Reviews with content warning for Medical content - Belle Révolte

Rep: Biromantic asexual female MC (Annette), sapphic BIPOC love interest, lesbian side character, trans male side character, side BIPOC characters.

CWs: Blood, body horror, death, war, violence, sexism, murder, medical content, gore, grief, transphobia, misogyny, cursing, torture, past child death.

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annalisaely's review

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Excellent world building and characters, ripped out my heart, wonderful asexual rep that I can speak to, plus trans characters and f/f relationships.

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malloryfitz's review

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3.5

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bluejayreads's review

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adventurous dark

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

This book is magical. I read it as an audiobook at work and I don't even know what all I did because for those hours, I wasn't boxing and labeling machine parts, I was wrapped in the embrace of war and magic and rebellion in this France-tinged fantasy world. You know those Audible commercials where someone is doing something ordinary like sitting by the pool or cleaning the kitchen but there's wispy tendrils of fiction winding around them and transporting them away from their ordinary world? It felt like that.

I want it to be very clear: This book has a rebellion, but it is not about a rebellion. The rebellion is a backdrop for the characters and themes. There is war and death and magic in this book, but this book is about grief, privilege, how little the upper class cares about those beneath them, governing power coming from the consent of the governed, and the artifical nature of binaries.

Don't get me wrong - even though there are a lot of intensely political themes in this book, it's not shoving them down your throat. They're just there, wrapped in great characters and fascinating magic, and if a self-centered noble girl happens to discover that governing power comes from the consent of the governed, it happens naturally and doesn't feel forced.

I want to touch on the characters for a moment, because when I call Emilie self-centered, I don't mean that she's conceited or tears down others to build herself up - she's just self-centered in the sense that she's focused on what she wants and doesn't think about how things affect other people. Her arc is about learning to consider others and exploring her own privilege. Both of the main girls have fantastic character arcs, actually; Annette has a great story of learning see her own value and accept love from her found family. (And both have absolutely adorable romances; plus Annette is on-page biromantic asexual.)

Also, this is the first book I've ever read where I really felt like a character's death was a loss. Not just because the protagonists were sad, but because losing them felt like a real loss for my reading experience, for me personally, and for the world of this book. This is what a well-written tragic death feels like.

I'm not going to say this book was perfect, because it wasn't. It focused so hard on the characters that I sometimes lost the plot a little bit, and even though I didn't think the themes were heavy-handed I can see why others might. I think part of the reason I enjoyed it so much is because I experienced it as an audiobook at work. It distracted me from work, and I got to be wrapped up in the beautiful narration. It probably would have felt different to sit down and reading it. But regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the experience of reading it.

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