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willow_the_wisp's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Grief, Police brutality, Murder, and Violence
lady_valhella's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Slavery, Gaslighting, and Police brutality
Moderate: Misogyny
jokehelldo's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Police brutality
Moderate: Death of parent and Xenophobia
Minor: Cultural appropriation
oliverreeds's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Child death, Classism, Death of parent, Death, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Police brutality, and Racism
marshiereads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Gore, Genocide, Gaslighting, Child death, Classism, Death, Death of parent, and Grief
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, and Body horror
Minor: Miscarriage
starccato's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Death, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcohol, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Police brutality, Self harm, Sexual content, and Mental illness
k_aro's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Crier and Ayla are... good? Characters? I'm definitely not categorically opposed to them but I don't think they're particularly compelling in and of themselves, they seem kind of standard.
It was pretty gripping, though. It took me a little bit to get into it but it was definitely exciting after that.
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Misogyny, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Abandonment, Cultural appropriation, Police brutality, and War
Minor: Alcohol, Death of parent, Self harm, and Infertility
It's sort of hard to talk about the more social aspects of this book, given that it's between a fictional race and a real one, so when I say "cultural appropriation" I'm unsure whether it would realistically affect someone, given that it is largely the king appropriating human culture (such as, marital traditions).averyrembish's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Death, Grief, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Police brutality, and Self harm
caidyn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I received an ARC through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review!
I am so torn about this book.
At some points, it was so amazing. And at others, it was dragging. I will say, at the time of this review, I plan on reading the rest of the series. I'll reread this book and I think that I might enjoy it more a second time through. This might change as I reflect and read more opinions, but it was a very clever book with an interesting fantasci world that I would be interested in revisiting.
So, we're going to do a bullet point review.
What I liked:
☁️ The world. It was very clever. There are humans and then there are automae, or machines. The machines rule, but it wasn't always that way. There are humans trying to fight the status quo, of course, and there are people within the machines who don't agree with what's going on. But, I thought the world was so unique. I've never read anything like that.
☁️ The general plot. It was fun and took me on a ride that I wasn't expecting. It was just so damn cool.
☁️ Ayla! I really liked Ayla. She's the human who somehow finds herself in the royal intrigue going on. I totally understood her and I just loved her. She was fun to read about!
What I didn't like:
☁️ The political intrigue. It just... fell flat for me? That's what it comes down to. All the intrigue fell flat. I wasn't that intrigued by it because I got it right away. While the world was clever, I didn't think the intrigue was.
☁️ Where the plot went. What goes with what I mentioned above is that I wasn't a huge fan of where the plot wound up. Sure, it was nice and it took me on a ride, but I wasn't emotionally invested in it whatsoever. When the ending hit, I kind of rolled my eyes about it.
☁️ The romance. This is kind of touted as an f/f romance with enemies to lovers, but I didn't feel that way about it. Yes, they kinda get together. Kinda. I never really believed how they got together and I want to emphasize that they didn't really get together. It was more like the Captive Prince series where it's going to take multiple books. But, it fell flat for me. I was bored by it and I was really anticipating that part of it.
☁️ Crier! I wasn't into her. Yes, I got her struggle. Yes, I got her identity questions. Yes, I got it all. But I didn't love her chapters as much.
☁️ The angst. What can I say? It got boring. The romantic angst got stale for me.
Overall, as I said, I plan on reading the rest of the series. When I get wind of the second book, I'll reread this to decide if I want to try the rest of the series. I think this has a lot of potential and that people are going to like it, but it didn't live up to the hype for me.
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Hate crime, and Police brutality