bibilly's Reviews (336)

a bitch is happy and that bitch is laurent of vere

i was loving the writing, but plot twist! s&m is boring lol and Wes deserved more, like a pov for instance. also most of the time Zach's character was only there to be the bridge between the reader and the kinky world or "the underground". it was annoying and i rolled my eyes too many times at his dishonest moralism. his presence is even more unimpressive than the almighty Søren's appearance. at least Nora's catholic obsession spilled one or two facts and can't be accused of being unprofessional (or maybe he can..), meanwhile her editor almost ended her dream for no reason (this is not even a spoiler bc his whole behavior hints to it).

besides the two grown up men in Nora's life not being as sexy as she thinks they are, i didn't fully connect with the characters: their afflictions and worries felt kinda distant, maybe bc most of them are white&rich and older than me. it was hard to accept their motivations and some conflicts appeared to come from melodrama, great lack of emotional intelligence or Nora refusing to keep her shit together.

that said, this book had me at first chapter. good dialogue never fails to impress me and fiction about books/writing/languages always intrigued me. and i confess the last 15% got me kinda emotional. the ending wasn't satisfactory, but i can see why the author went for it. the characters acted like human beings, just not human beings im particularly fond of, except my boy Wesley

pros:
- the social message.
- the rep (mc is a black trans girl and a sign language speaker).

cons:
- the writing didn't immerse me in the world/society, it just told me about it.
- i usually find books under children's point of view fascinating (i have a entire shelf for them on goodreads), although it's harder to relate to those books when you're not a child anymore. in this case, however, the mc's voice felt rather weak, probably bc i didn't connect with her or any other character (maybe the narration in third person had some influence on this), but definitely bc she is a sixteen years old teenager treated and written like a child who somehow still shows some mature understanding of the world.
- the book is more a warning to society about the many faces of a aggressor than a story itself.

pros:
- great trans rep (at least for me, a cis woman)
- the magical ritual (?) with exchange of power through blood sucking (?) was one of the hottest shits i have ever read
- the m/m romance in general was very nice to read
- the fact the author took avail of the fantasy elements and the society built around them to portrait prejudice instead of focusing on the transphobia we already know that exists
- still kinda on the last topic, the necromancer magic was so cool (maybe the show of smoke was a stretch, but i prefer to focus on the change of voice and eye color)

cons:
- the reason why the characters never did something about their feelings for two years wasn't convincing, since one of them knew they were mutual
- probably because it's a short story, i didn't feel the weight of their long term friendship
- the anomaly of being both a fire witch and a necromancer seemed more kinky than dangerous like we're supposed to believe
- the plot/world building and side characters didn't flare my curiosity enough to make me run right away to the other books of the series

a pertinência do tema é inquestionável, e, depois de Racismo Estrutral, este era o livro da coleção que mais me interessava, porém a autora dá voltas num mesmo lugar. inclusive se ela não repetisse tanto a si mesma a obra poderia ser ainda mais curta. a leitura não chega a ser uma perca de tempo e ainda a recomendo, mas o texto dá a impressão de não ter sido bem planejado, além de levantar várias questões e responder pouquíssimas*, quase nunca de forma objetiva, apesar da proposta didática da coleção. a acessibilidade também é um problema do outro livro citado acima e meu favorito até agora, mas ele pelo menos se sustenta nesse desvio (principalmente na divisão do texto), ainda que, assim como este, não desenvolva tudo que aborda.

*li particularmente rápido, então tire a prova por si mesmo. não é como se você fosse terminar tão ignorante quanto quando começou.

LAURENT DE VEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE

"he's my king, jord said" SAY IT LOUDER