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penguinpuffin's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
_cecilie_'s review
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I appear to be on a kick with Sad Girl Books™ and surprisingly The Two Doctors Górski falls into that category quite neatly with Annae as its Sad Girl protagonist (even though she should be classified as numb more than sad but pish posh, it counts). And I didn’t really get why she was the main character anyway if I’m entirely honest. Sure, she is talented, beautiful, smart, wrongfully pushed out of American academia and therefore the fish out of water in British academia. I can’t shake the feeling that she is the female version of the perfect male Fantasy protagonist and since I critique that kind of character a lot it would be hypocritical to not call attention to it in this case. Apart from Ariel, she is still the most likable character so I didn’t mind her too much as the narrator even if I found her somewhat uninteresting. But no matter how I look at it, she is the person with the least stakes in the narrative: she’s already kind of given up her academic career, doesn’t know anything about the other characters and would know even less if she didn’t compulsory read their minds. And I know it’s part of her characterization to be apathetic and depressed after having an abusive relationship with her academic mentor and being ostracized from her own community. That part of her is understandable and interesting but there’s nothing that was done with it, no character development that we see, even after the long time-skip.
And the other characters are also not very fleshed out: OG Doctor Górski is an asshole because he gave his best personality traits to his homunculus/Frankensteins Monster/OC Ariel who is both too perfect and too well-adjusted and also entirely unexplored. And once again I’m asking: What’s the deal with everybody? What’s the deal with everything? Why is nothing explained in a deeper way?
I think the reason I’m being so harsh is because I see the potential in the story and the people in it and the world building and the magic system and everything else. It’s all very intriguing and I was sucked in and wanted to learn more, only to be sorely disappointed when the book closes with a major, rushed-feeling time-skip and it’s done and over. What happened?
In my opinion this book deserved much more than it was given: more plot, more character development, more development in general. This did not feel finished but like a first draft of something bigger, maybe even a series. And I know that I could’ve grown to really like Annae and come to understand the emotional repercussions Torquil now faces and get to know Marec Górski as a hybristic villain, and even see him and Ariel Górski interact. But there were so many holes in this nice literary tapestry that I couldn’t see the full picture.
And the other characters are also not very fleshed out: OG Doctor Górski is an asshole because he gave his best personality traits to his homunculus/Frankensteins Monster/OC Ariel who is both too perfect and too well-adjusted and also entirely unexplored. And once again I’m asking: What’s the deal with everybody? What’s the deal with everything? Why is nothing explained in a deeper way?
I think the reason I’m being so harsh is because I see the potential in the story and the people in it and the world building and the magic system and everything else. It’s all very intriguing and I was sucked in and wanted to learn more, only to be sorely disappointed when the book closes with a major, rushed-feeling time-skip and it’s done and over. What happened?
In my opinion this book deserved much more than it was given: more plot, more character development, more development in general. This did not feel finished but like a first draft of something bigger, maybe even a series. And I know that I could’ve grown to really like Annae and come to understand the emotional repercussions Torquil now faces and get to know Marec Górski as a hybristic villain, and even see him and Ariel Górski interact. But there were so many holes in this nice literary tapestry that I couldn’t see the full picture.
moh's review
I loved Dead Collections, but I'm not the right reader for this novella.
ellieshay's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
5.0
haunt's review
5.0
4.5 stars. I loved the concepts and the writing, although the ending felt somewhat abrupt. I would’ve liked to know even just a bit more about Annae’s work and life during the time lapse. Still, as is, the ending does come full circle in its way. I expect I’ll be mulling over the pieces for a while yet.
priya_haha's review
challenging
dark
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
aneges's review against another edition
Doesn't work too well in audio format and I expected it to be different. I'm not intrigued enough to get it on kindle but I didn't have a real issue with it. It's just not what I was looking for right now.
cupidcove's review
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
While I found this story interesting, I think it needed more space to develop its characters and themes in order to be fully successful. Parts of the story felt rushed to me, especially the parts reguarding the development of our protagonist's relationship with the two doctors. At times I think her emotions reguarding the events that occured around her and other peoples' reactions to them could have been explored deeper, especially given the devices established within. Overall, I don't think I will remember this story in a few weeks time.
akadras's review
2.5
A short and fascinating book exploring topics such as academic abuse, mental illness and the morality of psychiatric magic, The Two Doctors Górski tells an unsettling story of graduate student Annae, whose life ends up intertwined with the infamous magician Marec Górski once she starts studying under him.
