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kidneybeansofbagend's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-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
4.25
I took 2 years to finish this book, it's not on the book, it's on me. But still. It was a good book. I LIKED THE ENDING A LOT OKAY, FOR ME IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT. Faith is a very smart girl, I loved the tense and action scenes. Overall lovely book. Character deaths, just so you know, if you didn't read the back of the book.
"And that her father's death was no accident"
Also the quotes are pretty good
"She is just a perfectly sensible snake, protecting her eggs and making her way in the world as best as she can." You'll understand it more if you read the book.376
Personal favorite
"I want to frighten a murderer" "no"277
Being left handed is a crime against humanity and the church, lefties beware. In this book I mean. Maybe you can find somewhere that being lefthanded is illegal, but that is on your own time.
This was not a very informational review, but I'm not a very informational and explainable person to people. So darn.
This was not a very informational review, but I'm not a very informational and explainable person to people. So darn.
sherwoodreads's review against another edition
Copy received courtesy of NetGalley
The Lie Tree is set in the UK ten years after Darwin’s Origin of Species was published.
Faith is a young teen fiercely interested in the natural sciences, an interest she shares with her famous father, who is also an Anglican minister. When I saw that, I hailed it with inner relief, thinking that finally here would be a book that wrestles with the changing of a paradigm, without going down the usual over-simplification trail by making religious faith and scientific endeavor mutually exclusive. With, of course, the religious characters being narrow-minded, clinging to ignorance, and petty, if not downright eeevil.
Nope, it turned out that Hardinge was trotting down that well-worn path—while offering a fantastical element.
The two never fit together well, and it’s not helped by the fact that pretty much all the characters are hateful until the last portion of the book, with an extra helping of anger about how women are suppressed and erased by the Victorian ideal of innocence and frailty.
The women in the story turn out to be interesting (unlike the men) but it takes nearly the entire book to get there. Faith eventually redeems herself, too, when it’s almost too late to care. Hardinge’s writing is vivid and strong—there is a powerfully insightful comment about love that, had the rest of the book been raised to match it, would have made it the best book ever—which carried me through to the end in a story I would have abandoned in lesser hands.
She also gives us two interesting characters in two boys, Faith’s brother Howard, and Paul Clay, a boy Faith’s age, which relieved the unrelenting pettiness and meanness of the story enough to get me through to the payoff.
Apparently this book won a prestigious award before its US release, making me wonder if it was in part due to Victorian Anglicans being a popular target for getting a hate on that one can feel totally self-righteous about.
The Lie Tree is set in the UK ten years after Darwin’s Origin of Species was published.
Faith is a young teen fiercely interested in the natural sciences, an interest she shares with her famous father, who is also an Anglican minister. When I saw that, I hailed it with inner relief, thinking that finally here would be a book that wrestles with the changing of a paradigm, without going down the usual over-simplification trail by making religious faith and scientific endeavor mutually exclusive. With, of course, the religious characters being narrow-minded, clinging to ignorance, and petty, if not downright eeevil.
Nope, it turned out that Hardinge was trotting down that well-worn path—while offering a fantastical element
Spoiler
that essentially makes the central symbolic element of the Adam and Eve myth true, the Tree of Knowledge, or the Lie Tree, or Mendacity Tree, which feeds on human lies and exudes a kind of evil miasma full of visions that point toward hidden truthsThe two never fit together well, and it’s not helped by the fact that pretty much all the characters are hateful until the last portion of the book, with an extra helping of anger about how women are suppressed and erased by the Victorian ideal of innocence and frailty.
The women in the story turn out to be interesting (unlike the men) but it takes nearly the entire book to get there. Faith eventually redeems herself, too, when it’s almost too late to care. Hardinge’s writing is vivid and strong—there is a powerfully insightful comment about love that, had the rest of the book been raised to match it, would have made it the best book ever—which carried me through to the end in a story I would have abandoned in lesser hands.
She also gives us two interesting characters in two boys, Faith’s brother Howard, and Paul Clay, a boy Faith’s age, which relieved the unrelenting pettiness and meanness of the story enough to get me through to the payoff.
