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frmeden'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? No
3.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Blood, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying and Sexual content
Minor: Death of parent
7cleo7's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Violence, Antisemitism, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation
Minor: Body shaming and War
cloud_of_eden's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Bullying, Gore, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Colonisation
Minor: Sexism and Suicide
just_one_more_paige'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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse and Death of parent
Minor: War
chlorine32'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Sexism and Xenophobia
Moderate: Bullying and Domestic abuse
icefire69's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.5
Minor: Bullying
grrrcait'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? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Gore, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Murder, and Colonisation
Moderate: Racial slurs
Minor: Lesbophobia
antonya'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
3.75
Graphic: Gore, Self harm, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Animal death and Blood
Minor: Bullying
laurapalmertm's review against another edition
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Self harm, Violence, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Vomit
witcheep's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
"What would you have me do?" he asks. "You have already ruined me."
The worldbuilding showcases a colonizing worldview where the ruling religious group deems other religions, cultures, and ethnicities inferior and something that should be purged. The oppressor-religious group is content on using the other groups to their own benefit, though. They take the others' magic, lives, and even their folklore, but bend it so that it fits their own religious world view. This changing of stories takes the voice away from the original people, hiding them.
You can't hoard stories the way you hoard gold, despite what Virág would say. There's nothing to stop anyone from taking the bits they like, and changing or erasing the rest, [--]
The ruling people of the world do this even to their own kings: their legacy is carved in stone only after their death, when he kings themself won't be able to have a say in it anymore, so the living may decide what kind of kingdom they have left behind. Words have power, and the rulers are very strict with who gets a say in anything important. Hence, the cruelty of rendering other people voiceless extends to every level of the society, making power a fleeting thing instead of a lasting impression.
Reid brings up the topic of picking parts of someone else's folklore and rebuilding it to fit one's own needs multiple times. She seems to have a message that this kind of cultural appropriation is bad, but cannot be stopped. She flashes different possibilities of the groups either being forcefully assimilated into the ruling religious ways, staying separate and against each other, or finding a way to mix and coexist.
Maybe by doing so Reid wants to justify her own usage of source material and research for this book: Reid herself has clearly used this strategy of reusing stories while writing this book. She has combed through different mythologies, religious and cultural lore and histories, and uses them quite loosely as her material, combining them into her fantasy world and disregarding some parts or facts altogether. Reid uses at least jewish lore, Eastern European mythology, history and names, and Finnish national epic Kalevala. I was first intriqued by this, but the execution left me wanting a retelling more true to the elements of the original tales or an altogether more original lore to this fantasy world.
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Bullying, Death, Torture, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Cultural appropriation
Minor: Fire/Fire injury