proseamongstthorns's Reviews (946)

loooved this! Definitely going to try to pick up more in this series!

In the beginning, I didn't like this book. I didn't understand the world I was thrown into or what was motivating any of our characters. Slowly, I was sucked into this world though.

I can't say I loved the book, but there's a feeling of abjection here - you can't resist reading more of this collapsing world. And you're pretty certain things aren't going to end well. 

The sapphic rep was a welcome surprise and I enjoyed that female characters really drove the plot here. I'd have liked to see more of what happened after leaving the Land of Milk and Honey.

Grasby is such an interesting detective and it’s so fun returning to his stories. This is becoming a Christmas tradition for me, such a fun way to explore a series. 

I struggled settling on a final rating for this one. 

I mostly loved it - the romance was fantastic, the representation on point. I loved the Jewish Christmas take - it felt totally original. And the sapphic pining and flirting and general cheesiness felt like it healed something in me.

But at times, I felt it jumped around. In one chapter a character would realise they’d been overly harsh and want to apologise.  Then in the next chapter go straight back to bitchy… 

I think we could have done with a little more of this one to really dive into the characters, their problems and motivations. 

Like I said though, this is mostly a fantastic sapphic romance. There’s a lot of tension and miscommunication here, but moments of real cuteness too. 

It felt a little too disjointed and expected you to know the characters. 

I wanted to spend more time with these characters. It’s moving and magical, even in its brevity. 

I loved the rumbling of magical realism in the background of this one. It’s another powerful novel from Allende. The way it draws parallels from the Kindertransport and modern treatment of ‘illegal’ immigrants in the US was powerful and original.

The cruelty of humanity hovers in this novel, but is beaten back by our various narrators/protagonists. Violence against women, the power of wealth, poor treatment of migrants, the abuse faced by children in the foster system, loss and grief… there’s so much pain that touches this novel. And yet, it feels somewhat hopeful. 

I love Allende. She has such a beautiful voice and I’ve not read a single novel by her that I haven’t enjoyed. My only criticism is that it was too short for me. I wanted to dive deeper into each of their worlds. I wanted to explore Azabahar. But part of the beauty of this book is needing to imagine this yourself, putting yourself in the story in some way, and adding flesh to the powerful bones Allende provides us.