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A review by nerdydeathwitch
Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I appreciated that the author built a world that addressed the ethics of magic, both in regards to its costs and its unintended side effects. The novel tells two coming of age stories on two different timelines so we get to see both the mother and the daughter coming of age and how the choices of the mother as a teenager ripple through time. The prose is very strong and I appreciated the idea of magic as something that both binds a family together and drives them apart.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
Favorite quotes:
"Together we'd become fearsome, a bouquet of night blooming flowers." p. 132
"It shaves you down into a different girl. Your mother makes you into someone who is easy, and then finds herself incapable of loving what she's made." p. 299
"This is what it is to be with a witch," I told him. "You have to let me be stronger than you." p. 318