stinkyleaf's review
adventurous
dark
hopeful
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Slowish start. Captivating style and narration. Dark and brutal depiction of Old Country life and death, very violent. Original legend/ mythology shines through
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Slavery, Death, Child death, Animal death, Excrement, War, Torture, Gore, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
uncreativeoops's review
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
slow-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? It's complicated
3.75
I'm still a bit confused tbh. The worldbuilding was really impressive as well as the characters and plot, but I felt kinda detached from it. Loved the inverted theatre part and the switching to 2nd person POV, which gave the main story the atmosphere of a fairy tale. There are also short parts in first person which I now want in every fantasy novel, it was such a good way of humanising background characters and conveying atmosphere. Sometimes the writing was a bit clunky, but most of the scenes were incredibly visual; I could totally see it as a movie. Or maybe several movies, because every part/day had a completely different vibe and they didn' quite connect. And when it started with this magical theatre and fairy tales about how the moon fell in love with the sea I did not expect this much graphic violence. But definitely a new concept. The closest comparison i can think of is The Forever Sea by Joshua Philipp Johnson though the setting is very difderent.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Murder, Torture, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Confinement, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism and Excrement
Minor: Death of parent
hannahmci's review
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Excrement, Incest, and Vomit
caelysium's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism, Violence, Torture, War, and Death
Moderate: Sexual content
emzhay's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book completely altered my brain chemistry. There are so many things going on in this book, and they’re all executed flawlessly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Torture, Cannibalism, and Animal death
Moderate: Sexual content, Homophobia, and Excrement
Minor: War, Dementia, Confinement, and Sexual assault
discarded_dust_jacket's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
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? Yes
3.0
This is a very imaginative story told in a very imaginative way, I have to say that first. The structure of the narrative and how it’s presented is like nothing I’ve ever read. The world is also incredibly unique and vivid.
The inclusion of the whispers of the dead peppered throughout add a ton of depth and nuance to an already multi-dimensional story.
I think the reason why it didn’t get a higher rating from me had more to do with my tendency to space out and struggle through dense fantasy. Especially in a book this long, the writing has to be naturally propulsive, or else it becomes too easy to simply give up in the event that you hit a slog 250 pages in, only realize you’ve still got half the book to go.
That happened to me here. Somewhere around the 370-480 page section of the story, I had to force myself to push on. All in all, I thought the ending was satisfying, but maybe it would’ve been easier for me to get through if the story hadn’t tried to do SO much.
The inclusion of the whispers of the dead peppered throughout add a ton of depth and nuance to an already multi-dimensional story.
I think the reason why it didn’t get a higher rating from me had more to do with my tendency to space out and struggle through dense fantasy. Especially in a book this long, the writing has to be naturally propulsive, or else it becomes too easy to simply give up in the event that you hit a slog 250 pages in, only realize you’ve still got half the book to go.
That happened to me here. Somewhere around the 370-480 page section of the story, I had to force myself to push on. All in all, I thought the ending was satisfying, but maybe it would’ve been easier for me to get through if the story hadn’t tried to do SO much.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Grief, Bullying, Cannibalism, Blood, Death of parent, Gore, Torture, Child death, Violence, and War
wardenred's review against another edition
challenging
dark
inspiring
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This is a love story to its blade-dented bone.
Wow, this is an incredibly hard book to rate. On one hand, I almost automatically five-starred it simply for how it is written. I'm in awe of what the author has done with the narrative and the structure. All the POV work alone, and the whole story within a story/world within a world thing—I have no words. And the prose is so eloquent and intricate, too. Honestly, the shape of the story is so masterfully constructed, it's unbelievable. I took so many notes while I was reading. It's a novel, but it's also kind of a play, and a massive mythic folk tale, and OMG, I wish I knew how to make language and structure do such magic.
On the other hand, when it comes to the essence of the story... Well, the longer I sit here, having finished it, the more I start feeling that it got a little lost under all the structural twists and curves. It was hard for me to connect with any of the characters, despite finding Jun's and Keema's journey really poignant. But it wasn't poignant in a way that made me perceive the characters as semi-real people existing at the intersection of the author's imagination and my own, as a reader. It was more like... the central themes of war and power and the impact they have? They shone really brightly through these characters' interactions, and the characters served their purpose really well as elements of the narrative. I don't know if I can explain it any better at this point.
