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esme_may's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Torture, Animal death, Blood, Colonisation, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Ableism, Alcohol, Murder, and Medical content
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, and Vomit
kattyenn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.5
Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Violence, Body horror, and Child abuse
Moderate: Rape
shinsoukoku's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
2.25
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, and Sexism
Moderate: Physical abuse, Rape, Emotional abuse, and Violence
Minor: Excrement, Child abuse, Vomit, Child death, War, Animal death, Confinement, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture
set in the medieval era, there is a brief scene of sara having to fulfill her "obligations" with her abusive husband and multiple threats of assault leading up to a character suggesting they, the men, use the women of the ship as they wish, willing or not.jersy's review
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
The biggest influence on this only earning 3 stars were the characters. Some of them were interesting and I would have liked to spend more time reading about Creesjie and Lia, for example, but what we got from everyone wasn't enough to make them unique or compelling. Arent was fine as a main character, but Sara is your typical too modern woman in historical fiction, which is not only cliché and jarring but I wish there was just more to her.
Speaking of historical, this book does not attempt to be an accurate representation of it's time period, but I think it uses it's set pieces well to tell a fun story. However, it does feel like a lot of other historical adventurous mysteries and was a lot more conventional than Turton's previous book. This will probably make it more accessible to a lot of readers, but for me this meant a lot less original ideas and memorable details.
Something I really enjoyed, on the other hand, was the writing style. It's succinct and has a lot of charm, creating a tone that fit the characters well. There was some repetition, caused by many characters working on the case, having to share new information with everyone, but aside from that there wasn't anything distracting.
This isn't a book I rate 3 stars because it's disappointing, but because it just isn't that special in the ways that matter to me. It's really fun, though, so if you don't expect it to be as mindblowing as The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and just want a mystery novel with an interesting setting, go ahead and pick it up.
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Blood, Emotional abuse, Death, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse