triley'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
4.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Blood, Death, Gore, Self harm, and Violence
Moderate: Racism, Animal death, Antisemitism, Child death, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, and Kidnapping
Minor: Physical abuse, Grief, and Vomit
averi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Animal death, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Death, Murder, Self harm, War, Antisemitism, Body horror, Blood, Gore, Physical abuse, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Ableism
ericageorge91's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
(Graphic) Blood, body horror, death, gore, injury/injury detail, murder, religious bigotry, self-harm, violence
(Moderate) Animal death, antisemitism, bullying, grief, physical abuse, sexual content, trafficking, xenophobia
(Minor) Animal cruelty, child abuse, death of a parent, torture, vomit
Graphic: Self harm, Death, Blood, Body horror, Murder, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Gore
Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Grief, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Sexual content, Antisemitism, and Xenophobia
Minor: Death of parent, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Torture, and Vomit
chrisljm'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? Yes
1.25
Also for all the people who recommended this book because of the romance, you had to be making shit up because the romance sucked. Not to say the romance came out of nowhere, because I knew it was going to happen, but there was absolutely no build up at all. I didn't care for any of the characters, which is besides the point because they also had no chemistry at all. I truly don't understand what Gáspár liked about Évike because she was honestly dumb as fuck. She had no common sense and no sense of self preservation. She absolutely refused to think before any of her actions, even when Gáspár explicitly explains how she'd make the situation worse. She also spends majority of the book belittling Gáspár, and constantly attacking him on how she thinks he's ashamed they've laid and slept together, even though they have so many other things to worry about. He literally tries to get her to think before doing something rash and getting them both killed and she accuses him of fearing people will found out he's no longer pure. Like be fucking fr.
The book also touches on religious/ethical/moral themes but honestly with the messy plot and execution, flat characters, and confusing narration, I honestly don't know what the take away was supposed to be.
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Colonisation, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Blood, Religious bigotry, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Confinement, Abandonment, Bullying, Genocide, War, and Death of parent
Minor: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Fatphobia, and Vomit
jaybird_reads'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
5.0
Readers who dislike religion (even in the fictional setting) may want to pass this one over because it’s such a heavy theme but I thought it was delicious.
The critique: the author LOVES purple prose and cannot stop herself from writing as many metaphors as possible. This is a pro or con depending on personal taste imo.
PS there’s a pronunciation guide at the back of the book lol
Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Violence, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, War, Death, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Sexual content and Vomit
excritos's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Racism, Death, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Antisemitism
Moderate: Vomit and Torture
Minor: Sexual content
katievallin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Hate crime, Xenophobia, War, Vomit, Blood, Child abuse, Genocide, Death, Racism, Religious bigotry, Torture, Grief, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Gore, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Murder, Violence, Animal death, Antisemitism, and Bullying
Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, Domestic abuse, and Sexual content
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Body shaming, and Alcohol
toffishay'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? No
3.75
Graphic: Sexism, Hate crime, Animal death, War, Physical abuse, Grief, Blood, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Self harm, Misogyny, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Murder, Gore, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Antisemitism, Death, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Body horror, and Torture
Minor: Death of parent, Kidnapping, Medical content, and Child death
bookishchef'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
3.25
There's an obvious macguffin (the Turul barely has a function gtfo) but there's also enjoyable plot twists and turns.
The love story was predictable but enjoyable.
The sexual tension and build up is nice and slow but then gets resolved quite suddenly and unrealistically.
Spoiler
Also we didn't even get a real smut scene after all that buildup??? So needless to say I was a little disappointed with that resolution.Mostly I really liked the worldbuilding. Even though I'm still not completely clear on all the countries and their motivations, the world building really shines when it comes to religions and ethnic groups. In this story alone there are 3 fleshed out religions. They're all original in their own way even if some of their inspirations are quite obvious (The Yehuli faith seems like a mix of Judaism and Islam to me, and the Patritian faith has elements of Catholicism).
However the character work is a bit so-so. It took me a while to warm up to Évike because she is a bit of a cliche when it comes to fantasy protagonists. Same goes for Gaspar. Almost all the other characters in this story are irrelevant. None of them get really outspoken personalities. Tuula and Szabin are interesting in theory, but only get about an alinea each dedicated to their personalities and general characteristics. Katalin doesn't get any personality traits beyond 'bitch' until the last 10% of the book. It's a bit of a shame.
There's also some plot contrivances that kind of annoyed me. For example:
Spoiler
About 50ish percent into the book Évike and Gaspar get attacked by some kind of sex demon which makes them very horny. The only function of this scene is to speed up their relationship by them admitting they're sexually attracted to each other. The demon is never relevant again, and it is quite obvious that the author just couldn't think of another way to make the stubborn Évike and the stoic Gaspar admit anything to each other.The characters also seem to fast travel in the later chapters. In the early chapters of the book it is emphasized again and again that the environment is rough and locations are far away. This seems realistic and the traveling by itself takes weeks. Later in the book the characters seem to travel between those same locations in a matter of days or even hours because the pacing demands it. Like, I understand why the author wrote it this way, but it did pull me out of the story a bit.
Over all, it's a very flawed book but I did enjoy it.
Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Blood, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Genocide, Murder, Sexual content, and Torture
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, War, and Child abuse
claudiamacpherson'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
4.0
Graphic: Self harm
Moderate: Body horror, Animal cruelty, Murder, Physical abuse, Death, Blood, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Bullying, Animal death, Xenophobia, and Violence
Minor: Death of parent, Child death, Kidnapping, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Sexual content, War, Vomit, Child abuse, and Genocide