Also, as I look back at the central plot, I feel like it was... maybe even a little bit less interesting than the framing device part, or at least some of the things the framing device part kept hinting at? If it wasn't for the structure, it would be fairly predictable, and it's more than a little slow. On the other hand, it sure was constructed in a way that showed off a lot of really amazing and skillful worldbuilding with plenty of original elements. But it still felt like what the story is came second to how it's told, and I'm not sure I'm a fan of this approach. At the same time, I do feel that the way the story's told is unique, beautiful, and also kind of makes all the darkness within the pages easier to bear (and trust me, there's a lot of darkness within these pages). When you're constantly figuring out the new angle to witness the narrative from, all the gore and the pain becomes just a little more artificial. Something that can't touch you on its own, but can be a vehicle to bring the themes home. Is that a good thing? Damn if I know. Maybe it's simply a little too litfic for my reading habits?..
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Ableism, Cannibalism, Genocide, Blood, Gore, Body horror, Murder, Violence, and War
incipientdreamer's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Cannibalism, Child death, Blood, Ableism, Body horror, Cursing, War, Violence, Animal cruelty, Death, Animal death, Colonisation, Gore, and Death of parent
blueshime's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
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? It's complicated
5.0
best book ive read this year and definitely one of the best ive ever read. literally changed the way stories can be told for me, i will never be the same after seeing how first, second and third person can be weaved so cleverly like this.
i read this via audiobook and the narrator did such an amazing job i was never lost or confused when we switched perspective but i can see that it might be different reading it traditionally.
i cant explain how like ?? raw and human this book is even tho its a fantasy ? some of the elements were also just weird but it worked so well for me i absolutely loved how things were told as they were.
loved loved LOVED. cant wait to see more by this author!
i read this via audiobook and the narrator did such an amazing job i was never lost or confused when we switched perspective but i can see that it might be different reading it traditionally.
i cant explain how like ?? raw and human this book is even tho its a fantasy ? some of the elements were also just weird but it worked so well for me i absolutely loved how things were told as they were.
loved loved LOVED. cant wait to see more by this author!
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual assault, Violence, Cannibalism, and Torture
twocents's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
What an abrasive story.
There are three things that I think people should know going into it:
1. The story is three layers: you (literally) as a child being told stories by your lola and your father, you watching a dream theater, and the dream theater playing the story that is the description on the back of the book. It's interesting the outer two stories are not mentioned at all in the book's description given that it is literally the setup for the book and is what closes out the story.
2. The story alternates between second, third, and first person, sometimes changing even sentence to sentence in a single paragraph. It takes some getting used to. Read the Amazon preview. If you don't like that bit, you won't like the way this story is told.
3. Although it's not technically grimdark, I have read intentional grimdark that salivates less over its violence and that is less violent. You will read things like It seems to revel in its grossness at times.
So I don't know who I would recommend this book to. The first two lend itself toward someone who likes a slow paced story (and by god do you get that in the last half of the book), but the last point lends itself to someone who likes a brisk paced story, as grimdark tends to work best when it cuts sharply.
I liked that the world seemed to be doing its thing, regardless of what the heroes were up to. I was interested in seeing Jun succeed. (Keema increasingly felt improbable to me.)
I didn't like the sheer bloat of the story. I thought it was done, and there was another 30+ minutes on my 1.25x speed audiobook. I don't really understand the things that it chose to beat you over the head with to make sure you understood vs. the things that were legitimately interesting that weren't touched on AT ALL.
So I'm left feeling like it was one of the most interesting style of books I read this year, but god is it abrasive.
There are three things that I think people should know going into it:
1. The story is three layers: you (literally) as a child being told stories by your lola and your father, you watching a dream theater, and the dream theater playing the story that is the description on the back of the book. It's interesting the outer two stories are not mentioned at all in the book's description given that it is literally the setup for the book and is what closes out the story.
2. The story alternates between second, third, and first person, sometimes changing even sentence to sentence in a single paragraph. It takes some getting used to. Read the Amazon preview. If you don't like that bit, you won't like the way this story is told.
3. Although it's not technically grimdark, I have read intentional grimdark that salivates less over its violence and that is less violent. You will read things like
Spoiler
the perspective of a person being eaten alive in ritual cannibalism.So I don't know who I would recommend this book to. The first two lend itself toward someone who likes a slow paced story (and by god do you get that in the last half of the book), but the last point lends itself to someone who likes a brisk paced story, as grimdark tends to work best when it cuts sharply.
I liked that the world seemed to be doing its thing, regardless of what the heroes were up to. I was interested in seeing Jun succeed. (Keema increasingly felt improbable to me.)
I didn't like the sheer bloat of the story. I thought it was done, and there was another 30+ minutes on my 1.25x speed audiobook. I don't really understand the things that it chose to beat you over the head with to make sure you understood vs. the things that were legitimately interesting that weren't touched on AT ALL.
So I'm left feeling like it was one of the most interesting style of books I read this year, but god is it abrasive.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Cannibalism, Death, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, and Body horror