I honestly don't have much more to add, nothing new at least, I feel like I got out all of my "unique" views in my last post. You can also check out my tag wrenreadsaos for all my posts about the topic, including responses to other's posts about it. Hopefully I'm not being annoying and am just adding to the conversation 😅

@afanficof-theageofscorpius has some great posts about the constant misogyny in the book that I highly recommend! I had planned on bringing it up here but then I found their blog and they're a way better writer than me and actually explain it properly, so I have nothing to add, kudos!

I just have one small thing to add before I go!

I've avoided discussing typos and quality control issues, as I feel they've been discussed plenty and I have nothing to add, EXCEPT! (Paraphrasing here) Milo's reasoning for repeating words/phrases was that the book is in Reika's pov and she's autistic and often repeats words/phrases in her head, and believe it or not, I was actually looking forward to this! I'm autistic I have echolalia along with many vocal stims, these vocal stims also repeat in my head and I've never read in the perspective of a character who also does something similar and I was looking forward to it!

I understand that stim words and how they're used vary, and I want to believe that these were intended to be used as stims, but, they just come off as mistakes unfortunately. The easiest example is within the first chapter (the one everyone pointed out and then Milo made the defense I paraphrased above and made me excited because I believed it..), they're all like this and this occurs less and less as the books goes on (or I just completely missed them, very possible).

While we're discussing Rieka recruiting a guy she just met, Rieka is way too trusting! I am fantastic at suspending my disbelief and taking things at face value in fiction (perks of growing up a comic book fan), but the thing that always takes me out is how trusting all of the characters are in this book, except the "bad guys" of course.

The Scorpio Code: never show emotions, never befriend others, never fall in love. Rieka accidentally breaks the first law multiple times in public. Union Law: only marry within your Union (multiple Zodiacs make up a Union, I forget how many Unions there are). Rieka's mom and step-dad are in separate Unions. Scorpios cannot raise their non-scorpio children. Rieka's mother, a Scorpio, raised Rieka's sister, an Aries. Rieka and her family break the law so easily, it's hard to feel any tension.

There is a "Glossary Terms" section at the end of the book, along with a page on the "Government Systems" but I'm trying really hard NOT to look at them. I want to judge the book purely on the book itself and not Audra's TikTik of cheatsheets (my word choice, not Audra's), and it's HARD. This book throws so many new ideas at you, and while it does try to explain it, it's hard to keep track of everything.

I can easily forgive the name "Chase" in a medieval fantasy world (that actually takes place in the future), I'm familiar with the Aerith and Bob Trope. But reading "wearing a white polo", multiple "dudes", "boxers", and I'm sure I'm missing more, is shocking, to say the least!