bayleyburgess's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- 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
3.0
krysteenawhite's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
taliadev721's review against another edition
1.0
The Night and its Moon had the potential to be a good book. The synopsis on the back made it sound like something that would be right up my alley. Unfortunately, though, Piper C.J. took so many wrong turns. Everyone knows about the drama; I'm not going to rehash it again. All I want to say is I'm disappointed Piper didn't take the opportunity to re-publish as a second chance to fix all that was problematic in her book. She had a rare chance to go and do some severe reworking with an actual editor and didn't do it at all. I have the special edition copy of this book, and there were still so many errors and words that were utterly misused. At one point, 'aquatint' is used instead of 'acquaintance'.
The entirety of this book is so convoluted and so wordy. Piper tries to adopt the same lofty high fantasy prose seen in works like Tolkien's or C.S. Lewis and instead comes off as incredibly pretentious and melodramatic. She writes sentences in four rephrased ways, like she doesn't trust the reader to interpret things the way she wants. I honestly think this book could've used a very, very hefty developmental edit and several more drafts before it should've ever been published. I also think Piper needs new sensitivity readers because they did her so dirty.
So, The Night and its Moon is about two half-fae girls, Nox and Amaris. The book's first half takes place in a child-trafficking mill masquerading as an orphanage. Some children get adopted by families, but most are sold to brothels to be sex slaves or to people looking for 'virginal brides' or young boys to do child labor. This 'orphanage' is also associated with the church. A bishop comes once a month to inspect things, and if he finds a child with fae lineage, he'll take them, no questions asked, no money given. And therefore, Nox, the only POC in this orphanage and the Grey Matron's serving girl, is made to protect Amaris from him. Now, Nox is half-fae too, but for some reason, no one can tell that, yet they know Amaris is half-fae just by the sight of her. She is such an anomaly that they don't want to mar her perfect skin because they want to get the most money possible for her.
On the other hand, Nox is considered a trophy to the orphanage because she's the only POC there and is put on display before the bishop. After this ridiculous display, she runs to hide Amaris away, but they're discovered by some bullies who pick a fight with them. Amaris uses her magical whammy power on these bullies to make them disappear forever. This scene serves two purposes. To show Amaris’ power and for Nox to get whipped on behalf of the white girl. Nox has to hide Amaris and take the blame for the mess left behind in the wake of her fight, and the bishop is like, ‘alright, whip her’, and they do. No one stands up for Nox because they all know she has to take the blame, or they’ll find the super special white girl.
It’s almost like Piper tries to undo what she did to Nox by having her back heal entirely and there be no scars. But, like, girl, you still whipped your only POC (so far) to save your self-insert/plagiarized character.
Some years pass and the girls are finally on auction for the market day because Agnes says they’re selling children slower and slower, but she’s unwilling to buy more children. First of all. You could’ve sold Amaris and Nox earlier if you hadn’t been hiding them from everyone, but okay. Second of all. It’s technically an orphanage, is it not? Is purchasing children the only way Agnes can acquire them? Do parents not send their children there if they can’t take care of them? If the church funds this place, orphans are left there constantly; why aren’t they providing the mill with more children? All the adults come, and nobody picks Amaris or Nox, which is weird, considering their specialness is consistently shoved in our faces. It’s not until the brothel owner, Millicent, shows up to take two random girls that she notices Amaris and wants to acquire her. Nox naturally thinks this is the worst day of her life(let’s not think about the day she was whipped, I guess?), and Amaris uses her magic power to not go with Millicent until she’s had her period(why not use the power to NEVER go with her?). Millicent makes Amaris, whom I believe is 12 or 13 in this scene, get naked so she can be scoped for any imperfections. It’s super uncomfortable and creepy. And what’s even worse about it is that THIS is the catalyst that makes Nox realizes she’s in love with Amaris. She states that she always believed their relationship to be ‘a friendship’ until a sudden intimate love sprang out in her…but nothing has happened to trigger this sudden confession except for the fact that Amaris was just stripped naked in front of her so she could later be sold to a brothel. Am I the only one who sees something very off about this? There’s a line where Nox thinks that ‘when Amaris needed her most, she had failed her’ but like Nox…girl…you were whipped for her.
