writingwwolves's review
4.0
Rating: 4.5 Stars
I was so excited to get my teeth into a gritty, adult fantasy & Sarah’s work hit the spot perfectly! In this book we get to see the best & the worst of humanity, we experience love & hate in their purest forms, & in their most complicated forms, & we get to see the making & the unmaking of mankind. I loved the concept of this story, something which I can’t explain without spoiling the plot, & because of the creativity that has gone into it, I was clueless about where things were heading. This is a book that allows you to work out the basic idea of the ending, but everything up until that point is impossible to predict & I loved that. I was full of questions throughout, but in a more-ish & intoxicating kind of way. Seraphina’s Lament could quite easily be a strong standalone, but it’s clear that Sarah has so much more to give with this series, & I cannot wait!
⚠️ This book includes famine, poverty, classism, starvation, people being set on fire, murder, cannibalism, slavery, “forced labour” camps, arson, disability caused by violence, chronic pain, ableism in the form of deliberately making life harder for the disabled character, detailed & gory torture, dissection & some sexual references ⚠️
♿️ Title character Seraphina is disabled after being badly beaten by another character in the story; this happens before the events of the book, but there are some details of what happened. Author Sarah Chorn is also disabled, like myself, & her portrayal of a disabled character in a fantasy story was incredibly refreshing. Despite the transformations that occur in the book, Seraphina is never ‘cured’ & I’m very grateful to Sarah for that. Seraphina is shown to be in pain a lot but, in my opinion, it’s an accurate portrayal of living with a disability & I feel that it is excellent representation ♿️
I was sent a digital copy of this book by the author in return for an honest review.
Extended Review to follow.
I was so excited to get my teeth into a gritty, adult fantasy & Sarah’s work hit the spot perfectly! In this book we get to see the best & the worst of humanity, we experience love & hate in their purest forms, & in their most complicated forms, & we get to see the making & the unmaking of mankind. I loved the concept of this story, something which I can’t explain without spoiling the plot, & because of the creativity that has gone into it, I was clueless about where things were heading. This is a book that allows you to work out the basic idea of the ending, but everything up until that point is impossible to predict & I loved that. I was full of questions throughout, but in a more-ish & intoxicating kind of way. Seraphina’s Lament could quite easily be a strong standalone, but it’s clear that Sarah has so much more to give with this series, & I cannot wait!
⚠️ This book includes famine, poverty, classism, starvation, people being set on fire, murder, cannibalism, slavery, “forced labour” camps, arson, disability caused by violence, chronic pain, ableism in the form of deliberately making life harder for the disabled character, detailed & gory torture, dissection & some sexual references ⚠️
♿️ Title character Seraphina is disabled after being badly beaten by another character in the story; this happens before the events of the book, but there are some details of what happened. Author Sarah Chorn is also disabled, like myself, & her portrayal of a disabled character in a fantasy story was incredibly refreshing. Despite the transformations that occur in the book, Seraphina is never ‘cured’ & I’m very grateful to Sarah for that. Seraphina is shown to be in pain a lot but, in my opinion, it’s an accurate portrayal of living with a disability & I feel that it is excellent representation ♿️
I was sent a digital copy of this book by the author in return for an honest review.
Extended Review to follow.
joannethefairy's review
5.0
This book was brilliant!!
The story is sooo unique.
Every page was an adventure as you figured out this world right along with the characters, however the book never felt like it was info-dumping, so masterfully was every little piece revealed.
And the writing is beautiful. Poignant and lyrical.
But by far the best best best part of this book were the characters. The reader was privy to every multi-faceted aspect and it was such a wonderful experience to dive deep deep down into these characters and see all their motivations, relationships, fears and joys.
As a reader I became very attached to every character - something that happens very rarely in my reading experience - in most books there is one (or more) characters that I just don’t connect with or have views/motivations I don’t understand or agree with and so their struggles don’t resonate with me so I don’t become invested in them.
In this book the minutiae of all the characters was so well fleshed out that I was right there with every character knowing their views, motivations and feelings about their world, their place it and how the other characters fitted into their world view. Simply amazing.
I was so excited to learn that this is the first in a trilogy as well.
5 Stars - Amazing characters. Amazing world. Amazing story. Just sooo good!
The story is sooo unique.
