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librarybookfamily's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
I struggled understanding the different magic systems, but after putting in the time I loved the book. The characters are strong and yet imperfect. They strive to do what is right for the ones they love and conquer their own weaknesses . Magic and dragons with an emphasis on ancestry.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War
Minor: Bullying, Death, and Death of parent
gdulecki's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Feb 2025: just finished my reread in preparation for the sequel, which is in transit from the library! What a delight to be back in this world, and I am so excited to see what comes next.
~~~~~~
WHAT!!!! YOURE GONNA LEAVE ME HANGING LIKE THAT????!!!!!!!! I’m screaming this was beautiful and perfect to me!!! And as a debut novel!!!! Wow. I am at a loss for words, I knowwwww this just came out but I am itching for the next book!! What a treat!!!! This may have taken the top spot of faves from this year!!!!
~~~~~~
WHAT!!!! YOURE GONNA LEAVE ME HANGING LIKE THAT????!!!!!!!! I’m screaming this was beautiful and perfect to me!!! And as a debut novel!!!! Wow. I am at a loss for words, I knowwwww this just came out but I am itching for the next book!! What a treat!!!! This may have taken the top spot of faves from this year!!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Colonisation, and War
camzfernandez763's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
The book is a fun read. I stayed up until ungodly hours until I reached the ending and now I can't wait to read the second book.
I also couldnt help but think of Wuthering Heights whenever it was mentioned that characters have the same soul. Given the circumstances of the characters, I found thay deliciously romantic and tragic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation
Moderate: Racism and War
Minor: Bullying
kittyinez's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
"For the peace and progression they could all achieve together if the empire stopped for a second to realize that land was not to be owned and cultures were not to be assimilated."
So good! Sisterhood, self-discovery, friendship, love, and dragons all mixed in to a story about how the scars of colonization/imperialism don't just fade away when the oppressor leaves (and especially when they come back for round 2). So much of this felt realistic because it mirrors reality, and I'm invested.
Faron: a messy, imperfect, asexual, Slytherin-esque chosen one.
Elara: the brave, intelligent eldest daughter struggling to have her own identity.
So good! Sisterhood, self-discovery, friendship, love, and dragons all mixed in to a story about how the scars of colonization/imperialism don't just fade away when the oppressor leaves (and especially when they come back for round 2). So much of this felt realistic because it mirrors reality, and I'm invested.
Faron: a messy, imperfect, asexual, Slytherin-esque chosen one.
Elara: the brave, intelligent eldest daughter struggling to have her own identity.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Body horror, Racism, Violence, and Blood
grace_b_3's review against another edition
The characters didn’t really speak to me, especially Faron, hence the DNF.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation and War
avalon's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
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? It's complicated
4.0
Great worldbuilding even if it took the entire first quarter to fully explain everything. I also loved the importance of the friendships as well as relationships; while yes there was romance, everyone was buddies and that's still uncommon in YA. Book covers super important real-world themes as well and does it beautifully. I just wish there was more of Elara and Signey, I loved their relationship and I really wanted more of their banter.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
rnc0909's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This was a tough one. I picked this up as part of the Mychal Threets book club. It took me a second to get into as one of the two main characters, Faron, is not immediately likable, IMO. Lol. But, once author, Kamilah Cole, started peeling back her layers a bit, she grew on me. 😊
Once engaged, this book kept me coming back for me. It moves quickly and I was especially excited to get more dragons without the pages-on-end world building mythical creatures and magic often require in other books. I still think the author manages to craft an immersive world for readers to fall into, though.
However, the book moves at a speedy pace and jumps back and forth between Faron and her sister Elara, the other main character, for each chapter. I felt a little confused at times because, between the character jumping and time jumps, it seemed like we missed info about the plot moving forward. It also didn’t seem to give our characters room to process some of the major changes occurring throughout.
This is book one in a duology and I already have book 2 on hold and am anxiously awaiting the release date so I can find out what happens next. It kinda ends on a cliffhanger! 😬
Overall, I would still recommend this for casual fantasy readers, especially.
Once engaged, this book kept me coming back for me. It moves quickly and I was especially excited to get more dragons without the pages-on-end world building mythical creatures and magic often require in other books. I still think the author manages to craft an immersive world for readers to fall into, though.
However, the book moves at a speedy pace and jumps back and forth between Faron and her sister Elara, the other main character, for each chapter. I felt a little confused at times because, between the character jumping and time jumps, it seemed like we missed info about the plot moving forward. It also didn’t seem to give our characters room to process some of the major changes occurring throughout.
