally gray mc, i like complicated people, i like characters rebelling against the systems they were raised in, but everything about this man fell so flat for me. he was boring, and the attempts at making him seem complicated were lackluster, and i couldn't buy the fact that despite being raised in blackcliff for the majority of his life, he somehow clung to the values he was taught as a five year old and became the sole mask to want to oppose the empire. he felt stilted and unrealistic, and i couldn't stand the way he talked about both laia and helene. his constant objectification of the both of them (especially when laia was enslaved) grossed me out so much,
which leads me into the handling of misogyny and rape in this book. it feels like rape is used as a plot device or for shock value so much. every other chapter one of the female characters is being threatened with rape, or is scared of being raped, or a male character is joking about rape. as a survivor i think having depictions of and discussions of rape culture in books is important, but this felt less like a genuine attempt to engage with the weight of rape as an atrocity and more like the author was just using it as a tool to demonstrate that certain people were villains, and the fact that this is a young adult novel just makes it more uncomfortable. i certainly could've done with mature and meaningful discussions of rape in books as a child and teen, given that that aligned with my experience, but i've seen this book recommended as for ages 12+, and i think reading this book that young would've been more damaging than helpful for me.
there are a lot of other things in this book i could critique-- the one-dimensional villains, the fact that i found laia so boring, the lack of care given to the inclusion of magical elements (so many things just come out of absolutely nowhere with no warning or explanation seemingly just because it's convenient, especially
unfortunately, my love for helene only made the end of this book even more disappointing.
overall, very disappointed, but it gets one star for helene. i considered reading the next book just to get her pov, and i might still do it, but at the moment it doesn't seem worth my time.
edit: i forgot laia is seventeen and elias is 20. yikes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Xenophobia
asianfiles's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, and Sexual harassment
vivelarevolution's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I read and re-read this series in high school and I absolutely adored it. I still do, in many ways. However, there are definitely some things bothering me as I re-read these books as an adult. Most glaringly: the relationship between Elias and Laia. It is acknowledged multiple times, as they get closer and the impending romance is either hinted at or haltingly kindled, that the power dynamics between them make a consensual relationship completely impossible. He is a soldier, an Aspirant; she is his mother's slave. They kiss anyway. And at no point is their age gap--seventeen and twenty--ever acknowledged as a part of this power dynamic or treated as if it could be wrong.
It's partially for this reason that I have tagged this book with the content warning adult/minor relationship. There is another adult/minor relationship which is not acknowledged as such in this book because it is a spoiler that I remember from a later book.Keenan, who kisses Laia and actively attempts to develop a relationship with her in this book, is actually thousands of years old, not human, and (obviously) lying about his identity. Frankly I can accept the presence of the second relationship more than the first because at least he is portrayed as a villain over it.
I don't want to hate this book. A lot of things about it were compelling to me--especially Helene and Afya Ara-Nur and Spiro Teluman. But I don't understand why this type of relationship has to be so normalized. Why could Laia not have been an adult in this book? Why could the Blackcliff graduates not have been the age of high school graduates rather than in their early twenties? Why did the author feel the need to initiate their sexual relationship not just while they are a slave and a master, but in the specific context of Laia being "given" to Elias as a prize? I genuinely cannot imagine what must have been going through the author's mind to set up their relationship in this way and act like it's okay.
And honestly, rape was used as a plot device just about every three seconds. The author wants to remind us Marcus is evil and we need to hate him? Let's have him threaten to rape Helene again! The author wants us to know how Elias is such a Good Guy Who Will Protect Laia From the Commandant? Let's have him pretend to rape her as a "cover"! The author wants to just, I don't know, fulfill some sort of quota for how many times she wants to include the word? Let's have Marcus beat Laia nearly to death and attempt to rape her unconscious body! It's just constant and excessive, especially for a freaking YA novel.
And this is less egregious than my previously listed complaints, but sometimes I can't believe this book was written by a woman. Elias spends the entire book "saving" every woman in his life from various threats (mostly rape) despite the fact that Helene in particular is just as skilled as he is and should be able to defend herself. The petty drama of pitting Helene and Laia against each other over Elias is so tired. The Commandant is the closest that the author comes to a female character whose motivations are not exclusively about a man, and she is just the most cardboard cutout Evil Villain Lady in existence.
It's partially for this reason that I have tagged this book with the content warning adult/minor relationship. There is another adult/minor relationship which is not acknowledged as such in this book because it is a spoiler that I remember from a later book.
