fianaigecht's review
3.0
This was one of those ARCs where I really enjoyed the plot, but the writing style wasn't quite to my tastes.
First of all, I had to read this book over the course of several days, which isn't how I prefer to read. I'm a fast reader, so I tend to just sit down with a book and read it until I'm done -- having to put something down for two days in the middle often guarantees but I won't actually finish it. Despite drowning in work, however, I was engaged enough in the plot here to want to pick it back up again, and there were a few things where I absolutely had to see how they turned out, so that kept me reading.
The plot, on the whole, was a strength. There are plenty of twists, some of which I guessed and some of which I didn't, and there are some interpersonal relationships full of complications where I was impatient to see how characters would deal with certain revelations.
I also enjoyed the characters, particularly Del. Aela is an engaging enough protagonist: bloodthirsty, badass, and supernaturally gifted (sorry, I tried to find an alliterative word but couldn't think of one), she's got her strengths, but Del was just... I don't know. He was quiet and bookish, but also up for adventure. He did his duty, but he didn't let it get in the way of being a good person. His relationship with Brynne, I felt, showed him in his best light, especially the emphasis on their 'partnership', both political and personal.
(Brynne herself, I liked well enough, but didn't really think I got enough of a handle on her personality outside of her relationships, so it was difficult to engage with her too much.)
Del is also disabled, and although this is only revealed partway through the book and could have been treated as a dramatic, exploitative plot twist, it's actually just a mild surprise to Aela who then gets on with things -- which I appreciated. While it was supposed to have come as a shock, I'm glad that it was recognised and acknowledged in the plot without being a big deal.
Plus, I mean, the book involves both pirates and dragons. It's hard not to enjoy something like that. All of these are positive things.
However, the writing style just... didn't really work for me. I can't entirely pin down what it was -- it was just a general clumsiness of description, and the dialogue never sounded entirely realistic. I was able to overlook it most of the time because I cared about the plot and characters, but it occasionally bothered me. I felt it just all needed to be tightened up a little bit.
There was also a weird subplot where Aela doesn't remember her childhood, at all, and this is never explained or followed up. I kept expecting some kind of resolution every time it was mentioned, some explanation for what had happened, but unless I missed something, there was never anything to wrap that plot point up -- which made her character arc feel somewhat incomplete.
All of that aside, my overall impression of the book was a positive one -- because dragons! pirates! canonically queer and also disabled characters! I don't object to any of those things, especially in conjunction with an intriguing plot and complex interpersonal relationships that definitely brought out different sides of characters' personalities.
But the writing style and that minor quibble stop me from rating the book any higher, sadly.
First of all, I had to read this book over the course of several days, which isn't how I prefer to read. I'm a fast reader, so I tend to just sit down with a book and read it until I'm done -- having to put something down for two days in the middle often guarantees but I won't actually finish it. Despite drowning in work, however, I was engaged enough in the plot here to want to pick it back up again, and there were a few things where I absolutely had to see how they turned out, so that kept me reading.
The plot, on the whole, was a strength. There are plenty of twists, some of which I guessed and some of which I didn't, and there are some interpersonal relationships full of complications where I was impatient to see how characters would deal with certain revelations.
I also enjoyed the characters, particularly Del. Aela is an engaging enough protagonist: bloodthirsty, badass, and supernaturally gifted (sorry, I tried to find an alliterative word but couldn't think of one), she's got her strengths, but Del was just... I don't know. He was quiet and bookish, but also up for adventure. He did his duty, but he didn't let it get in the way of being a good person. His relationship with Brynne, I felt, showed him in his best light, especially the emphasis on their 'partnership', both political and personal.
(Brynne herself, I liked well enough, but didn't really think I got enough of a handle on her personality outside of her relationships, so it was difficult to engage with her too much.)
Del is also disabled, and although this is only revealed partway through the book and could have been treated as a dramatic, exploitative plot twist, it's actually just a mild surprise to Aela who then gets on with things -- which I appreciated. While it was supposed to have come as a shock, I'm glad that it was recognised and acknowledged in the plot without being a big deal.
Plus, I mean, the book involves both pirates and dragons. It's hard not to enjoy something like that. All of these are positive things.
However, the writing style just... didn't really work for me. I can't entirely pin down what it was -- it was just a general clumsiness of description, and the dialogue never sounded entirely realistic. I was able to overlook it most of the time because I cared about the plot and characters, but it occasionally bothered me. I felt it just all needed to be tightened up a little bit.
There was also a weird subplot where Aela doesn't remember her childhood, at all, and this is never explained or followed up. I kept expecting some kind of resolution every time it was mentioned, some explanation for what had happened, but unless I missed something, there was never anything to wrap that plot point up -- which made her character arc feel somewhat incomplete.
All of that aside, my overall impression of the book was a positive one -- because dragons! pirates! canonically queer and also disabled characters! I don't object to any of those things, especially in conjunction with an intriguing plot and complex interpersonal relationships that definitely brought out different sides of characters' personalities.
But the writing style and that minor quibble stop me from rating the book any higher, sadly.
simonlorden's review
3.0
This book was February's Sapphic Book Club read hosted by @sapphicliterature.
I... read this entire book and I honestly don't have much to say about it?
I enjoyed the relationship between the three protagonists (Aela and Brynne, who are two women in a sort-of-romantic relationship, and Del, who becomes friends with both of them). Looking back, the overall plot was also interesting - and yet, the execution felt lacking. I felt myself skimming through pages of descriptions instead of reading them. I can't really put my finger on it, but somehow the writing couldn't hold my attention despite the fact that I liked the characters and the plot.
