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A review by visceralreads
Tell Me How It Ends by Quinton Li
adventurous
inspiring
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Tell Me How It Ends follows Iris Galacia, resident tarot reader in the Galacia Gambling House, who escapes from home to earn enough for her mother as she helps a stranger rescue a friend in the kingdom of Excava. The book includes queer characters (+ aroace rep too!!!), neurodivergent characters (adhd, autism), magical species, lots of interesting worldbuilding/spirits lore, tarot cards, the foundest found family ever, and sneaking into a castle and other sneaky shenanigans.
I'm so grateful to have a physical copy gifted to me by Quinton themself as part of a giveaway! Although I took like 3?? months to read it due to this year being my senior year and being busy for weeks on end to prepare for uni,, I FINISHED IT!! AND I LOVED IT!! (i apologize for some incorrect info in the review; i read the first half of the book months ago </3)
Honestly, I thought the story was slow, especially when the ship ride took a long time to complete reading when I was more interested in what Iris and Marin would do once they arrived at Excava. However, in that time, Iris really went deep into tarot reading and explained every part of the card and how it affects the meanings of the cards and I think that's pretty cool^^
As I said, this is the foundest found family ever. I love the different dynamics between each character and Iris and Marin are the cutest platonic relationshippers I've read about in a long time!! I also love the inclusion of spirits in nature and how they mingle with caemi (the magical species in this book), and the spirits scenes were written so vividly! especially with the water spirits when Iris and Marin were on the ship.
Some parts of the writing could be refined more, as they seemed quite hard to read/digest and awkward sometimes, but as a debut novel, this is a really good effort and I'll 100% read the next one!! I can't wait to see what Iris and the gang are up to the Chaos in the Cards #2!
I'm so grateful to have a physical copy gifted to me by Quinton themself as part of a giveaway! Although I took like 3?? months to read it due to this year being my senior year and being busy for weeks on end to prepare for uni,, I FINISHED IT!! AND I LOVED IT!! (i apologize for some incorrect info in the review; i read the first half of the book months ago </3)
Honestly, I thought the story was slow, especially when the ship ride took a long time to complete reading when I was more interested in what Iris and Marin would do once they arrived at Excava. However, in that time, Iris really went deep into tarot reading and explained every part of the card and how it affects the meanings of the cards and I think that's pretty cool^^
As I said, this is the foundest found family ever. I love the different dynamics between each character and Iris and Marin are the cutest platonic relationshippers I've read about in a long time!! I also love the inclusion of spirits in nature and how they mingle with caemi (the magical species in this book), and the spirits scenes were written so vividly! especially with the water spirits when Iris and Marin were on the ship.
Some parts of the writing could be refined more, as they seemed quite hard to read/digest and awkward sometimes, but as a debut novel, this is a really good effort and I'll 100% read the next one!! I can't wait to see what Iris and the gang are up to the Chaos in the Cards #2!