So the girls decide they’re going to run away together before Millicent can come to take Amaris. They start gathering knowledge and supplies, but we don’t get to hear about any of them. Amaris gets her period, and it’s the worst period ever because none of the matrons bothered to teach these girls about their bodies, and now all of the girls think Amaris is dying. Anywho, Nox and Amaris are primed to run away, and an injured assassin with a gravelly voice shows up( I wonder who he could be!), ruining their plans to escape, so they have to delay. Nox confesses her love to Amaris, and Amaris, oblivious, is like, ‘yeah, same!’
Millicent shows up early, and things go haywire Amaris ends up abandoning Nox to run off with the strange assassin who showed up the night before. She also mutilates herself so she will no longer be ‘perfect’ and gives herself the same scar that Ciri has in The Witcher. How odd. Nox is left behind and has to go to the brothel in Amaris’ place. How unsurprising that Nox gets shafted yet again.
So while Amaris runs off with not Geralt of Rivia and his horse Cobb aka not Roach, Nox is forced to work in a brothel. Amaris trains to become a Reever befriends the other Reevers, and generally has the time of her life, not thinking once about Nox save for a random wet dream and trying to bone her ‘brothers’, and in the meantime, Nox is miserable lonely and depressed. Her thoughts are constantly revolving around Amaris; all she can think about is getting back to her. She’s forced to have sex with men, repulsed at their touch, and thinks about women the whole time. Oh, I forgot that she’s also a succubus and steals men’s souls when she has sex with them. So far, the only female POC character has been a trophy item to be put on display, a whipping girl for our special white main, and now an enslaved succubus.
The whole second part of the story— ‘Ownership’- is a lot of exposition that I barely cared about. Amaris learns to become a Witcher/Reever but doesn’t learn much. She knows how to run and wield some weapons, I guess? But she doesn’t learn how to ride a horse or get real-world experience before she takes her vows. She doesn’t even know the proper terminology to refer to things. Amaris never learns to control her power when she has a full-blooded fae at her disposal who could’ve potentially taught her. She never learns how to use her gift of influence nor how to use her special sight, which proves to fuck her over later in this idiotic story.
In part three, Amaris finally leaves Uaimh Reev with zero experience on a quest I cannot even be sure of. Honestly, what the hell is the plot of this book? Amaris isn’t trying to find Nox like she clearly could care less about Nox. On the other hand, I’m pretty sure Nox just ran away from the brothel on her hunt for Amaris. At least this girl is making some moves. I wouldn't say I like her chapters because they feel gross, exploitative, and racist, but I like her more as a character than Amaris. Amaris is the perfect speshul gurl and can’t be blamed for anything. She comes across some dark fae right, and it just so happens that they’re also POC like Nox (because they all have bronze skin in that part of the country, apparently), and their fucking powers are due to NIGHT LIFE (and Nox is now a lady and a creature of the night) and they have nocturnal eyes and like…?? It's constantly referred to how Amaris has terrible night vision too like to try and shove in her face that she's NOT DARK FAE, BUT NOX IS. I’m sorry, Piper, baby. I do not believe for one second that you had a sensitivity reader go over this book. I don’t. I do not. I do not. I do not. I do not. Anywho. Ash and Malik see these dark fae as demons and immediately want to kill them, so Amaris uses magic to make them go elsewhere. How can she CONTROL IT??? Hmmmmm? (Sorry, I’m starting to lose my mind)
I started just screaming at Amaris by this point because she was like, ‘UGH, IT’S NOT MY FAULT. I DID NOTHING WRONG; IT’S ALL THESE DARK FAE’S FAULT BECAUSE I AM BLAMELESS!!!!’ I want to fight her so badly. When the fae find out she’s a reever, and they’re all like, GASP, I TOO KNEW A REEVER, and she’s immediately like, ‘oh, was his hair red? Yeah, that’s Ash’s dad.’ I was about to give up on this bullshit for the third time. But I persevered. She throws a fit that Gadriel and Zaccai keep calling her a witch but then continues disrespecting them by calling them demons.
Amaris never like talks to anyone. Legit, all she had to do when Ash was being all douchey and prejudiced about her having power was say that she was a half-fae just like he was, and that would shut his ass up. But she like would rather wallow in self-pity and constantly whine in super dramatic prose. And then she feels so sorry for herself because her friends are mad at her, and she can’t stand rejection(Piper’s self inserting a little too hard here) that she shows up to Ash’s room in nothing but a towel and then gets nekkid. Like, bro, you could’ve…. I don't know, apologized for lying to him, but no, her solution is ‘I will OFFER MYSELF TO HIM BECAUSE HE’S BEEN THIRSTING AFTER ME’.