Every page was an adventure as you figured out this world right along with the characters, however the book never felt like it was info-dumping, so masterfully was every little piece revealed.
And the writing is beautiful. Poignant and lyrical.
But by far the best best best part of this book were the characters. The reader was privy to every multi-faceted aspect and it was such a wonderful experience to dive deep deep down into these characters and see all their motivations, relationships, fears and joys.
As a reader I became very attached to every character - something that happens very rarely in my reading experience - in most books there is one (or more) characters that I just don’t connect with or have views/motivations I don’t understand or agree with and so their struggles don’t resonate with me so I don’t become invested in them.
In this book the minutiae of all the characters was so well fleshed out that I was right there with every character knowing their views, motivations and feelings about their world, their place it and how the other characters fitted into their world view. Simply amazing.
I was so excited to learn that this is the first in a trilogy as well.
5 Stars - Amazing characters. Amazing world. Amazing story. Just sooo good!
hotpinkmess's review
Given the reviews of this book, I desperately wanted to like it.
I thoroughly enjoyed the original take and strangeness on a unique magic system that I don't recall encountering quite like it, and there were moments of beautiful prose smattered here and there--but the pacing of this story was too fast for me. Characters seemed so immature and young, with stilted dialogue that didn't quite seem to fit them and their circumstances or ages. There were moments of such quicksilver emotional changes that jarred me from the story.
It wants to be a grimdark fantasy, and elements of that genre are present. Yet the quick way the book skips through everything makes it seem like an afterthought with little emotional impact on the reader.
I wasn't able to feel like I should care about anything.
And that is a shame because, again, this story has so much potential. It's so close to doing what I think it wants to do--but falls short of being emotionally impactful. I found myself skipping dialogue or skimming it when possible and realized that I was purposefully skipping pages trying to get to parts that would capture my interest.
I want to like this book, but I cannot. I am more than willing to keep giving the author's future books a try, but this one will have to go on my DNF.
I thoroughly enjoyed the original take and strangeness on a unique magic system that I don't recall encountering quite like it, and there were moments of beautiful prose smattered here and there--but the pacing of this story was too fast for me. Characters seemed so immature and young, with stilted dialogue that didn't quite seem to fit them and their circumstances or ages. There were moments of such quicksilver emotional changes that jarred me from the story.
It wants to be a grimdark fantasy, and elements of that genre are present. Yet the quick way the book skips through everything makes it seem like an afterthought with little emotional impact on the reader.
I wasn't able to feel like I should care about anything.
And that is a shame because, again, this story has so much potential. It's so close to doing what I think it wants to do--but falls short of being emotionally impactful. I found myself skipping dialogue or skimming it when possible and realized that I was purposefully skipping pages trying to get to parts that would capture my interest.
I want to like this book, but I cannot. I am more than willing to keep giving the author's future books a try, but this one will have to go on my DNF.
barb4ry1's review
4.0
Seraphina’s Lament breaks genres, conventions and taboos.
Set in a secondary world based on the Russian Revolution and the Holodomor, it gives a detailed look at a dying world.
A collectivist government controlled by an ex-revolutionary, Premier Eyad, used to have noble objectives. Things and people changed. Rulers inflict starvation, forced labour, and death on their subjects. Rampant famine forces people to commit acts of unspeakable cruelty and despair, including cannibalism. Magic leaks from the world.
Seraphina, a slave with a unique fire affinity, escapes her tormentors and joins revolutionaries. She wants Eyad dead. Her anger consumes her humanity. The same happens to other protagonists. As they head to Lord‘s Reach city to fight a corrupted government, they undergo significant changes. Some of them start to Become.
Seraphina’s Lament is a dark and unsettling book. Using elements of fantasy, horror, symbolism, magical realism and allegory, it dives into metaphysics and creation of gods.
Food, eating, and starvation represent life, death, guilt, and withheld love. Early in the book readers get to know Taub who undergoes a shocking metamorphosis. Chorn describes radical changes (mutations?) in such hallucinatory detail that I had to stop and reread chosen passages to picture them accurately. We can see protagnists’ bodily torment and share their disgust and terror when they first witness and experience it.
