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blissofalife's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
I’m struggling to rate this one, the world building was incredible! It was full of new ideas well explaining and executed with interesting and bizarre concepts sprinkled throughout. I would love to read a whole series set in this world!…just not about these characters.
Interesting uses of Christianity throughout, lots of symbolism and Bible verses alluding to the ultimate reveal, really solid buildup.
I just didn’t like the reveal. Or the final chapters. Or the ambiguous ending. I can’t believe the big reveal was “you’re not siblings! Oh wait, jkjk, you absolutely are. The truth will set you free you’re welcome” and then they just…agree with it all? Literally with the attitude of “well, at least they can’t hurt us more than they already have” feels icky icky.
Interesting uses of Christianity throughout, lots of symbolism and Bible verses alluding to the ultimate reveal, really solid buildup.
I just didn’t like the reveal. Or the final chapters. Or the ambiguous ending.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Incest, and Murder
Minor: Mental illness, Sexual content, Vomit, and Religious bigotry
unicorn's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Incest, Blood, and Murder
Minor: Suicide attempt
littlecatinabox's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest, Blood, and Murder
dokushoka's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Incest, and Murder
Minor: Mental illness, Blood, and Kidnapping
booksthatburn's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Subtle and enthralling, UNDER THE PENDULUM SUN is the story of a young woman who follows her missionary brother to the lands of the fae, only to discover that the truth hurts more than any lie.
With a slight grin that never reaches its eyes, this book whispers, “I’m not trapped here with you, you’re trapped here with me.” It’s a mostly quiet story which has some elements of horror based around a visitor’s everyday routines under the inconstant light of the pendulum sun in the lands of the fae. It runs on conversation, small moments, and fridge-horror realizations as slowly learning what this place is casts a new light on everything we’ve seen done there.
The world-building is deep and beautiful. It’ll definitely help to have some familiarity with some version of the christian bible and various apocrypha, but their use and most references are contextualized and explained very well within the story so it should make sense without that. It mostly adds poignancy, and gets to the heart of some scenes faster if you already know the passages and parables being referenced. The setting and various denizens are slowly revealed as the story strolls along, saving wonders for calm moments of revelation.
Brief warning about triggering tropics:Due to a historical connection between descriptions of changelings and autistic people, the depiction of changelings in this book may be triggering to some readers. The book does not address autism specifically, but the particular list of "what makes a changeling inhuman" in this book has a high degree of overlap with allistic descriptions of autism and autistic people, and actively triggers disassociation in some of the characters. I don't know if the parallels were intended, but they are uncomfortable, especially given the fates of the characters involved.
With a slight grin that never reaches its eyes, this book whispers, “I’m not trapped here with you, you’re trapped here with me.” It’s a mostly quiet story which has some elements of horror based around a visitor’s everyday routines under the inconstant light of the pendulum sun in the lands of the fae. It runs on conversation, small moments, and fridge-horror realizations as slowly learning what this place is casts a new light on everything we’ve seen done there.
The world-building is deep and beautiful. It’ll definitely help to have some familiarity with some version of the christian bible and various apocrypha, but their use and most references are contextualized and explained very well within the story so it should make sense without that. It mostly adds poignancy, and gets to the heart of some scenes faster if you already know the passages and parables being referenced. The setting and various denizens are slowly revealed as the story strolls along, saving wonders for calm moments of revelation.
Brief warning about triggering tropics:
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Incest, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Mental illness, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, and Emotional abuse
CW for sexism, alcoholism, incest, emotional manipulation (backstory), mental illness, disassociation (graphic), confinement, body horror, suicidal thoughts, animal death, child death (backstory), murder, major character death, death.
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