kittykornerlibrarian's review
5.0
Oh, my, this one was GOOD. It's a futuristic (I think, or an alternate universe) society that lives mostly in cave communities under the ground, and it's got an extremely rigid caste system. I have to say that the first chapter feels a lot less like fiction than it would have a year ago. This is a very political novel about power and relationships and it's just really terrific. It's told in the third person limited viewpoint from several different characters' points of view. The one that resonated most with me is Tagaret, the elder son of a highly-ranked family who is not interested in political machinations at all and is trying to navigate his way in a world he's not sure he wants to inhabit. Other points of view include an Imbati servant whose name I can't remember and Tagaret's younger brother, who has lots of OCD behaviors and has the ruthless ambition that his brother lacks. Anyway, this is so, so good. Can't wait for the next in this series.
Just a note that this was even better the second time because it was such a joy to be in this world with these characters again. Looking forward to the sequel.
Just a note that this was even better the second time because it was such a joy to be in this world with these characters again. Looking forward to the sequel.
jmckendry's review
1.0
I had really mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it was absolutely fascinating. The world building was amazing. The characters felt as real and vivid as the setting. I am inspired by the work that must have gone into writing this.
However, I don’t really know how I felt about the storyline itself. There weren’t any plot holes, the writing was great, and there were a lot of interesting twists and turns, it just didn’t seem as interesting to me. I kind of lost interested about halfway through, and I kind of had to really focus on finishing it. If I’m rating how interesting the world was, I’d probably go with 4/5. But I just didn’t really enjoy the story that much.
However, I don’t really know how I felt about the storyline itself. There weren’t any plot holes, the writing was great, and there were a lot of interesting twists and turns, it just didn’t seem as interesting to me. I kind of lost interested about halfway through, and I kind of had to really focus on finishing it. If I’m rating how interesting the world was, I’d probably go with 4/5. But I just didn’t really enjoy the story that much.
jerseygrrrl's review
4.0
This is an absorbing, compelling, and intellectually challenging book. I'm a sucker for anthropological scifi in the vein of Janet Kagen's Hellspark. Mazes of Power is part of that lineage.
The story takes us into a severely stratified world, in which people are born into a caste that determines their privilege and role. As readers, we spend most of our time with the Grobal, the ruling class. It was hard to understand how they could maintain their supremacy given their insularity, immunological weaknesses, inbreeding, self-absorption, and tendency to try to assassinate each other. We also see the world through the eyes of an Imbati, one of the servant class that is extraordinarily selfless and dedicated to serving the Grobal. It was hard to understand how someone could so completely give over their self, their safety, and their well-being to a ruling class member.
Wade chides us at the beginning of the book: "This is your home." Clearly, we're meant to think about how, like the Grobal and Imbati, we conform to unspoken social rules and restrictions. Are we as self-absorbed and blind to others' realities as the Grobal? Are we as willing to subordinate ourselves to power as the Imbati? Are we governed by as ridiculous social rules as the members of Varin society? These are challenging questions that I'm still pondering.
I was glad that, at the end of the book, Wade began to
From an experience perspective: Mazes of Power was a fast read and a page-turner. I got so absorbed that I think I inadvertently agreed to do several unintended household chores. Oops.
Recommended.
The story takes us into a severely stratified world, in which people are born into a caste that determines their privilege and role. As readers, we spend most of our time with the Grobal, the ruling class. It was hard to understand how they could maintain their supremacy given their insularity, immunological weaknesses, inbreeding, self-absorption, and tendency to try to assassinate each other. We also see the world through the eyes of an Imbati, one of the servant class that is extraordinarily selfless and dedicated to serving the Grobal. It was hard to understand how someone could so completely give over their self, their safety, and their well-being to a ruling class member.
Wade chides us at the beginning of the book: "This is your home." Clearly, we're meant to think about how, like the Grobal and Imbati, we conform to unspoken social rules and restrictions. Are we as self-absorbed and blind to others' realities as the Grobal? Are we as willing to subordinate ourselves to power as the Imbati? Are we governed by as ridiculous social rules as the members of Varin society? These are challenging questions that I'm still pondering.
I was glad that, at the end of the book, Wade began to
Spoiler
show the cracks in Verin society and show signs that Book #2 in the series would disrupt power structures. I don't think I could keep reading if the assumption was that how the Grobal and Imbati operate is acceptable.From an experience perspective: Mazes of Power was a fast read and a page-turner. I got so absorbed that I think I inadvertently agreed to do several unintended household chores. Oops.
Recommended.
caresays's review
3.0
I found this to be an interesting read, with a few issues that cropped up as I went along. I imagine that most of these considerations have already occurred to the author, as it's otherwise such a thoughtful book with fairly comprehensive worldbuilding. I'd round up to 3.5 stars, except for a few things.