I don't want to hate this book. A lot of things about it were compelling to me--especially Helene and Afya Ara-Nur and Spiro Teluman. But I don't understand why this type of relationship has to be so normalized. Why could Laia not have been an adult in this book? Why could the Blackcliff graduates not have been the age of high school graduates rather than in their early twenties? Why did the author feel the need to initiate their sexual relationship not just while they are a slave and a master, but in the specific context of Laia being "given" to Elias as a prize? I genuinely cannot imagine what must have been going through the author's mind to set up their relationship in this way and act like it's okay.
And honestly, rape was used as a plot device just about every three seconds. The author wants to remind us Marcus is evil and we need to hate him? Let's have him threaten to rape Helene again! The author wants us to know how Elias is such a Good Guy Who Will Protect Laia From the Commandant? Let's have him pretend to rape her as a "cover"! The author wants to just, I don't know, fulfill some sort of quota for how many times she wants to include the word? Let's have Marcus beat Laia nearly to death and attempt to rape her unconscious body! It's just constant and excessive, especially for a freaking YA novel.
And this is less egregious than my previously listed complaints, but sometimes I can't believe this book was written by a woman. Elias spends the entire book "saving" every woman in his life from various threats (mostly rape) despite the fact that Helene in particular is just as skilled as he is and should be able to defend herself. The petty drama of pitting Helene and Laia against each other over Elias is so tired. The Commandant is the closest that the author comes to a female character whose motivations are not exclusively about a man, and she is just the most cardboard cutout Evil Villain Lady in existence.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Torture
Minor: Child death and Suicide
No-one is raped in this book, but there are multiple scenes of attempted rape. It is mentioned frequently throughout the book, mostly in the context of the constant threat of rape experienced by enslaved women. The two main characters, Elias and Laia, develop a romance over the course of this book despite the fact that Elias is an esteemed and powerful soldier and Laia is his mother's slave. They share their first kiss after Laia is "given" to Elias as a prize. Additionally, there are multiple scenes in which the Laia is beaten, branded, or otherwise brutalized due to her status as a slave. All of the enslaved characters have endured significant torture and violence, most of which took place before the time of the book and is mentioned in the past tense.roshans's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Spoiler free!
Would have given it a 4 but (all) the romance was really eye-rolling. Also the male lead is really, really horny. A bit of a slow start, I feel that parts of it could have been pared down. Over all a good book with interesting if not well done world building. The MC's personality is not one you see very often in YA, I wouldn't call her whiny at all but she is a coward and knows it. The other female lead is closer to what you see in YA but the book didn't focus too much on her. Now the MALE lead, HE. IS. SO. HORNY. Idk maybe I'm exaggerating but to me it was really really annoying. He's probably the character that goes through the most introspection and moral struggle, plus his circumstances are really interesting, if it wasn't for the horniness I would have like him more. Though, if I'm honest the character I'm most interested in is the male MC'S mother, she's pretty much a cookie cutter villain until the end, when we see how complex she actually is, I look forward to reading more about her.
Plot is basic YA-first-book-set-up, I'm not going to say much about it. Female lead is on an undercover mission for the resistance and goes from being a coward to growing a back bone, male lead wants to desert his faction but gets caught up in a a tournament and goes through a lot of moral growth. The characters, their backstories, and motivations make it interesting enough but like a lot of YA these days, book one doesn't give enough for you to decide how you feel about it.
Would have given it a 4 but (all) the romance was really eye-rolling. Also the male lead is really, really horny. A bit of a slow start, I feel that parts of it could have been pared down. Over all a good book with interesting if not well done world building. The MC's personality is not one you see very often in YA, I wouldn't call her whiny at all but she is a coward and knows it. The other female lead is closer to what you see in YA but the book didn't focus too much on her. Now the MALE lead, HE. IS. SO. HORNY. Idk maybe I'm exaggerating but to me it was really really annoying. He's probably the character that goes through the most introspection and moral struggle, plus his circumstances are really interesting, if it wasn't for the horniness I would have like him more. Though, if I'm honest the character I'm most interested in is the male MC'S mother, she's pretty much a cookie cutter villain until the end, when we see how complex she actually is, I look forward to reading more about her.
Plot is basic YA-first-book-set-up, I'm not going to say much about it. Female lead is on an undercover mission for the resistance and goes from being a coward to growing a back bone, male lead wants to desert his faction but gets caught up in a a tournament and goes through a lot of moral growth. The characters, their backstories, and motivations make it interesting enough but like a lot of YA these days, book one doesn't give enough for you to decide how you feel about it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide and Racism
Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, and Blood
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Slavery, and Torture
Female lead is 17, love interest is 20 very casual talk of rape and assault, but no more than a forced kiss is shown, but there is a fair bit of violence against women Servants are slaves, who are tortured, mostly past but some non-graphic torturing The ruling class enslaves, raids an oppresses the MC's people, all of these things are shown not just mentioned Lots of death and blood
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