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A review by josb
One for All by Lillie Lainoff
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Re-imagining of The Three Musketeers but with women and a disabled lead.
Overall the book was well written but as a debut there were some bumps that kept it from really standing out. I loved the disabled lead written from an ownvoices perspective. Tania's tenacity really shined as she described her POTS symptoms throughout the day-to-day activities. However, Tania was just so naive that it felt like her understanding was held back to keep the pace of the plot.
For a book that is based around Parisian court politics and subterfuge (female musketeer spies essentially) there were not a lot of high courts navigating which was nice. I did wish we spent more time having Tania decode some of the communication of the nobles at parties since the few times it happened felt interesting.
There were sapphic side characters and they stole the show in my opinion. In order to justify their relationship in the end their scenes together had to be quite strong, there were lots of subtextual hints and longing glances. They only had a few scenes and they were the biggest reason for me to keep reading.
Certainly worth a try if you are interested in a reimagining of an old tale or would like to try something different with disability rep.
Overall the book was well written but as a debut there were some bumps that kept it from really standing out. I loved the disabled lead written from an ownvoices perspective. Tania's tenacity really shined as she described her POTS symptoms throughout the day-to-day activities. However, Tania was just so naive that it felt like her understanding was held back to keep the pace of the plot.
For a book that is based around Parisian court politics and subterfuge (female musketeer spies essentially) there were not a lot of high courts navigating which was nice. I did wish we spent more time having Tania decode some of the communication of the nobles at parties since the few times it happened felt interesting.
There were sapphic side characters and they stole the show in my opinion. In order to justify their relationship in the end their scenes together had to be quite strong, there were lots of subtextual hints and longing glances. They only had a few scenes and they were the biggest reason for me to keep reading.
Certainly worth a try if you are interested in a reimagining of an old tale or would like to try something different with disability rep.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying
Minor: Sexual assault and Death of parent