A review by anntharai
Bright Ruined Things, by Samantha Cohoe
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I really wanted to like this book but I was genuinely uncomfortable with the bits I did like because of the content of the bits I didn't.
The writing isn't the best and the characters are all shitheads - wealthy, cruel, manipulative shitheads. Because we don't have enough of that already. Except the main character who is Special and Different and Not Like The Other Girls.
That's not the bit that I was uncomfy with though; this is basically a privileged teenager realizing slavery is bad (yes, she's still privileged even though she is just a ward and treated kind of shittily) but only AFTER finding more and more evidence that the house spirits arent these amorphous things with no feelings but are actually sentient beings who are painfully bound to be slaves and even AFTER experiencing how painful binding is first hand she still *just can't believe they'd feel it like people do* and deciding 'lol too hard I'll think about it later once I'm done being a selfish piece of trash and changing sides every two minutes because the boy I see once a year isn't in love with me' and then.
There's just too much "defeat the viscous savages for wealth" and "well it can't be that bad, they're basically animals, i bet they LIKE being slaves" for me to enjoy anything else in the story.
The writing isn't the best and the characters are all shitheads - wealthy, cruel, manipulative shitheads. Because we don't have enough of that already. Except the main character who is Special and Different and Not Like The Other Girls.
That's not the bit that I was uncomfy with though; this is basically a privileged teenager realizing slavery is bad (yes, she's still privileged even though she is just a ward and treated kind of shittily) but only AFTER finding more and more evidence that the house spirits arent these amorphous things with no feelings but are actually sentient beings who are painfully bound to be slaves and even AFTER experiencing how painful binding is first hand she still *just can't believe they'd feel it like people do* and deciding 'lol too hard I'll think about it later once I'm done being a selfish piece of trash and changing sides every two minutes because the boy I see once a year isn't in love with me' and then
Spoiler
and THEN only deciding *not to re-enslave them* because she would have to kill her bestest bud who doesn't even like her that much. Oh, and to top it off, she forgives herself and writes about the experience for money.There's just too much "defeat the viscous savages for wealth" and "well it can't be that bad, they're basically animals, i bet they LIKE being slaves" for me to enjoy anything else in the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Slavery, and Domestic abuse