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em815ily's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
stijlwaters's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Misogyny, and Death of parent
Minor: Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Torture, and War
bookaddictellagershon'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? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Sexual harassment, Classism, and Deportation
pellepanda'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
4.25
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Deportation
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Classism
lisaalovesbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Rape and Sexism
maddness22'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? It's complicated
5.0
I'll definitely be reading the sequel when I can! I still can't believe that ending my god!
Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Fatphobia
thoughtsstained's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
- STRONG “fuck the patriarchy” vibes. That had to be hands down my favorite aspect of this book. While it was really hard to read about how women were treated–often poorly, with abuse and neglect and judged as inferior not rare occurrences–it was also super empowering as some of our characters began to fight back, as the bricks of these patriarchal societies began to get torn down and how inspiring these women were. I’ve been ready to smash the patriarchy for a while now, but after reading this? I was vibrating and unable to sleep.
- How emotionally invested I got. I got really emotionally invested in some of these characters, Alysoon and her family, in particular. It’s because of that invested that I literally read the last 200+ pages in one sitting and resigned myself to stay up until 1am to see how this ended. But also, FUCK Delnamal. Like, fuck him to the highest degrees possible. He’s like Joffery, but worse.
- The ending. I can only speak in GIFs to respond to how I am feeling about that ending:
- Hard to keep track of who is who. I definitely struggled throughout this for most of the book. We have a lot of POVs and many different players within this–which makes complete sense for the political narrative that it is–yet I struggled to keep up with who was who, and how they all fit together in the larger scheme of things.
- Fatness equated to evil. This upset me a great deal, because why was this a thing? A few characters, including Delnamal, who are depicted as vile and evil because of the thing they have done, yet another aspect that is included to help “confirm” his evilness is definitely his being fat. This is mentioned multiple times and, considering there is no positive fat rep, that’s the obvious conclusion that’s being drawn. Which, as a fat person who is in recovery for ED, that was…not great to read.
- Where do queer people fit into this world? I was also really disappointed that we’re presented with a novel that is labeled as a feminist fantasy that…doesn’t include any queer people anywhere, nor any clues on how they fit into this world? Like, c’mon loves, seriously?
I rate this 3 out of 5 gems!
Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide
Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence
Minor: Miscarriage
the_wendybirb's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Rape
Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Misogyny, Sexism, and Sexual assault
kayo32's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and Blood
Minor: Fatphobia