After Ash makes out with Amaris while she’s naked for a little while, he stops it, and they cuddle while she’s still naked and crying. It’s weird. Then they go to this temple that worships the All-Mother, much like the temple of Melitele in the witcher. There’s a POC priestess who is compared to having some like ‘tarkhany desert complexion’, which ya know, reminds me a lot of The Tarkheenas in the chronicles of Narnia, but…ya know, piper didn’t plagiarize, so bye.
Nox throws a hissy fit because her powers of seduction don’t work on Ash, so instead, she meets a plot device child who gives her convenient information about where ‘the demons meet’. And Nox…asks this strange child if she can hug her, which is the weirdest shit ever. Who asks to hug a completely random child they just met? Also, the narration surrounding the hug is one of the creepiest things I have ever read. First, she wants to squeeze the little girl until she disappears. She says the hug is the best hug she’s had in years and then FOLLOWS THEM HOME.
Nox hears something about Amaris and…faints. Then she gets kidnapped by Millicent, who uses her slithery reptile hand to put her in a coma. She also killed Emily earlier with that demon hand, and Nox literally never finds out or bothers to try to find out about what happened when she wakes up from her coma. Now while Nox is in this coma, Millicent’s solution is to have a man sexually assault her comatose body, and then Nox kills him, so….girl power. After that, she tries seducing the Captain of the Guard so that she can intercept Amaris while she is visiting the Queen. And Erasmus/Eramus(Piper can’t figure out how to spell his name either) takes her to this torture chamber place, and like she keeps describing this dude as having virginal features, which is so WEIRD. There’s a really weird scene where Nox tries to entice the Captain into basically raping her before torturing her by pretending she likes it rough, so…again greeeaat. She also writes it like it’s a game of chess, and I really don’t think that Piper has ever played chess before. Anyway, she succeeds in getting the guard to try and sleep with her and sucks his soul out and then proceeds to castrate him by depriving his balls of oxygen. But here's the thing that really had me just unhinging my jaw in shock. She constantly is referring to herself as like angelic at this moment. Saying it's 'divine feminine justice' and like...Piper, I think you have a serious case of white savior complex and need some THERAPY.
Amaris, on the other hand, has been chilling in the castle, SUPER concerned about whether or not Malik has eaten. Literally, it is mentioned no less than three times. She says the Queen is too old to wear an ornate belt like the judgmental bitch that she is. The entire court scene was…oof. I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed a more moronic character than Amaris. She goes into the throne room, realizes that there is an illusion of the Crown Prince and that everyone but her can see it and instead of just…shutting her mouth and thinking it, she starts screaming like a lunatic about how the queen cast the curse on everyone. She has the power of illusion which is the biggest leap in the world. How do you know that someone hasn’t spelled the queen to believe the crown prince is really next to her? Does Amaris’ gift of sight allow her to tell where the magic is coming from? It also makes no sense that she would try and use her power on the queen when the queen is probably also half-fae, and as we learned earlier, her magic doesn’t work on people with fae lineage. So why not use it on the humans around? She’s screaming only at the queen when there are like fifteen human guards around her she could be shouting at. Amaris is such a MORON.
It's revealed the Queen is actually a witch and the reason they can tell is her lack of pointed ears(it actually says she has no ears but I digress). Amaris doesn't have pointed ears and neither does Nox. But they're both half-fae so...it stands to reason the Queen could be half-fae too. There are no specific indicators of a witch in this stupid book and everyone calls Amaris one anyway.
I have a lot of questions for Piper on her perceived notion of how this book was empowering for sex workers in any way, shape or form. Now, from what I understand of Piper is that her sex work consists of OnlyFans and in my very strong opinion, you cannot equate taking nude selfies of yourself and posting them online for money anywhere close to full-service sex work. It cannot be compared to being sold into sex slavery in a medieval brothel. That’s just…not at all the same thing, and you can’t say it is. Sorry, but ya can’t. Nox literally refers to herself as a wicked whore when she finds Amaris imprisoned and says that sheshould be the one behind bars. Like…are you fucking kidding me? Piper, you need so much therapy.