The main positive I have about this book is the writing style - gorgeous and evocative, which is sadly one of the only aspects of this book that made me yearn for more. Yet I did somewhat feel that it wasn’t descriptive enough for me during a few specific scenes, where I was left feeling slightly confused as to what had just happened. I had a very hard time actually picturing the bigger events that took place, they very much felt glossed over to instead focus more on the characters’ inner experiences even though in those certain moments I was hoping for the opposite.
I did really enjoy the conversations surrounding mental illness and Annae’s field of study exploring the idea of removing fear/anxiety from people’s minds, including the repercussions and after effects of going through with it. Annae’s reasoning for wanting to work on this experiment makes for a very interesting discussion.
As far as characters go, I can appreciate the concepts of Annae, Marec and Ariel, but they again left me wanting for so much more. Especially when it came to Marec and Ariel - the concept of making a separate person from the undesired traits and aspects of yourself is so intriguing. It didn’t feel as if the characters themselves were in any way connecting.
While the blend of science and magic is intriguing, I got absolutely no sense of it whatsoever. I don’t expect or need it to be completely spelled out for me, especially since this is a shorter novella, but I could not tell you any type of explanation or description as to how this magic functions at its core. How do people become magicians? Is it inherited or learned? What are the limits of this magic? Can magicians bend it to do whatever they desire? It seemed as if the magic can do basically anything and everything for the convenience of the plot, no boundaries.
Alongside everything I just mentioned, I simply can’t quite pinpoint what about this book didn’t do it for me, but it’s as if an integral piece is missing. The pace and flow of the story felt very strange because there was no sense of anticipation or build up to anything, which in conclusion didn’t make for an impactful read.
I am however interested in picking up more of Isaac Fellman’s works in the future, hopefully they will be more to my taste.
Thank you to Netgalley and Tor for providing me with an e-ARC of this book!
The main positive I have about this book is the writing style - gorgeous and evocative, which is sadly one of the only aspects of this book that made me yearn for more. Yet I did somewhat feel that it wasn’t descriptive enough for me during a few specific scenes, where I was left feeling slightly confused as to what had just happened. I had a very hard time actually picturing the bigger events that took place, they very much felt glossed over to instead focus more on the characters’ inner experiences even though in those certain moments I was hoping for the opposite.
I did really enjoy the conversations surrounding mental illness and Annae’s field of study exploring the idea of removing fear/anxiety from people’s minds, including the repercussions and after effects of going through with it. Annae’s reasoning for wanting to work on this experiment makes for a very interesting discussion.
As far as characters go, I can appreciate the concepts of Annae, Marec and Ariel, but they again left me wanting for so much more. Especially when it came to Marec and Ariel - the concept of making a separate person from the undesired traits and aspects of yourself is so intriguing. It didn’t feel as if the characters themselves were in any way connecting.
While the blend of science and magic is intriguing, I got absolutely no sense of it whatsoever. I don’t expect or need it to be completely spelled out for me, especially since this is a shorter novella, but I could not tell you any type of explanation or description as to how this magic functions at its core. How do people become magicians? Is it inherited or learned? What are the limits of this magic? Can magicians bend it to do whatever they desire? It seemed as if the magic can do basically anything and everything for the convenience of the plot, no boundaries.
Alongside everything I just mentioned, I simply can’t quite pinpoint what about this book didn’t do it for me, but it’s as if an integral piece is missing. The pace and flow of the story felt very strange because there was no sense of anticipation or build up to anything, which in conclusion didn’t make for an impactful read.
I am however interested in picking up more of Isaac Fellman’s works in the future, hopefully they will be more to my taste.
Thank you to Netgalley and Tor for providing me with an e-ARC of this book!