From the Bookshelf of sapphic circle…

Crier's War (Crier's War, #1)

Nina Varela

Start date: September 1, 2021

Finish date: September 30, 2021

Discussion: monthly reads <3

Discussion leader: Amanda

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monthly reads <3

* September 2021 - The Stars and the Blackness Between Them - SPOILER THREAD
By Amanda · 4 posts · 76 views

last updated Sep 30, 2021 07:52PM

* September 2021 - The Stars and the Blackness Between Them
By Amanda · 1 post · 67 views

last updated Sep 01, 2021 10:39AM

What Members Thought

May 23, 2021 a duck rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: diverse-wlw-books, diverse-wlw-fantasy, ms-series-unfinished, new-in-2019

"She was called the Barren Queen, but I never met anyone less empty. For if one is wanting of a child, then by nature their heart is overfilled with love—overflowing, yearning for a new vessel to hold that love, like spilling water."

This is another one of those novels that I really thought I was going to love that simply... fell flat. The concept is interesting-a world where automae rapidly overthrew the humans that made them, reducing them to second-class citizens. The execution, however, did not live up to the idea.
I found the writing to be a bit too clunky, repetitive, and predictable. For example, this passage includes the word "made" FOUR times in three sentences.

"For humans, possessing a Made object was forbidden, as Made objects were the work of alchemy and considered dangerous, powerful. After all, Automae themselves were Made. Perhaps they didn’t like any reminder that they, too, were once treated like trinkets and playthings. Made objects were completely illegal, and therefore incredibly tempting."

I will also say, about half-way through the book there is major plot-twist (at least I think its meant to be a surprise...) which was one of the most predictable plot points I have read in a long while. (view spoiler)

The backstory and world-building are one of the most fascinating elements of the novel, and I wish Varela had taken advantage of them more. If the mystery surrounding the invention of automae and Ayla's necklace had been in the foreground, I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more. Ultimately, I found it difficult to connect to Ayla and Crier, and had absolutely no emotional attachment to their relationship. I picked this book up specifically because I enjoy reading WLW stories, but I simply could not bring myself to care about these two. Overall, the main issue I had with the development of their romance is similar to the one I had with the plot-I felt like we would hit a plateau in the writing, only to get to a point where the author would tell us that a character had grown or the plot had progressed, and then move on to another plateau (and so on). ...more

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Sep 12, 2021 Vivian Aird rated it it was amazing

Amazing, I am speechless and I am not even a fan of the fantasy genre (in the sense that I have not yet looked much into it).

This had me absolutely HOOKED!
Cannot wait to start reading Iron Heart.

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Dec 08, 2020 Katie✨ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: lgbtq, magic, fantasy, science-fiction, sapphics, romantic, slow-burn, all-time-favorites, cover-love, books-i-currently-own

A sapphic slow burn enemies to lovers with beautiful writing. Crier and Ayla are literally competing with Adora and Catra for the top spot in sapphic angst, I love them so much😭😭

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