Plagiarism
Yes, this book was plagiarized. No, the entire book is not plagiarized, but Amaris’ subplot is. Since Piper wants to keep doubling down with her motte-and-bailey fallacy that her book is nothing like The Witcher, allow me to point out all of the ways that it is.
So, Amaris(Ciri) is half-fae with the whitest skin, hair, eyelashes and eyebrows you have ever seen. She has lavender eyes(like Daenerys Targaryen), a power that emerges when she’s upset and screams(like Ciri), and she mutilates her face with a scar in the exact same position as Ciri’s. Note that white-haired, scarred, action fantasy girl is not the issue here as Piper is trying to whittle it down to. If that was the only similarity, we would have no issue, and nobody would be saying anything.
But, Amaris asks Odrin, a gravelly-voiced assassin, aka Reever to ‘adopt’ her and take her with him to his assassin home, which happens to be in a mountain fortress called Uaimh Reev full of other Reevers. There used to be more of them, but they died out through unknown causes. They fight monsters and work with any establishment that worships the All-Mother, even going to Temples that worship this mother goddess for assistance and information. Odrin has a horse named Cobb(a name he gives to all of his animals). Samael, who has been at the Reev longest, is the one to decide whether or not Amaris gets to train even though the other Reevers don’t want her there then they become her ‘brothers’. Her magic power only comes out when she screams and she never learns the origins for it or how to properly use it. (I’m pretty sure she’s the lost princess that the king is looking for too)
Now. In the Witcher, Geralt of Rivia adopts Cirilla of Cintra through the Law of Surprise. He takes her to a mountainous fortress called Kaer Morhen, full of other Witchers. There used to be more of them, but they died out when humans attacked them. They fight monsters and work with temples that worship a mother goddess known as Melitele and often go to the Temple of Melitele for information and assistance. Geralt has a horse named Roach(a name he gives to all of his horses). Vesemir, who has been at Kaer Morhen the longest, decides if Ciri gets to train even though all the other Witchers aren’t thrilled about it, but then they become her family. Ciri trains and finds that she has a gift that comes out when she screams but she never learns its origins or how to properly control it. She is also a lost princess that multiple kingdoms are hunting for because they want her right to Cintra and to get her pregnant, blah blah blah.
She even included the ‘come on, roach/cobb’ line…
The vows to become a Reever are remarkably similar to the vows to take the Black of the Night’s Watch in Game of Thrones as well. The Desert of Tarkhany sounds a lot like Tarkheena’s from the Narnia books. Both Ciri and Amaris fight in an arena. And she even ripped off the dragon scene in the last HP book where they ride an abused dragon to safety and have to jump off lmao. Idk, I'm just...so tired.
The entirety of this book is so convoluted and so wordy. Piper tries to adopt the same lofty high fantasy prose seen in works like Tolkien's or C.S. Lewis and instead comes off as incredibly pretentious and melodramatic. She writes sentences in four rephrased ways, like she doesn't trust the reader to interpret things the way she wants. I honestly think this book could've used a very, very hefty developmental edit and several more drafts before it should've ever been published. I also think Piper needs new sensitivity readers because they did her so dirty.
So, The Night and its Moon is about two half-fae girls, Nox and Amaris. The book's first half takes place in a child-trafficking mill masquerading as an orphanage. Some children get adopted by families, but most are sold to brothels to be sex slaves or to people looking for 'virginal brides' or young boys to do child labor. This 'orphanage' is also associated with the church. A bishop comes once a month to inspect things, and if he finds a child with fae lineage, he'll take them, no questions asked, no money given. And therefore, Nox, the only POC in this orphanage and the Grey Matron's serving girl, is made to protect Amaris from him. Now, Nox is half-fae too, but for some reason, no one can tell that, yet they know Amaris is half-fae just by the sight of her. She is such an anomaly that they don't want to mar her perfect skin because they want to get the most money possible for her.
On the other hand, Nox is considered a trophy to the orphanage because she's the only POC there and is put on display before the bishop. After this ridiculous display, she runs to hide Amaris away, but they're discovered by some bullies who pick a fight with them. Amaris uses her magical whammy power on these bullies to make them disappear forever. This scene serves two purposes. To show Amaris’ power and for Nox to get whipped on behalf of the white girl. Nox has to hide Amaris and take the blame for the mess left behind in the wake of her fight, and the bishop is like, ‘alright, whip her’, and they do. No one stands up for Nox because they all know she has to take the blame, or they’ll find the super special white girl.
