Reviews

The main Character Dee is a bit of a marmite case (IYKYK) <-- you either love him or hate him.

I for one love him. He's quirky and I see myself in his sense of humor. And I actually like that the character isn't always super serious - we have a lot of books that deal with serious issues (like this one touches on) and it can get heavy - but a little levity can create understanding that doesn't make you want to hide in a cave all day long.

Now after chapter 6 I COULD NOT put this book down. I needed to solve this mystery and I HAD supsicions about the end.

It's a great story - the ONE thing I didnt like so much was the ending - it felt...rushed and dragged out at the same time.

When the overall story was captivating - the end felt like "Oh well we've told the story....let's just get it over with" <-- and there are parts of the ending that didn'T make sense

SPOILER !!!!!!!!! SPOILER !!!!!!!!! SPOILER !!!!!!!!! SPOILER !!!!!!!!! SPOILER !!!!!!!!!

DONT READ FURTHER IF YOU DONT WANT TO KNOW !!!!!!!

like how to power wasn't meant to be held by more than one person - but somehow the monks knew about it not being funny - they were't exactly 'good' <-- so what's to stop them from just killing them all and taking the power of all?

The crabs were hated, but I feel I could neither empathise with them enough or hate them enough <-- they could have NOT been there really for me.

Apprently monsters roamed the edge of the world past the bandage - but .....again, we never got deep enough into it to understand HOWQ BAD they were so I never cared enough

The Duces of the regions were all just horrible - like outright horrible.

And I felt like this could have been such a nice play where we REALLY get to know the characters well and develop a love hate relationhip with them. The author SOMEWHAT did that - but give me a little more humanity - make me mourn their deaths. Make me feel for them even though they deserved it.

Cordelia didn’t have enough motive for me to upend and usurp thousands of people and kill them! It almost would have been better if she had JUST been unhinged. But she tried to reason and be logical about it either didn’t feel ruthless enough or just flat.
The murders closer to the end were brutally executed, but they served no purpose. She could have just…knocked them off the ship and let them drown. That would have almost been a more logical tactic for her.
She burutalised her kills for no reason - and given the character she was given it made no sense or moved the plot forward.

The middle of the boom was the most enyoable part and I found myself mostly turning page after page - but the ending was lacking in substance and I feel all these murders were for nothing!

Anyway. Those are my two cents but overall an ejoybale book for sure

sergeanttsarcasm's review against another edition

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5.0

I honestly loved this book so much. The world it created and the characters that filled it were so compelling. Thank you to the author who saw the world for all it's complexity and differences and decided to reflect it in the world of their own making. And an even bigger thanks for writing a 6 year old who wasn't annoying as hell.