You’ll know early in the novel if her writing style works for you. It switches from poetic and allegorical to no-nonsense. I loved parts of it, but had to slowly reread others to see things. Some similes didn’t work for me. Others felt creative and imaginative. Chorn’s writing is dense and her story is so different from mainstream fantasy that I expect it to divide the audience.
Some will “get it”, while others will feel lost and helpless. I like allegories and Seraphina’s Lament may appeal to readers who enjoyed themes of unbecoming pictured in Dyachenko’s brilliant Vita Nostra.
Seraphina‘s Lament is a strong debut. It evokes feelings of futility, confusion, and helplessness, but I wouldn‘t call it nihilistic. It ends with a glimmer of hope.
It impressed me and I can't wait to see where it goes from here.
Set in a secondary world based on the Russian Revolution and the Holodomor, it gives a detailed look at a dying world.
A collectivist government controlled by an ex-revolutionary, Premier Eyad, used to have noble objectives. Things and people changed. Rulers inflict starvation, forced labour, and death on their subjects. Rampant famine forces people to commit acts of unspeakable cruelty and despair, including cannibalism. Magic leaks from the world.
Seraphina, a slave with a unique fire affinity, escapes her tormentors and joins revolutionaries. She wants Eyad dead. Her anger consumes her humanity. The same happens to other protagonists. As they head to Lord‘s Reach city to fight a corrupted government, they undergo significant changes. Some of them start to Become.
Seraphina’s Lament is a dark and unsettling book. Using elements of fantasy, horror, symbolism, magical realism and allegory, it dives into metaphysics and creation of gods.
Food, eating, and starvation represent life, death, guilt, and withheld love. Early in the book readers get to know Taub who undergoes a shocking metamorphosis. Chorn describes radical changes (mutations?) in such hallucinatory detail that I had to stop and reread chosen passages to picture them accurately. We can see protagnists’ bodily torment and share their disgust and terror when they first witness and experience it.
You’ll know early in the novel if her writing style works for you. It switches from poetic and allegorical to no-nonsense. I loved parts of it, but had to slowly reread others to see things. Some similes didn’t work for me. Others felt creative and imaginative. Chorn’s writing is dense and her story is so different from mainstream fantasy that I expect it to divide the audience.
Some will “get it”, while others will feel lost and helpless. I like allegories and Seraphina’s Lament may appeal to readers who enjoyed themes of unbecoming pictured in Dyachenko’s brilliant Vita Nostra.
Seraphina‘s Lament is a strong debut. It evokes feelings of futility, confusion, and helplessness, but I wouldn‘t call it nihilistic. It ends with a glimmer of hope.
It impressed me and I can't wait to see where it goes from here.
tarmunvykers's review
5.0
This book is difficult to describe, and I won't shy away from the fact it challenged me. It offers us a glimpse of an alternate-universe Russia after the fall of the last Tsar. There is a plot, of course, but what Seraphina's Lament is really giving us is the meticulously landscaped emotional interior of its characters, as they face a variety of dilemmas, both mundane and supernatural (or divine). This is a novel about feelings and ideas more than deeds, and if you can make that leap, you'll find it extremely rewarding. It is also refreshing, I must say, to depart from the more-typical fantasy settings and explore Chorn's rich setting and world-building. But be warned: this world is very grim indeed, with less joy than you might find in your average prison camp. All in all, it's a read I will not soon forget.
templetongate's review
4.0
I've seen others describe this as 'grimdark,' and while I have not read much within that sub-genre I think it's an apt description. It's the reason it took me longer to read than I thought it would, because I could only take the darkness for short periods of time. It's still good though, and recommended, except for those who only want light and positivity in their fantasy.
http://templetongate.net/bloodlands
http://templetongate.net/bloodlands
zefrien's review
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
yarnycharlie's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
alexkhlopenko's review
4.0
Originaly for Three Crows Magazine.
Before delving into the review, it is important to establish my bias towards the premise of “Seraphina’s Lament”. I was recommended this book because I’m a Ukrainian and the novel is based on the Soviet genocide of Ukrainians called Holodomor. I was excited and highly suspicious, and naturally so – western writers, even those diligent in their research, usually butcher any topic that is not in their high school curriculum.