Hence why it's a 3-star read - it didn't leave a lasting impression in either a positive or a negative direction.
I... read this entire book and I honestly don't have much to say about it?
I enjoyed the relationship between the three protagonists (Aela and Brynne, who are two women in a sort-of-romantic relationship, and Del, who becomes friends with both of them). Looking back, the overall plot was also interesting - and yet, the execution felt lacking. I felt myself skimming through pages of descriptions instead of reading them. I can't really put my finger on it, but somehow the writing couldn't hold my attention despite the fact that I liked the characters and the plot.
Hence why it's a 3-star read - it didn't leave a lasting impression in either a positive or a negative direction.
transwitch's review
3.0
I received a copy of this book from Sapphic Book Club in exchange for an honest review.
So, first off. I want to preface with the fact that despite everything I'm about to say, I did like the book. The world was interesting and the characters were fun. The story - in spite of a few things I'll be getting into shortly - was good.
Now. The pacing of the book was rough in places; the very first pages of the book thrust the reader into a battle with no context for the characters, world, or why this is happening. There are chapters where weeks or months pass by in the world, and we're told this in single, throwaway lines with no real sense of time passing. Things like Del and Aela's friendship develop suddenly, and reveals like the fact that Aela and Del once knew each other or that Aela killed Brynne's father aren't given space to develop, simply dropped at the reader's feet.
Second, we need to talk about the colonialist elephant in the room.
The main plot of the back half revolves around the mystery of the Sarkany, and what happened to them. It turns out that Del's ancestors paid the naga to kill the Sarkany so they could move in and start mining the gold. This means that the history of this world, essentially, is that an imperialist force paid an indigenous population to commit genocide against a second indigenous population, which they did. That imperialist force then moved into the country, occupying the structures that the indigenous population left behind, and began hunting the second people there as monsters. The main antagonist of the back half of the book is the indigenous god, who is obviously evil because she wants revenge against the people who invaded her land and paid the naga to commit genocide against the Sarkany.
I do not think the author is a bad person, or that they wrote these tropes in intentionally. To me, it reads like someone who had an interesting idea and simply failed to examine it in the light of our world, where imperialist forces can and have committed atrocities like this, and where indigenous peoples face ongoing hardship and destruction of their cultures. However, they are present in the book, and what enjoyment I got from the book happened in spite of this. If, in the future, Ross could avoid aspects like this, I think I will enjoy their work a great deal.
So, first off. I want to preface with the fact that despite everything I'm about to say, I did like the book. The world was interesting and the characters were fun. The story - in spite of a few things I'll be getting into shortly - was good.
Now. The pacing of the book was rough in places; the very first pages of the book thrust the reader into a battle with no context for the characters, world, or why this is happening. There are chapters where weeks or months pass by in the world, and we're told this in single, throwaway lines with no real sense of time passing. Things like Del and Aela's friendship develop suddenly, and reveals like the fact that Aela and Del once knew each other or that Aela killed Brynne's father aren't given space to develop, simply dropped at the reader's feet.
Second, we need to talk about the colonialist elephant in the room.
The main plot of the back half revolves around the mystery of the Sarkany, and what happened to them. It turns out that Del's ancestors paid the naga to kill the Sarkany so they could move in and start mining the gold. This means that the history of this world, essentially, is that an imperialist force paid an indigenous population to commit genocide against a second indigenous population, which they did. That imperialist force then moved into the country, occupying the structures that the indigenous population left behind, and began hunting the second people there as monsters. The main antagonist of the back half of the book is the indigenous god, who is obviously evil because she wants revenge against the people who invaded her land and paid the naga to commit genocide against the Sarkany.
I do not think the author is a bad person, or that they wrote these tropes in intentionally. To me, it reads like someone who had an interesting idea and simply failed to examine it in the light of our world, where imperialist forces can and have committed atrocities like this, and where indigenous peoples face ongoing hardship and destruction of their cultures. However, they are present in the book, and what enjoyment I got from the book happened in spite of this. If, in the future, Ross could avoid aspects like this, I think I will enjoy their work a great deal.
localbeehunter's review
4.0
This book is February's Sapphic Book Club read hosted by @sapphicliterature.
Aela - a corsair trying to distance herself from her roots and her wild magic, Del - a soldier full of secrets, fiercely chasing the past, and Brynne - a seemingly simple girl thrown into the world of royalty. All of them are so much more than it firstly appears. All of them are tangled together. All of them help each other grow.
I loved that the characters have their distinctive voice and every POV reads differently. It felt like really getting into their heads and seeing every situation through their eyes.
Spoiler
Technically, one could say that the book includes a love triangle but it did not have the dynamics of any love triangle I've read about before as it was pretty much situational not emotional. There was no I like two people and can't decide. Everyone involved was sure of their feelings and the dilema was strictly connected to the plot.The world is greatly developed from the mythology to the geography and all of this is done with no info-dumping. The mysterious monsters which Aela is blackmailed to hunt are not one-dimensional and everything is much deeper than it seems - figuratively and literally. Everything is connected and every bit of information becomes relevant later on.
The book is also rich in representation: there's three main characters and two of them are women, two of them are sapphic, two of them are people of colour, one is disabled, and one is plump.
My main issues were with a somewhat slow pace in the first half of the book and some parts would need a bit more editing. I also wanted more of Brynne's POV but I undersand than including it too early would reveal too much and the suspense was crutial.
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