Apparently this book won a prestigious award before its US release, making me wonder if it was in part due to Victorian Anglicans being a popular target for getting a hate on that one can feel totally self-righteous about.
logarithm's review against another edition
4.0
(3.5 stars)
Honestly I picked it up because it was illustrated by Chris Riddell, but the summary looked interesting so... I enjoyed the writing and the story, and the setting is interesting (realistic with only tiny touches of magic). There’s some verbal abuse that made me cringe, but Faith’s character is worth the read. She’s smart and resourceful, and challenges the conventions imposed on her. I really loved her and I liked the book overall. A bit disappointed in the illustrations that are too often obscured by the text.
Honestly I picked it up because it was illustrated by Chris Riddell, but the summary looked interesting so... I enjoyed the writing and the story, and the setting is interesting (realistic with only tiny touches of magic). There’s some verbal abuse that made me cringe, but Faith’s character is worth the read. She’s smart and resourceful, and challenges the conventions imposed on her. I really loved her and I liked the book overall. A bit disappointed in the illustrations that are too often obscured by the text.
ina_fab's review against another edition
3.0
This book was an okay read for me. I finished up the book so fast, in two sittings. Mostly, I loved the fantastic part of the story (the lie tree), the intricate illustrations by Chris Riddell and the main character, Faith. Living in that time period where women were nothing and men everything, Faith was as tough as a rock being a teenager. She was smart, quirky and courageous, standing up for her ideas and proving she can move mountains.
But this book lacked in many things: I thought the lie tree was a big part of the story (but I've learned so few things about it) and the family plot that wasn't so captivating for me.
Overall, the illustrations were atmospheric and helped me get through the story more easily.
But this book lacked in many things: I thought the lie tree was a big part of the story (but I've learned so few things about it) and the family plot that wasn't so captivating for me.
Overall, the illustrations were atmospheric and helped me get through the story more easily.
lunaseline's review against another edition
4.0
Naturvetenskap! Feminism! Evolution!
Jag har länge velat läsa något av Frances Hardinge och det här blev ett fint förstaval. Den verkar inte vara en favorit från henne för andra, men mig passade det perfekt. Språket sätter tonen, som miljön fördjupar och karaktärerna bär upp. Det är ju genialiskt att placera ut en vetgirig dotter till en naturvetare åren efter Darwin vänt upp och ner på världen och (väst)världens trossystem. De magiska inslagen är definitivt av sorten magisk realism, och undervarianten "det går att tänka att det faktiskt är bara realism", vilket passar historien bra. Visst är några karaktärer på snudd på stereotyper, men Hardinge får in fina förklaringar till varför var och en är som de är, födda i just den tid de råkar vara födda och med de förutsättningar i form av pengar och s(kön)het de har.
Vindpinade öar och grottor väcker förmodligen barndomsnostalgi (både Fem, Kitty och Mary&Lou hade liknande äventyr, om jag halvminns rätt), och huvudpersonen Faith är en Flavia de Luce-look a like med nästan lika skarpa repliker. Intrigens upplösning är inte särskilt pulshöjande eller elegant, men jag gillar slutet ändå. Fin slutet-på-lovet-läsning!
Jag har länge velat läsa något av Frances Hardinge och det här blev ett fint förstaval. Den verkar inte vara en favorit från henne för andra, men mig passade det perfekt. Språket sätter tonen, som miljön fördjupar och karaktärerna bär upp. Det är ju genialiskt att placera ut en vetgirig dotter till en naturvetare åren efter Darwin vänt upp och ner på världen och (väst)världens trossystem. De magiska inslagen är definitivt av sorten magisk realism, och undervarianten "det går att tänka att det faktiskt är bara realism", vilket passar historien bra. Visst är några karaktärer på snudd på stereotyper, men Hardinge får in fina förklaringar till varför var och en är som de är, födda i just den tid de råkar vara födda och med de förutsättningar i form av pengar och s(kön)het de har.
Vindpinade öar och grottor väcker förmodligen barndomsnostalgi (både Fem, Kitty och Mary&Lou hade liknande äventyr, om jag halvminns rätt), och huvudpersonen Faith är en Flavia de Luce-look a like med nästan lika skarpa repliker. Intrigens upplösning är inte särskilt pulshöjande eller elegant, men jag gillar slutet ändå. Fin slutet-på-lovet-läsning!
vhgunter's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
mackenziencheez's review against another edition
5.0
What wonderfully complex and varied female characters! Love!