Fun fact for the uninitiated – Joseph Stalin and Soviet government in 1931-1933 used artificial famine to suppress the growing unrest, labour strikes, rise of Ukrainian intellectualism, and other fun counterrevolutionary activities. They called it collectivization and used the stolen collected food supply to sell to western democracies in exchange for technologies and machinery. Thus, happened the Soviet miracle of industrialization which cost roughly 10 million lives. My grand grandfather was a head of a kolhoz and was shot for distributing grain to people. My grandmother lost four siblings to starvation and never let a bread crumb fall.
Yet, I was pleasantly surprised by how Sarah Chorn approached the issue and, not without certain reservations, executed the premise of the book.
“Seraphina’s Lament” follows a diverse cast – from a farmer who resorts to cannibalism in the face of starvation, to a group of counterrevolutionaries, to the head of revolutionary government Premier Eyad. Giving a POV to every party and strata of the conflict, not limiting it to lamentations and whining of the oppressed (the Ukrainian literary style of writing about any tragedy) or the power fantasy of the oppressor (the American way). This balanced approach lets the reader delve into the minds of everyone involved, thus blurring the lines of good and bad, further defining the grimdark genre alignment of the novel.
The plot develops in a crescendo, from the degeneration of the common folk and resorting to cannibalism, to the eventual death of the world in a blaze of glorious birth of the new gods. Literal cleansing of the world, and letting it start from scratch is a symbolic offer of a way to deal with a tragedy like that, once again, considering the premise and reality of Holodomor – the nation was not cleansed, there were no consequences for the perpetrators and not justice for the victims.
Inadvertently, Sarah Chorn assumes the role of Tolkien’s Queen of Valar – Nienna, who endlessly wept, turning the grief into wisdom.
Grimdark fantasy has been famous and often criticized for glorifying the over-the-top violence, rape, huge-ass battles, and gore overflowing the pages. It is not always entirely true, but many of the authors are sinful in this regard.
“Seraphina’s Lament” does a wonderful job of not glorifying the atrocities it is depicting, without playing the outside neutral spectator. It shows and condemns the crimes against humanity, without resorting to unnecessary apologism that can be seen in regard to real events (i.e Churchill or Stalin apologists).
Sarah Chorn doesn’t shy away from describing collectivism, enslavement, torture, and what touched me the most – children eating children (this one will stay with me for a long time), in great detail, yet in good taste.
I found Chorn’s idealistic approach to the communal understanding of the nuclear family as a cell of society curious . She turned it all the way to eleven and shown how a community of co-dependent, loving people could live together under collectivism without religious or societal dogma regarding sexuality or family values. It felt fresh and on par with the best thought experiments in science-fiction.
At the same time, from my perspective, it feels like there was a lot more to use from the premise – the period of establishment of Soviet power had much more to offer in terms of human drama, the conflict between a person and the repressive system. More than just the backdrop. And yet it is 100% more coverage and use of the underlying topic than ever before, which deserves praise and respect.
Chorn’s prose may be my biggest reservation about this book. The novel declines to fall into the general trend of using simplistic, straightforward sentences and goes all in on Proustian grandeur. Multi-layered metaphors, repetition, callbacks, and purpleness of the prose rivals that of Abercombie or even Anna Smith Spark. It works in lush descriptions of the emotional distress of the characters, the desolate landscape of the Sunset Lands and Lord’s Reach, but when the same toolkit is used in dialogues they sometimes fall flat, sounding like something written by Terry Pratchett or, god-forbid, Tommy Wiseau.
The novel signals a significant shift of interest for western English-speaking SFF writers and their audiences. Increasingly more of them turn from beating the dead horse of Tolkien’s legendarium and Arthurian mythos, to cultures and histories less explored. Sarah Chorn is maybe among the first to pay attention and depict the atrocities of Holodomor in genre literature and it warms my heart.
“Seraphina’s Lament” offers a fresh setting, interesting characters, and researches into Holodomor, an issue generally disregarded by western audiences and writers and is a precisely executed novel with a few caveats could be easily disregarded by the reader not familiar with the issue before.
Before delving into the review, it is important to establish my bias towards the premise of “Seraphina’s Lament”. I was recommended this book because I’m a Ukrainian and the novel is based on the Soviet genocide of Ukrainians called Holodomor. I was excited and highly suspicious, and naturally so – western writers, even those diligent in their research, usually butcher any topic that is not in their high school curriculum.
