Content warnings: sexual assault, addiction, Western/fantasy violence, references to rape and suicide
This book really sinks its teeth into you and takes you on the ride. It is fast paced from the beginning, starting with a murder and following these five girls escape from servitude and going on the run. We learn all about the five girls, their past, where they're coming from, and where they want to go.
I had a week or so of not feeling up for reading, but when I finally got back into it, I finished the second half of the book in a day. Every chapter, if it doesn't end with an explicit cliffhanger, it ends in some way that hooks you into turning that next page.
The world-building was phenomenal, not only in the descriptions of the fantasy-western world, but in the parallels Davis wanted to make with the fantasy world and America in the 1800s. Everything they wrote, they wrote with intent, to make clear how people are affected by sexual slavery, prison labor, and poverty. Honestly, you could write an essay on it.
The writing felt a little simplistic/telling-not-showing, but it didn't take away too much from my enjoyment of this book!
This book really sinks its teeth into you and takes you on the ride. It is fast paced from the beginning, starting with a murder and following these five girls escape from servitude and going on the run. We learn all about the five girls, their past, where they're coming from, and where they want to go.
I had a week or so of not feeling up for reading, but when I finally got back into it, I finished the second half of the book in a day. Every chapter, if it doesn't end with an explicit cliffhanger, it ends in some way that hooks you into turning that next page.
The world-building was phenomenal, not only in the descriptions of the fantasy-western world, but in the parallels Davis wanted to make with the fantasy world and America in the 1800s. Everything they wrote, they wrote with intent, to make clear how people are affected by sexual slavery, prison labor, and poverty. Honestly, you could write an essay on it.
The writing felt a little simplistic/telling-not-showing, but it didn't take away too much from my enjoyment of this book!