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casdelvo'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
Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Xenophobia and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide attempt, and War
erebus53'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
There are three main characters. In a harsh world, a young boy is taken from his life to be turned into the vessel for a Godform. The whole story starts in abuse, physical mutilation, and sacrifice, and that's pretty harsh. Although his life is harsh it is not without love. At least the kid has his crows.
A young girl is brought up in poverty in the back streets, and through savvy and devotion she is elevated to the head of her religious sect, but her underlings aren't happy about it.
A woman of an Amazon-like minority culture, and who are said to have magical powers, is the captain of a ship that takes a strange cargo on a tight deadline, at the wrong time of year, and she has to deal with an unruly crew, and dangerous weather.
The plot is just an underpinning though. The characters are really fun, and through the narrative there are many characters of many different genders and sexualities. There are at least two obviously NB characters with xe/xer pronouns and one side character is a trans woman. It's normalised, but not all cultures have the same attitudes toward sex, gender roles, or even nudity.
Although there is some combat and training-montage type scenes I was not bored and it was not blow-by-blow or glamorizing. The pace was good, the character interplay was fun and I bought in, and I've always been a sucker for prophecy stories... This one is hopped up on monk juice, scary mermaid energy and seriously full of crows (and crows are cool). Some of these babies are riding size.
Where's MY crow mount?? ok I'm off to read the second one.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
moonytoast's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Gore, Sexism, and Vomit
ivereads'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
5.0
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Mental illness, Suicide, Torture, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent
Minor: Animal death, Cursing, Misogyny, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Grief, and War
hottamolly's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Gore, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and War
that_boi_eliza's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Alcohol, and War
Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Ableism and Confinement
jaynovara's review against another edition
- 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? No
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Minor: Cursing, Sexual violence, and Religious bigotry
barda's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I loved the indigenous Americas-inspired setting, and the worldbuilding was fascinating. It offered up enough hints to form a relatively complete picture of the world, but holds back when it needs to to build up a sense of mystery. In particular I loved the Carrion Crows and how their culture and religion was portrayed, I really hope that the giant crows and the people that ride them are put more into the spotlight as the series goes on.
In terms of characters, I really enjoyed Xiala and found Serapio to be a really interesting character. Their journey together was heartwarming and tragic and I found them to be the best part of the book. However, felt like the other POV's in the book really contributed much to the overall story. Nara could have been a fascinating character, but she didn't do anything meaningful over the course of the book and from the ending it seems like the main bulk of her characterisation and actions may be saved for the second book. Okoa was simply boring, and he had so little screen time that I'm not quite sure why he was a POV in the book instead of being a secondary character (perhaps from the perspective of Nara).
The book also suffered from some very uneven pacing, with the beginning being quite slow with the action suddenly ramping up to be almost too fast in the last third of the book. I did quite enjoy the ending, however; it was a very grim ending with some huge implications for the world as a whole which I look forward to being explored in the next book.
Overall, the book was sometimes a too-slow read that could have benefitted with a change in who the POV characters were, but the worldbuilding made it a generally interesting read.
Graphic: Self harm and Blood
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cursing, Sexism, and Xenophobia
sohva's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death and Blood
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, and War
bunny_boy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content, Xenophobia, and Death of parent