Fun fact for the uninitiated – Joseph Stalin and Soviet government in 1931-1933 used artificial famine to suppress the growing unrest, labour strikes, rise of Ukrainian intellectualism, and other fun counterrevolutionary activities. They called it collectivization and used the stolen collected food supply to sell to western democracies in exchange for technologies and machinery. Thus, happened the Soviet miracle of industrialization which cost roughly 10 million lives. My grand grandfather was a head of a kolhoz and was shot for distributing grain to people. My grandmother lost four siblings to starvation and never let a bread crumb fall.
Yet, I was pleasantly surprised by how Sarah Chorn approached the issue and, not without certain reservations, executed the premise of the book.
“Seraphina’s Lament” follows a diverse cast – from a farmer who resorts to cannibalism in the face of starvation, to a group of counterrevolutionaries, to the head of revolutionary government Premier Eyad. Giving a POV to every party and strata of the conflict, not limiting it to lamentations and whining of the oppressed (the Ukrainian literary style of writing about any tragedy) or the power fantasy of the oppressor (the American way). This balanced approach lets the reader delve into the minds of everyone involved, thus blurring the lines of good and bad, further defining the grimdark genre alignment of the novel.
The plot develops in a crescendo, from the degeneration of the common folk and resorting to cannibalism, to the eventual death of the world in a blaze of glorious birth of the new gods. Literal cleansing of the world, and letting it start from scratch is a symbolic offer of a way to deal with a tragedy like that, once again, considering the premise and reality of Holodomor – the nation was not cleansed, there were no consequences for the perpetrators and not justice for the victims.
Inadvertently, Sarah Chorn assumes the role of Tolkien’s Queen of Valar – Nienna, who endlessly wept, turning the grief into wisdom.
Grimdark fantasy has been famous and often criticized for glorifying the over-the-top violence, rape, huge-ass battles, and gore overflowing the pages. It is not always entirely true, but many of the authors are sinful in this regard.
“Seraphina’s Lament” does a wonderful job of not glorifying the atrocities it is depicting, without playing the outside neutral spectator. It shows and condemns the crimes against humanity, without resorting to unnecessary apologism that can be seen in regard to real events (i.e Churchill or Stalin apologists).
Sarah Chorn doesn’t shy away from describing collectivism, enslavement, torture, and what touched me the most – children eating children (this one will stay with me for a long time), in great detail, yet in good taste.
I found Chorn’s idealistic approach to the communal understanding of the nuclear family as a cell of society curious . She turned it all the way to eleven and shown how a community of co-dependent, loving people could live together under collectivism without religious or societal dogma regarding sexuality or family values. It felt fresh and on par with the best thought experiments in science-fiction.
At the same time, from my perspective, it feels like there was a lot more to use from the premise – the period of establishment of Soviet power had much more to offer in terms of human drama, the conflict between a person and the repressive system. More than just the backdrop. And yet it is 100% more coverage and use of the underlying topic than ever before, which deserves praise and respect.
Chorn’s prose may be my biggest reservation about this book. The novel declines to fall into the general trend of using simplistic, straightforward sentences and goes all in on Proustian grandeur. Multi-layered metaphors, repetition, callbacks, and purpleness of the prose rivals that of Abercombie or even Anna Smith Spark. It works in lush descriptions of the emotional distress of the characters, the desolate landscape of the Sunset Lands and Lord’s Reach, but when the same toolkit is used in dialogues they sometimes fall flat, sounding like something written by Terry Pratchett or, god-forbid, Tommy Wiseau.
The novel signals a significant shift of interest for western English-speaking SFF writers and their audiences. Increasingly more of them turn from beating the dead horse of Tolkien’s legendarium and Arthurian mythos, to cultures and histories less explored. Sarah Chorn is maybe among the first to pay attention and depict the atrocities of Holodomor in genre literature and it warms my heart.
“Seraphina’s Lament” offers a fresh setting, interesting characters, and researches into Holodomor, an issue generally disregarded by western audiences and writers and is a precisely executed novel with a few caveats could be easily disregarded by the reader not familiar with the issue before.