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oliverreeds's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
this book, to me, was incredibly average. the only reason i read it was because i wanted to see what would happen to the characters, but they weren't super super likeable to me. our main character has the weird complex with magic, but it isn't very well explored. i learned at some point that this book is supposed to be a rewrite of goose girl, but it really just isn't. there isn't a single goose in it. my main issue with this book is that the magic rules (what a person must sacrifice for magic) are not adequately defined. there is blood magic which is the most common and then two other kinds which are mentioned constantly but never explained. it is also not explained who can become a blood mage because one person in the book just like... reads a book? and then is a blood mage. but the main character claims to have been born with powerful blood mage abilities? i don't understand the rules! then sometimes the main character seems to be utterly exhausted after doing a simple simple spell. she almost passes out and passes out like 12 times in this book (which is a lot). and sometimes she just summons some kind of strong power and then is fine? she just walks off the exhaustion and consistently refuses to accept her own limits and boundaries in a way that just seems unhealthy. i also greatly dislike the way every character in the book talks about the prince's "disability". i just think it's super annoying tbh.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Suicide and Suicide attempt