2. Wow, the main character was boring. Placid desires and wants, only sympathetic in the face of his sociopathic brother. All he wants is this girl!!!! Who he's seen like twice and never speaks to!!!!! And she inexplicably loves him too???? It's not an interesting drive!
3. I was pretty confused about the role of same-sex relationships in this world. Early on it's established that both the protagonist and the antagonist have sexual, if not romantic, relationships with same-sex partners. So I thought, okay, cool, this is an accepted norm in this world. Surprisingly, it's actually taboo??? Who knew??? It was a weird choice to me to make it SO pervasive and not socially accepted. Anyway, seemed like a weird setup.
4. If your plan is to dismantle a patriarchal/flawed system, maybe have one of your POV characters be a lady. Just saying that there was room in there for a female perspective. It wasn't like there weren't any powerful or interesting female characters, but I was disappointed to find all three POVs to be male-centered. (I guess I also don't necessarily understand the point of having a blank canvas to work with in sci-fi and then purposefully creating SUCH a patriarchal society, but like, I also get wanting to utilize storytelling to fight against these systems that exist in our real world.)
5. OMG, I totally forgot -- I think everyone was white??? At least in the upper caste society. Everyone was either blond or ginger and pale. I know they live underground, but like??? And the farmer caste that works up on the surface is described as sun-browned, but that doesn't give any indication to what their skin tone is when not tanned. How, in this day and age, would this be an appropriate thing? (Okay, I don't remember if/when Aloran's skin tone is mentioned, but usually when skin tone ISN'T mentioned, the default assumption is...white.)
I did overall enjoy my read and will likely read the next one. It's not to nitpick, but these things really were niggling at me throughout.
Spoiler
1. Was it the best choice to make your primary antagonist the only character who's not neurotypical? It seems bizarrely tone-deaf coming from a sociologist. I actually liked reading Nekantor's POV because his OCD made things interesting (when his brother was a bit of a dullard tbh) but to also make him a sociopath was ???? Like, the book itself seemed to equate the OCD with wrongness, which is obviously not the intended messaging.2. Wow, the main character was boring. Placid desires and wants, only sympathetic in the face of his sociopathic brother. All he wants is this girl!!!! Who he's seen like twice and never speaks to!!!!! And she inexplicably loves him too???? It's not an interesting drive!
3. I was pretty confused about the role of same-sex relationships in this world. Early on it's established that both the protagonist and the antagonist have sexual, if not romantic, relationships with same-sex partners. So I thought, okay, cool, this is an accepted norm in this world. Surprisingly, it's actually taboo??? Who knew??? It was a weird choice to me to make it SO pervasive and not socially accepted. Anyway, seemed like a weird setup.
4. If your plan is to dismantle a patriarchal/flawed system, maybe have one of your POV characters be a lady. Just saying that there was room in there for a female perspective. It wasn't like there weren't any powerful or interesting female characters, but I was disappointed to find all three POVs to be male-centered. (I guess I also don't necessarily understand the point of having a blank canvas to work with in sci-fi and then purposefully creating SUCH a patriarchal society, but like, I also get wanting to utilize storytelling to fight against these systems that exist in our real world.)
5. OMG, I totally forgot -- I think everyone was white??? At least in the upper caste society. Everyone was either blond or ginger and pale. I know they live underground, but like??? And the farmer caste that works up on the surface is described as sun-browned, but that doesn't give any indication to what their skin tone is when not tanned. How, in this day and age, would this be an appropriate thing? (Okay, I don't remember if/when Aloran's skin tone is mentioned, but usually when skin tone ISN'T mentioned, the default assumption is...white.)
I did overall enjoy my read and will likely read the next one. It's not to nitpick, but these things really were niggling at me throughout.
laurablackwell's review
5.0
In this novel of political intrigue, the setting is the star. Pelismara is a cavern city with an elaborate caste system. Although likeable characters are presented from every caste that appears, the privileged aristocratic caste, the Grobal (I remembered them as "Gross Nobles"), had me rooting for revolution more and more as the novel proceeded.
The main plot hinges around a few things: A sudden plague that reduces the Grobal population, the selection of the next Heir (a ruler-in-waiting), and teenage Tagaret's crush on a girl of the same caste but a less important family. Three different narrators—the two sons of the the First Family and Aloran, an Imbati-caste servant who signs a contract with a family member early in the book—show different perspectives of this troubled society. Tagaret seems like a nice enough kid, though privilege definitely restricts his vision; his brother Nekantor is ambitious and unstable; Aloran is basically the perfect valet/bodyguard. Aloran was the most relatable for me, but they were all interesting.