This is book one in a duology and I already have book 2 on hold and am anxiously awaiting the release date so I can find out what happens next. It kinda ends on a cliffhanger! 😬
Overall, I would still recommend this for casual fantasy readers, especially.
Content Warnings
Moderate: War
zluvsreading's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is my favorite book and consuming it in audio format just made me love it that much more.
Narration: 10/10
Story: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Plot: 10/10
Simply such a great novel that has colonization and diversity and dragons and sapphic relationships and queer characters and morally grey characters and characters you want to hate but secretly love (hi Gael I love you I’m sorry)
Read this in preparation for the sequel that I have both the digital arc and ALC of. Can’t wait, since i have started that already. My hold expired and then i just got it back again so i quickly finished a little less than 70% of the audio in just today. So good. Highly recommend.
Narration: 10/10
Story: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Plot: 10/10
Simply such a great novel that has colonization and diversity and dragons and sapphic relationships and queer characters and morally grey characters and characters you want to hate but secretly love (hi Gael I love you I’m sorry)
Read this in preparation for the sequel that I have both the digital arc and ALC of. Can’t wait, since i have started that already. My hold expired and then i just got it back again so i quickly finished a little less than 70% of the audio in just today. So good. Highly recommend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
chellyfish's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation, and War
This was a fascinating and original book that is part alternate history (ie, if Jamaica had a successful revolution like Haiti) and part fantasy (but also there are dragons and a variety of magics). Faron's role as the Child Empyrean was an interesting way to explore how people carry the trauma and responsibility of earlier generations. Some folks seem to have a beef with Faron not being traumatized enough from the recent war (her main dislike for being the Child Empyrean seems to be the attention and expectations it brings). I don't share that critique and I don't wish trauma on a young Black girl. I feel similarly about the moment Reeve consciously admits he invaded the safe space of the night market - we can have some relief some times from constant depictions of racial trauma. There are much better reasons to critique the book than these moments. For instance, I'll be curious to see how Elara'spages_with_panda's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
(I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher Little, Brown Book Group (UK) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)
This was such a fun book!
The characters were interesting, the magic system was unique, but I felt like there wasn't a lot of action.
There was some great rep (racially and sexuality-wise) with Elara being into girls and casual Queer relationships (the queen having two moms for example). I also think Faron's relationship with Reeve was fun to watch develop, especially as their both dedicated to Elara.
It went by very fast, and for the first part I genuinely thought I had started on book 2 or something because what do you mean we missed a whole war!? So listening to the main characters talk about these wars and battles that had already happened was a bit confusing for a second, I wish we could've experienced that with the characters instead of as exposition or flashbacks.
I think I would've liked to see more exposition on the worldbuilding though, some things weren't clear enough for me but maybe it'll clear up in the next book.
The characters were great. Having the alternating POV from Faron and Elara made the story interesting and I really liked both sisters. I liked how (spoiler for the last chapters):they basically switched at the end too. Faron really went through some development, and I'm curious to see where her story goes. I did have to remind myself that they're still pretty young kids though, so give them some grace...
We didn't really see a lot of fighting or action until the very end, which was disappointing.Faron really only used her powers for "kid-stuff" rather than anything substantial, especially when it would've saved the life of someone close to her.
The majority of the book felt dedicated to Characters > Plot, and it did have some romance side-plots for each sister, which is a plus if you're a fan of that.
The twist ending was a bit predictable, but it's a YA book so I didn't expect anything super complicated. Over all really great, can't wait for book 2!
This was such a fun book!
The characters were interesting, the magic system was unique, but I felt like there wasn't a lot of action.
There was some great rep (racially and sexuality-wise) with Elara being into girls and casual Queer relationships (the queen having two moms for example). I also think Faron's relationship with Reeve was fun to watch develop, especially as their both dedicated to Elara.
It went by very fast, and for the first part I genuinely thought I had started on book 2 or something because what do you mean we missed a whole war!? So listening to the main characters talk about these wars and battles that had already happened was a bit confusing for a second, I wish we could've experienced that with the characters instead of as exposition or flashbacks.
I think I would've liked to see more exposition on the worldbuilding though, some things weren't clear enough for me but maybe it'll clear up in the next book.
The characters were great. Having the alternating POV from Faron and Elara made the story interesting and I really liked both sisters. I liked how (spoiler for the last chapters):
We didn't really see a lot of fighting or action until the very end, which was disappointing.
The majority of the book felt dedicated to Characters > Plot, and it did have some romance side-plots for each sister, which is a plus if you're a fan of that.
The twist ending was a bit predictable, but it's a YA book so I didn't expect anything super complicated. Over all really great, can't wait for book 2!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Blood
Moderate: War
Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, and Colonisation