cielosiluminado's Reviews (443)

i guess i should note that i’ve never read macbeth so i can’t really say how much this story is influenced by the original play and its characters. and honestly, i don’t know how to rate this. i didn’t love this book but i also didn’t hate it. it was interesting which is why it kept me entertained for the most part. i’ll always enjoy reading stories that have female rage in gothic settings.

this was a cute and cozy read, perfect for the holidays!

i am not black or queer but i am disabled so i somewhat understood the feelings of not fitting in growing up and i empathized heavily with his feelings on that matter. but i still acknowledged that my hardships were nowhere near the same as his. so yeah, i don’t really know what else to say other than i was completely moved by this phenomenal book. i really think everyone should read this at least once in their life! it’s on the banned books list for a reason.

such a fun, quick and easy sapphic holiday read! this has bi-awakening, adhd, and autism representation. clara and evan were so cute and i loved how they were childhood best friends.

honestly what the fuck did i just read

this was entertaining even though ember is definitely a pathological liar and self sabotages lol

i loved troy and harris so much!!! i couldn’t stop giggling, smiling, and swooning while reading this!!!!!

holy shit. i still don’t even know how to start this because so many things happened and i know i’m going to forget something.

— the characters / point of views. ⌇ (potential spoilers...?)
let me start off by saying i did not expect so many povs. the book starts with young serapio, then transitions to sun priest naranpa’s pov, then we meet the mermaid/siren captain xiala, we then get current-day serapio pov, and lastly and unexpectedly, we meet okoa, the son of the recently deceased carrion crow matron...? i’m counting serapio’s povs as two separate ones because one pov is in the past and the other is current day, so yeah, i think i listed every pov.

some povs were definitely more interesting to read than others. i appreciated having younger serapio pov’s because that’s how we learn a lot of his backstory and who made him the way he is / what he is destined for. the first chapter alone was captivatingly chilling and a phenomenal way to start the story.

meeting xiala was so much fun. that girl is messy and unapologetically herself. quite inspiring tbh. also to this day, i do not know if she is a mermaid or siren...? whatever she is, her powers are so cool.

naranpa’s pov was infuriatingly interesting to read. i think it’s an unpopular opinion to say i found her pov more interesting than others *sometimes*. she really reminds me of people who vote against their own interests, swearing they belong with the majority, when she’s actually the minority voting against her own interests.

to me, okoa’s pov was unexpected... it feels like he seemingly came out of nowhere? though based on like the last 10% of the story, it’s quite obvious he’ll play a huge role later on in the series.

— the plot / setting.

the world that is expanded on in this book was so easy to delve into and the plot was so engaging.

this story is inspired by the indigenous civilizations of the pre-colonial americas and portrays how so many people are wrecked with the wounds of generational trauma. how those traumas can lead to feelings of un-belonging in so many aspects, of being an outsider in a land that can use you one moment and dispose of you just as easily the next.

everything in this really makes you question who is a “hero” vs “villain”, “a good person” vs “a bad person” vs “a monster”, as it really talks about darker parts of humanity quite openly and without much restraint.

so much is happening starting from page 1 that it was hard to put it down. good thing roanhorse’s writing style wasn’t convoluted as some fantasy books can get. her descriptions and world building were so vivid, it felt like i was there, seeing all the calamity and bloodshed. that being said, i also liked the quieter, calmer moments in the story, like i really enjoyed xiala and serapio’s scenes together on the sea, and i was rooting for their potential budding romance.

i came to grow very fond of each chapter’s epigraph because those added so much context to the story that i often found myself going back and rereading them because of how much it provided to the story. it included myths and tales of the crow god, history of tova and other parts of their world, duties of the sun priest and of the others, teek legends and curses, diary entries / accounts of people from the past, etc.

lastly, i will forever cherish when queerness in books are beautifully woven into the story. there were multiple non-binary and trans side characters in this world, and xiala was bisexual herself. like the queer characters were just there, without the need for some kind of grand proclamation. it was super refreshing.

this was okay-ish, but honestly, i didn’t really care about either of the characters. don’t get me wrong, i didn’t hate them; i actually found kyle and eric really cute, but i was annoyed with them most of the time. their age-gap was primarily the main thing holding them back from being together and reading how much they wanted each other but ‘shouldn’t’ be together got tiring very quickly. their banter was really fun though so there’s that.

very endearing characters and their history made it that much cuter