A few things made me uncomfortable as I read through, such as the fact that one of the nastier villains was not neurotypical, but gradually I saw that that was an illustration of one of the problems: The aristocrats were more ashamed of someone's obsession with counting buttons than of his cruelty and willingness to sacrifice others. That really says something about them. Something similar happened with the Grobal (who call themselves "The Race") and their insistence on marrying only within Grobal families. They're pretty clearly inbred, and that is causing them problems that the reader can see even if the characters can't. I feel like the things that made me uncomfortable were supposed to make me uncomfortable, and I'm okay with that.
I read an ARC that I won in a Goodreads giveaway. Lucky!
The main plot hinges around a few things: A sudden plague that reduces the Grobal population, the selection of the next Heir (a ruler-in-waiting), and teenage Tagaret's crush on a girl of the same caste but a less important family. Three different narrators—the two sons of the the First Family and Aloran, an Imbati-caste servant who signs a contract with a family member early in the book—show different perspectives of this troubled society. Tagaret seems like a nice enough kid, though privilege definitely restricts his vision; his brother Nekantor is ambitious and unstable; Aloran is basically the perfect valet/bodyguard. Aloran was the most relatable for me, but they were all interesting.
A few things made me uncomfortable as I read through, such as the fact that one of the nastier villains was not neurotypical, but gradually I saw that that was an illustration of one of the problems: The aristocrats were more ashamed of someone's obsession with counting buttons than of his cruelty and willingness to sacrifice others. That really says something about them. Something similar happened with the Grobal (who call themselves "The Race") and their insistence on marrying only within Grobal families. They're pretty clearly inbred, and that is causing them problems that the reader can see even if the characters can't. I feel like the things that made me uncomfortable were supposed to make me uncomfortable, and I'm okay with that.
I read an ARC that I won in a Goodreads giveaway. Lucky!
mahiyaa's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Content Warnings
Minor: Domestic abuse
hcramer22's review against another edition
2.0
This was interesting, but I had quite a few problems with it. The main one being the antagonist of the story, Nekantor. His POV provided a lot of the more interesting aspects of the book, in particular the ways he is shown to be neurotypical and having obsessive compulsions. However, he’s the villain of the story and is also on page described as being “defective” and a “psychopath”... is that really the message we want to be putting out in the universe? That if your brain doesn’t work the same as others, you’re defective? That’s a big no for me.
I also felt that the relationships were not fleshed out well at all. We got one that was essentially, “I saw her across the room and her hair is beautiful and now I’m in love with her.” It wasn’t compelling enough for me to care about them at all.
I also felt that the relationships were not fleshed out well at all. We got one that was essentially, “I saw her across the room and her hair is beautiful and now I’m in love with her.” It wasn’t compelling enough for me to care about them at all.
brianthehuman's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
krayfish1's review
4.0
CN: There's a highly contagious fever running amok in the book. Deadly mainly only to the inbred rich folks (who are the main characters). This may affect your choice on whether to read the book in the middle of a pandemic. I thought it was okay, but YMMV.
The three POV characters are Tagaret, Nekantor and Aloran. Tagaret is a little boring, though I think he's supposed to be the good one? He's very focused on getting the girl and searching for meaning outside of what his society taught him. Nekantor is an asshole, but weirdly relatable to me -- he knows what he wants and how to get it, but he frequently stumbles in the execution of the plan due to OCD. The cause is different, but the argh I had a perfect plan and now it's going a little haywire because of how my body is reacting should be familiar to anyone who's ever had stage fright or similar. Aloran is highly competent and stupidly loyal, which is such a trope-y character, and I like it.
The three POV characters are Tagaret, Nekantor and Aloran. Tagaret is a little boring, though I think he's supposed to be the good one? He's very focused on getting the girl and searching for meaning outside of what his society taught him. Nekantor is an asshole, but weirdly relatable to me -- he knows what he wants and how to get it, but he frequently stumbles in the execution of the plan due to OCD. The cause is different, but the argh I had a perfect plan and now it's going a little haywire because of how my body is reacting should be familiar to anyone who's ever had stage fright or similar. Aloran is highly competent and stupidly loyal, which is such a trope-y character, and I like it.
lmwanak's review
4.0
With our country the way it is today, one would think that a fantasy novel focused on political intrigue wouldn’t be so much escapism, but more like reading today’s news. Yet Juliette Wade’s debut novel, Mazes of Power, not only dives deep into political intrigue, it focuses a sharp lens on the relevant issue of what one can do with power, for good or for ill.
Read the rest of this review at Lightspeed magazine: http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/nonfiction/book-reviews-february-2020/
Read the rest of this review at Lightspeed magazine: http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/nonfiction/book-reviews-february-2020/