emily’s Reviews > Queen of Faces > Status Update

HOLY SHIT Y'ALL I WAS NOT EXPECTING THIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSS

HO SHIT. did not see that coming.

saw a tumblr post recently that said "a villain origin story that shows their biggest trauma is way less interesting than a villain origin story that shows the first time they realized they could take advantage of someone and get away with it" and this is kind of doing both? it's giving daenerys in all the mixed good and bad that implies.

petra lord said what if gambit could fly

jfc nell/wes is such a basket of traumas, i really feel for them.

okay one thing i cannot fucking stand is when characters can't say the word "sex". like.... you can talk about killing and maiming people, but you can't say that word?? grow up.

"don't ask stupid questions."
"stupid questions, like, why is a mage going around with a gun?"
"what did you expect, a wand and a pointy hat?"

petra lord really saying "give harry potter a gun" i'm cackling

this is really putting the dark in dark academia! the reviewer who called it a mix of HP and six of crows was really close; it's more like a deadly education meets six of crows. adam weaver is an interesting lampshade on the boy hero archetype.

i'm really torn bc i love many aspects of this but it does feel like a YA book in that some parts of it feel overly simplistic. like is this a cutthroat academy for winners only like in the Hierarchy series, or is it like homeschool kid goes to high school but make it magic? it doesn't feel like HP at all, but it's got a lot of similar benchmarks-- secret entrance to the school, opening night feast, etc.

please let this become a t4t foe yay ship situation lmao. and a secret identity? badabababa i'm lovin it. still can't take "humdrum" as a noun seriously, though. sigh.