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booksthatburn's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
The worldbuilding is generally well done (with one major exception that I'll discuss next). The people of the Edge, in particular, are described in ways that explain this community as a tumultuous whole. The way the magic works, the little we know of the Weird, why people would live in the Edge, and how they interact with the Broken all make sense a choices that groups and individuals would make given the broader context.
There's a worldbuilding detail that many things which happened in the Broken happened in an opposite manner in the weird, and this includes one instance of which continent invaded the other. In the Weird, the indigenous people of what we would call the North and South America were the ones which invaded what we could call Europe (and possibly other continents, but it's hard to tell from the text). Then a thing happened as a result of their magic gone wrong which almost completely wiped them out, and when the not-technically-Europeans eventually found their continent they were much less advanced than they had been. As a worldbuilding detail it feels like a complicated way to use the idea of indigenous people without actually having them be present, and I find it troubling. Because the people in the Weird know about the Broken and a fair bit of (our) history, it means that even their telling of this story in that fictional universe has the context of what happened in our reality. The end result is that the indigenous people mostly gone and literally primitive when the not-Europeans show up, having lost a lot of their own previous knowledge, making our reality's settler propaganda real in this fictional setting.
Ultimately, I do recommend this book, despite that worldbuilding issue. The characters are well-written, I adore the boys, and Georgie's storyline has stayed with me for years. Jack's existence shows what William's situation could have been, and what it ought to be in the Weird for changelings.
Graphic: Sexual content, Xenophobia, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Misogyny, Classism, Body horror, Sexism, Mental illness, Blood, Vomit, Gun violence, Car accident, Cursing, Ableism, Sexual harassment, Gore, and Animal death
Minor: Bullying, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, Alcohol, Excrement, Slavery, Self harm, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Child death, and Genocide
solacelight's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.25
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Xenophobia, Vomit, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Death of parent, and Animal death
Minor: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Colonisation, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, and Terminal illness
severelyhopefulcloud's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Body horror and Xenophobia
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and War