It’s almost like Piper tries to undo what she did to Nox by having her back heal entirely and there be no scars. But, like, girl, you still whipped your only POC (so far) to save your self-insert/plagiarized character.
Some years pass and the girls are finally on auction for the market day because Agnes says they’re selling children slower and slower, but she’s unwilling to buy more children. First of all. You could’ve sold Amaris and Nox earlier if you hadn’t been hiding them from everyone, but okay. Second of all. It’s technically an orphanage, is it not? Is purchasing children the only way Agnes can acquire them? Do parents not send their children there if they can’t take care of them? If the church funds this place, orphans are left there constantly; why aren’t they providing the mill with more children? All the adults come, and nobody picks Amaris or Nox, which is weird, considering their specialness is consistently shoved in our faces. It’s not until the brothel owner, Millicent, shows up to take two random girls that she notices Amaris and wants to acquire her. Nox naturally thinks this is the worst day of her life(let’s not think about the day she was whipped, I guess?), and Amaris uses her magic power to not go with Millicent until she’s had her period(why not use the power to NEVER go with her?). Millicent makes Amaris, whom I believe is 12 or 13 in this scene, get naked so she can be scoped for any imperfections. It’s super uncomfortable and creepy. And what’s even worse about it is that THIS is the catalyst that makes Nox realizes she’s in love with Amaris. She states that she always believed their relationship to be ‘a friendship’ until a sudden intimate love sprang out in her…but nothing has happened to trigger this sudden confession except for the fact that Amaris was just stripped naked in front of her so she could later be sold to a brothel. Am I the only one who sees something very off about this? There’s a line where Nox thinks that ‘when Amaris needed her most, she had failed her’ but like Nox…girl…you were whipped for her.
So the girls decide they’re going to run away together before Millicent can come to take Amaris. They start gathering knowledge and supplies, but we don’t get to hear about any of them. Amaris gets her period, and it’s the worst period ever because none of the matrons bothered to teach these girls about their bodies, and now all of the girls think Amaris is dying. Anywho, Nox and Amaris are primed to run away, and an injured assassin with a gravelly voice shows up( I wonder who he could be!), ruining their plans to escape, so they have to delay. Nox confesses her love to Amaris, and Amaris, oblivious, is like, ‘yeah, same!’
Millicent shows up early, and things go haywire Amaris ends up abandoning Nox to run off with the strange assassin who showed up the night before. She also mutilates herself so she will no longer be ‘perfect’ and gives herself the same scar that Ciri has in The Witcher. How odd. Nox is left behind and has to go to the brothel in Amaris’ place. How unsurprising that Nox gets shafted yet again.
So while Amaris runs off with not Geralt of Rivia and his horse Cobb aka not Roach, Nox is forced to work in a brothel. Amaris trains to become a Reever befriends the other Reevers, and generally has the time of her life, not thinking once about Nox save for a random wet dream and trying to bone her ‘brothers’, and in the meantime, Nox is miserable lonely and depressed. Her thoughts are constantly revolving around Amaris; all she can think about is getting back to her. She’s forced to have sex with men, repulsed at their touch, and thinks about women the whole time. Oh, I forgot that she’s also a succubus and steals men’s souls when she has sex with them. So far, the only female POC character has been a trophy item to be put on display, a whipping girl for our special white main, and now an enslaved succubus.
The whole second part of the story— ‘Ownership’- is a lot of exposition that I barely cared about. Amaris learns to become a Witcher/Reever but doesn’t learn much. She knows how to run and wield some weapons, I guess? But she doesn’t learn how to ride a horse or get real-world experience before she takes her vows. She doesn’t even know the proper terminology to refer to things. Amaris never learns to control her power when she has a full-blooded fae at her disposal who could’ve potentially taught her. She never learns how to use her gift of influence nor how to use her special sight, which proves to fuck her over later in this idiotic story.
In part three, Amaris finally leaves Uaimh Reev with zero experience on a quest I cannot even be sure of. Honestly, what the hell is the plot of this book? Amaris isn’t trying to find Nox like she clearly could care less about Nox. On the other hand, I’m pretty sure Nox just ran away from the brothel on her hunt for Amaris. At least this girl is making some moves. I wouldn't say I like her chapters because they feel gross, exploitative, and racist, but I like her more as a character than Amaris. Amaris is the perfect speshul gurl and can’t be blamed for anything. She comes across some dark fae right, and it just so happens that they’re also POC like Nox (because they all have bronze skin in that part of the country, apparently), and their fucking powers are due to NIGHT LIFE (and Nox is now a lady and a creature of the night) and they have nocturnal eyes and like…?? It's constantly referred to how Amaris has terrible night vision too like to try and shove in her face that she's NOT DARK FAE, BUT NOX IS. I’m sorry, Piper, baby. I do not believe for one second that you had a sensitivity reader go over this book. I don’t. I do not. I do not. I do not. I do not. Anywho. Ash and Malik see these dark fae as demons and immediately want to kill them, so Amaris uses magic to make them go elsewhere. How can she CONTROL IT??? Hmmmmm? (Sorry, I’m starting to lose my mind)
I started just screaming at Amaris by this point because she was like, ‘UGH, IT’S NOT MY FAULT. I DID NOTHING WRONG; IT’S ALL THESE DARK FAE’S FAULT BECAUSE I AM BLAMELESS!!!!’ I want to fight her so badly. When the fae find out she’s a reever, and they’re all like, GASP, I TOO KNEW A REEVER, and she’s immediately like, ‘oh, was his hair red? Yeah, that’s Ash’s dad.’ I was about to give up on this bullshit for the third time. But I persevered. She throws a fit that Gadriel and Zaccai keep calling her a witch but then continues disrespecting them by calling them demons.
Amaris never like talks to anyone. Legit, all she had to do when Ash was being all douchey and prejudiced about her having power was say that she was a half-fae just like he was, and that would shut his ass up. But she like would rather wallow in self-pity and constantly whine in super dramatic prose. And then she feels so sorry for herself because her friends are mad at her, and she can’t stand rejection(Piper’s self inserting a little too hard here) that she shows up to Ash’s room in nothing but a towel and then gets nekkid. Like, bro, you could’ve…. I don't know, apologized for lying to him, but no, her solution is ‘I will OFFER MYSELF TO HIM BECAUSE HE’S BEEN THIRSTING AFTER ME’.
After Ash makes out with Amaris while she’s naked for a little while, he stops it, and they cuddle while she’s still naked and crying. It’s weird. Then they go to this temple that worships the All-Mother, much like the temple of Melitele in the witcher. There’s a POC priestess who is compared to having some like ‘tarkhany desert complexion’, which ya know, reminds me a lot of The Tarkheenas in the chronicles of Narnia, but…ya know, piper didn’t plagiarize, so bye.
Nox throws a hissy fit because her powers of seduction don’t work on Ash, so instead, she meets a plot device child who gives her convenient information about where ‘the demons meet’. And Nox…asks this strange child if she can hug her, which is the weirdest shit ever. Who asks to hug a completely random child they just met? Also, the narration surrounding the hug is one of the creepiest things I have ever read. First, she wants to squeeze the little girl until she disappears. She says the hug is the best hug she’s had in years and then FOLLOWS THEM HOME.
Nox hears something about Amaris and…faints. Then she gets kidnapped by Millicent, who uses her slithery reptile hand to put her in a coma. She also killed Emily earlier with that demon hand, and Nox literally never finds out or bothers to try to find out about what happened when she wakes up from her coma. Now while Nox is in this coma, Millicent’s solution is to have a man sexually assault her comatose body, and then Nox kills him, so….girl power. After that, she tries seducing the Captain of the Guard so that she can intercept Amaris while she is visiting the Queen. And Erasmus/Eramus(Piper can’t figure out how to spell his name either) takes her to this torture chamber place, and like she keeps describing this dude as having virginal features, which is so WEIRD. There’s a really weird scene where Nox tries to entice the Captain into basically raping her before torturing her by pretending she likes it rough, so…again greeeaat. She also writes it like it’s a game of chess, and I really don’t think that Piper has ever played chess before. Anyway, she succeeds in getting the guard to try and sleep with her and sucks his soul out and then proceeds to castrate him by depriving his balls of oxygen. But here's the thing that really had me just unhinging my jaw in shock. She constantly is referring to herself as like angelic at this moment. Saying it's 'divine feminine justice' and like...Piper, I think you have a serious case of white savior complex and need some THERAPY.
