Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko

56 reviews

a_libra_library's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring lighthearted 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

5.0

This is genuinely one of the best YA fantasy books I've read in so long. The world building and character development was everything! Tari's journey is one of healing and finding self identity. 
The plot twist and "info dumping" were built into the story so seamlessly. 
I cannot wait to continued in Redemptor! 
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thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-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? No

4.5

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jupiterlee's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

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aishallnot's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark 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

3.75

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britreads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I thought I phased out of the YA genre, since many of my recent YA reads didn't 'wow' me like the YA books of my teens and twenties. But 'Raybearer' was such an enjoyable read that I'm eager to pick up the sequel to see where Tarisai's story end. There's a lot to admire about this story. Tarisai and her complicated relationship with her mother was fascinating and in some places extremely relatable. This world is amazing and full of magic, mystery and menacing empires. And the writing was also phenomenal and lush!

I sometimes struggled to embrace the 'found family' aspect of the novel. There are so many council members and they didn't stand out from each other, outside of Kirah and Sanjeet.
I was also disappointed with Olugbade and the Lady's death near the end. I wish Olugbade appeared in the story more so there was a better understanding of how threatening he was towards Tarisai. I'm also not a fan of Woo In and Kirah's pending relationship, but that's a minor point.
I see why so many people praise this story and I can't wait to see how the next book handles the consequences from Raybearer's ending.  
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genny's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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

4.25

It's a little hard for me to review this as it's been about 2 months since I finished it and I barely took down any notes...but I do know that I enjoyed it! The prose was engaging and the audiobook narrator (Joniece Abbott-Pratt) did a great job of bringing multiple characters to life. I loved the vivid settings. I went into this expecting a very popular trope to drive the story
(enemies to lovers)
but what I got was completely different - in a good way! I liked the found family aspect, though we didn't see enough of Dayo's council to make their love for each other completely believable. As Tarisai spent most of her time only with select members of the council, I often forgot just how many of them supposedly lived together and cared for each other. There also came a point when I felt that Tar had gotten too slow on picking up obvious clues...it dragged the story as you're waiting for her to figure out what you already did ages go. And the blossoming
Kirah and Woo In
romance made me uncomfortable because of the age gap, considering one of 'em is a minor. 😬

All that said, it's a worthwhile read and it proved to me that there's still space for fresh, unique stories in YA fantasy. I dove into the sequel immediately after finishing this :)
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anni_swanilda's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

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rhm04's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

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bookcaptivated's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

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nutmegandpumpkin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful 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

5.0

I really really loved this book. I haven’t read a fantasy such as this in a while. The rich worldbuilding really brought the whole book to life. 
The cast of characters is not only diverse in skin color / ethnicity but also in sexualities, religion, and physical appearance. For instance, there is a character that is asexual, characters that have crushed on both female and male characters, a blind character, and a character that wears a headscarf.
Only thing about the book that was meh: sometimes it was a bit frustrating and had me rolling my eyes and yelling at the characters at some points for not noticing certain things that felt very obvious (however this happened only a couple of times and wasn’t enough for me to doc the rating).

Would definitely recommend!!

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