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2.5
TW: SUICIDE, Suicide ideation, romanticised suicide (seriously, suicide is painted near positive in this book), death, stabbing, murder, blood, ableism, homophobia, transphobia
So... the first third was good!
After that it went down hill for me. The part I was most looking forward too ended up being a bit of a slog. The first third of the book is more of a contemporary romance, while the last two thirds are more fantasy in genre, and therein was it's weakness. The fantasy 'world' and rules seemed bare, bleak and made up on the fly, and characters had mostly no answers or rhyme or reason for things. Our protagonist went from this incredibly passionate, vibrant and lively person, to- pardon the pun- lifeless. She was mostly a husk. Letting herself be lead along by the other, mostly blank side characters and never regaining her spark. She's just...there.
My main beef is there is a LOT of freakin' suicide in this book. TRIGGER WARNING HERE FOR DISCUSSIN OF SUICIDE IN A POSITIVE LIGHT: Some trigger warnings would NOT have gone amiss in the front of this book. The reapers harvest not a few people who have killed themselves with really no sympathy or compassion, it's just a job. And the people who committed suicide were portrayed as happy and relieved, like it was the right choice and they are in a happy place mentally now. This is seriously irresponsible and dangerous to have included all this suicidal references without warning, but especially to have it be portrayed as a 'good' choice.
As another reviewer pointed out, I wasn't a fan of one of the main characters vaguely transphobic comment when she was asked if she was a lesbian. Her response was she was "strictly clitly". Of course your allowed genital preference but that's not what defines your sexuality. Plenty of woman don't have a clitoris and dating them still makes you a lesbian.
Lastly is an ablest comment towards the end where the protagonist mourns for the 'waste' of her grandmother being confined to a wheelchair.
*sprays with water bottle* Stop it! Learn something from the 'Spiritfairer' developers same mess up and how they fixed it!
TW: SUICIDE, Suicide ideation, romanticised suicide (seriously, suicide is painted near positive in this book), death, stabbing, murder, blood, ableism, homophobia, transphobia
So... the first third was good!
After that it went down hill for me. The part I was most looking forward too ended up being a bit of a slog. The first third of the book is more of a contemporary romance, while the last two thirds are more fantasy in genre, and therein was it's weakness. The fantasy 'world' and rules seemed bare, bleak and made up on the fly, and characters had mostly no answers or rhyme or reason for things. Our protagonist went from this incredibly passionate, vibrant and lively person, to- pardon the pun- lifeless. She was mostly a husk. Letting herself be lead along by the other, mostly blank side characters and never regaining her spark. She's just...there.
My main beef is there is a LOT of freakin' suicide in this book. TRIGGER WARNING HERE FOR DISCUSSIN OF SUICIDE IN A POSITIVE LIGHT: Some trigger warnings would NOT have gone amiss in the front of this book. The reapers harvest not a few people who have killed themselves with really no sympathy or compassion, it's just a job. And the people who committed suicide were portrayed as happy and relieved, like it was the right choice and they are in a happy place mentally now. This is seriously irresponsible and dangerous to have included all this suicidal references without warning, but especially to have it be portrayed as a 'good' choice.
As another reviewer pointed out, I wasn't a fan of one of the main characters vaguely transphobic comment when she was asked if she was a lesbian. Her response was she was "strictly clitly". Of course your allowed genital preference but that's not what defines your sexuality. Plenty of woman don't have a clitoris and dating them still makes you a lesbian.
Lastly is an ablest comment towards the end where the protagonist mourns for the 'waste' of her grandmother being confined to a wheelchair.
*sprays with water bottle* Stop it! Learn something from the 'Spiritfairer' developers same mess up and how they fixed it!