Amaris, on the other hand, has been chilling in the castle, SUPER concerned about whether or not Malik has eaten. Literally, it is mentioned no less than three times. She says the Queen is too old to wear an ornate belt like the judgmental bitch that she is. The entire court scene was…oof. I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed a more moronic character than Amaris. She goes into the throne room, realizes that there is an illusion of the Crown Prince and that everyone but her can see it and instead of just…shutting her mouth and thinking it, she starts screaming like a lunatic about how the queen cast the curse on everyone. She has the power of illusion which is the biggest leap in the world. How do you know that someone hasn’t spelled the queen to believe the crown prince is really next to her? Does Amaris’ gift of sight allow her to tell where the magic is coming from? It also makes no sense that she would try and use her power on the queen when the queen is probably also half-fae, and as we learned earlier, her magic doesn’t work on people with fae lineage. So why not use it on the humans around? She’s screaming only at the queen when there are like fifteen human guards around her she could be shouting at. Amaris is such a MORON.
It's revealed the Queen is actually a witch and the reason they can tell is her lack of pointed ears(it actually says she has no ears but I digress). Amaris doesn't have pointed ears and neither does Nox. But they're both half-fae so...it stands to reason the Queen could be half-fae too. There are no specific indicators of a witch in this stupid book and everyone calls Amaris one anyway.
I have a lot of questions for Piper on her perceived notion of how this book was empowering for sex workers in any way, shape or form. Now, from what I understand of Piper is that her sex work consists of OnlyFans and in my very strong opinion, you cannot equate taking nude selfies of yourself and posting them online for money anywhere close to full-service sex work. It cannot be compared to being sold into sex slavery in a medieval brothel. That’s just…not at all the same thing, and you can’t say it is. Sorry, but ya can’t. Nox literally refers to herself as a wicked whore when she finds Amaris imprisoned and says that sheshould be the one behind bars. Like…are you fucking kidding me? Piper, you need so much therapy.
Plagiarism
Yes, this book was plagiarized. No, the entire book is not plagiarized, but Amaris’ subplot is. Since Piper wants to keep doubling down with her motte-and-bailey fallacy that her book is nothing like The Witcher, allow me to point out all of the ways that it is.
So, Amaris(Ciri) is half-fae with the whitest skin, hair, eyelashes and eyebrows you have ever seen. She has lavender eyes(like Daenerys Targaryen), a power that emerges when she’s upset and screams(like Ciri), and she mutilates her face with a scar in the exact same position as Ciri’s. Note that white-haired, scarred, action fantasy girl is not the issue here as Piper is trying to whittle it down to. If that was the only similarity, we would have no issue, and nobody would be saying anything.
But, Amaris asks Odrin, a gravelly-voiced assassin, aka Reever to ‘adopt’ her and take her with him to his assassin home, which happens to be in a mountain fortress called Uaimh Reev full of other Reevers. There used to be more of them, but they died out through unknown causes. They fight monsters and work with any establishment that worships the All-Mother, even going to Temples that worship this mother goddess for assistance and information. Odrin has a horse named Cobb(a name he gives to all of his animals). Samael, who has been at the Reev longest, is the one to decide whether or not Amaris gets to train even though the other Reevers don’t want her there then they become her ‘brothers’. Her magic power only comes out when she screams and she never learns the origins for it or how to properly use it. (I’m pretty sure she’s the lost princess that the king is looking for too)
Now. In the Witcher, Geralt of Rivia adopts Cirilla of Cintra through the Law of Surprise. He takes her to a mountainous fortress called Kaer Morhen, full of other Witchers. There used to be more of them, but they died out when humans attacked them. They fight monsters and work with temples that worship a mother goddess known as Melitele and often go to the Temple of Melitele for information and assistance. Geralt has a horse named Roach(a name he gives to all of his horses). Vesemir, who has been at Kaer Morhen the longest, decides if Ciri gets to train even though all the other Witchers aren’t thrilled about it, but then they become her family. Ciri trains and finds that she has a gift that comes out when she screams but she never learns its origins or how to properly control it. She is also a lost princess that multiple kingdoms are hunting for because they want her right to Cintra and to get her pregnant, blah blah blah.
