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roseandivy's review against another edition
- 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
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.
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
- 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
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, and Sexual harassment
vivelarevolution's review against another edition
- 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
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.
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
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
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.
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