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godelewa'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? It's complicated
2.75
The worldbuilding is the strength of this book. I'm not the most avid fantasy reader anymore, but at least to me the ideas seemed fresh and creative. They make sense, fit well together and we get a vivid glimpse into a world that is very different from ours, but not less harsh.
Unfortunately, the prose itself is just not very good. The style feels clumsy while desperately trying to be regal and maybe even poetic and in the end it just reads pretentious without any real finesse.
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Alcoholism, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child death, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment
kastix's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
browncoat4720's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Death, Violence, Death of parent, and War
Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, and Alcohol
Minor: Child death and Sexism
Child sacrifice implied but not shown. Author does a good job giving you just enough information to know what happened but not explicitly describing it.craines's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The book caught me early with a lovely hook, then took its time with world and character building. The early parts of the book were often a bit confusing due to all the new terms and description of the world, but didn't linger on any one for too long. By the 30-40% mark I found myself quite comfortable in this new world and enjoying it. The bits and pieces of the world coming together one at a time, forming a clearer and clearer picture pulled me through the pages.
The characters are fun and deep. While Joron is the PoV, I loved learning about the other characters as the story progressed, more than Joron himself for a good portion of the book.
The action was fun and engaging without being drawn out. I am quite excited to read the rest of this series.
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
saltycoffee's review
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
kira_miller's review
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, War, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Vomit, Grief, and Alcohol
emilb's review
- 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: Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism
Moderate: Xenophobia
Minor: War
quantumponies's review
3.5
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Sexual harassment
rowan_reviews's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I enjoyed this, but I didn't LOVE it. There are some cultural aspects of the society that aren't challenged & made me feel... uncomfortable. Despite the culture being largely matriarchal, if a woman dies in childbirth her child is considered "weak" and "berncast", so they can never really advance in the society. Children born with birth defects have assigned careers based on what the birth defect is. Having any kind of "deformity" is seen as a negative thing, including from accidents during someone's life (i.e., burn scars). There are some hints that the MC might challenge the acceptance of this aspect of his society maybe in future novels, but tbh I'm not sure that I'm quite willing to stick it out in hopes of that.
The MC also has very little confidence & basically does what he's told & strives for approval from his captain. I'm not saying that wanting the approval of someone is a bad thing, just that it feels he lacks agency for a large portion of the book. That may be purposeful because of the background, and is somewhat understandable, but it gets tedious. It does build some tension towards the end as I kept hoping that he would go against orders.
The parts I enjoyed most were the magic surrounding the guillaime and arkesian - which weren't a large enough part of the novel to keep me hooked.
I haven't decided whether or not I'll read book 2 at this point. I have a long TBR and given that it took me a lot longer than it usually would to read a book of this length, I don't think I will.
Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Genocide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Body shaming, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Fire/Fire injury
szuum'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? It's complicated
2.5
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, and Death of parent