She even included the ‘come on, roach/cobb’ line…
The vows to become a Reever are remarkably similar to the vows to take the Black of the Night’s Watch in Game of Thrones as well. The Desert of Tarkhany sounds a lot like Tarkheena’s from the Narnia books. Both Ciri and Amaris fight in an arena. And she even ripped off the dragon scene in the last HP book where they ride an abused dragon to safety and have to jump off lmao. Idk, I'm just...so tired.
kaitbailer's review against another edition
4.0
This book was really fun! Some parts were hard to read but the characters really carry the story. It’s 100% worth it to read this book just for Amaris!!
imageryx's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.75
I wish the characters were a little more diverse by skin color. Otherwise, I really loved this book and will read th sequel when it comes out. But I am white-passing. So it might not bother me as much as others.
Spoiler
The northerners have dark skin and are seen as demons by the southerners. While the northerners are actually not demons or villains, the author mentions their skin tone quite frequently and it honestly doesn't do anything for the story.eepemma's review against another edition
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
amiecc's review against another edition
2.0
ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest and fair review.
Nox and Amaris are two orphans who live at Farleigh orphanage controlled by the church, The problem is that Farleigh is not really an orphanage and the church makes everyone believe so. Nox and little Amaris know they have to fight to survive and they will do anything possible to do so and to stay together.
I really wanted to like this book, but it just wasn't for me.
The story was full of grammar mistakes and typos almost in every sentence (very poorly edited). It was so repetitive and redundant, especially in regards to adjectives: the author puts so many of them everywhere and all throughout the story she keeps repeating them, never changing, not even a comma. Furthermore, it was so so slow-paced and I was about to DNF it several times. It was so hard to keep going and hoping for something better which could help interest me more to the story (spoiler: there was none).
One thing I would have changed was the age of the main characters: they are young children and, in my opinion, it would have sounded better if they were at least teenagers. I also felt there were some problems inside the story and, after reading some reviews, I guess I was (and am) not the only one.
I kinda liked the idea of the worldbuilding: the author could have written a masterpiece but unluckily that did not happen. I am very disappointed, sorry.
Lastly, I feel disappointed about the controversy regarding the author's behaviour that happened at the beginning of this year.
My rating: almost 2!
Nox and Amaris are two orphans who live at Farleigh orphanage controlled by the church, The problem is that Farleigh is not really an orphanage and the church makes everyone believe so. Nox and little Amaris know they have to fight to survive and they will do anything possible to do so and to stay together.
I really wanted to like this book, but it just wasn't for me.
The story was full of grammar mistakes and typos almost in every sentence (very poorly edited). It was so repetitive and redundant, especially in regards to adjectives: the author puts so many of them everywhere and all throughout the story she keeps repeating them, never changing, not even a comma. Furthermore, it was so so slow-paced and I was about to DNF it several times. It was so hard to keep going and hoping for something better which could help interest me more to the story (spoiler: there was none).
One thing I would have changed was the age of the main characters: they are young children and, in my opinion, it would have sounded better if they were at least teenagers. I also felt there were some problems inside the story and, after reading some reviews, I guess I was (and am) not the only one.
I kinda liked the idea of the worldbuilding: the author could have written a masterpiece but unluckily that did not happen. I am very disappointed, sorry.
Lastly, I feel disappointed about the controversy regarding the author's behaviour that happened at the beginning of this year.
My rating: almost 2!
lindsay219's review against another edition
4.0
I don’t usually write reviews for books, but after seeing the back and forth in the comments, I want to. I follow Piper on TikTok and find her folklore videos both interesting and humorous. I love a good fantasy book, so when I saw this I scooped it up on kindle. I thought it was a great book. Sure, I saw a couple grammatical errors and thought jumping but it wasn’t anything that was unreadable. I liked the character development and queer characters!! (SobforEmilysob) I am 100% removed from the drama so I wanted to write my own review from the aspect of a fantasy romance lover.
sprainedbrain's review against another edition
The writing is just… not good. An actual editor might have helped reign in the over-the-top prose, but honestly the story and the characters are so problematic, I don’t think editing would have saved this. When I saw there would be 3 more books, I realized there was no sense in my trying to finish this book. I would never be able to continue the series.