raven_acres's review
3.0
Sequel to The Waterborn, continues the story of Perkar who wants to kill the RiverGod and Hezhi who doesn't want the RiverGods power. Also further brings in Karak, the Crow/Raven God and his use of Hezhi and Perkar to destroy the RiverGod. Much faster moving then the first book, interesting ending.
acerbictomes's review
2.0
A little less tightly plotted than the first one, a little (okay, a lot) too concerned with the sexual and romantic availability of Hezhi, whom, may I remind you, is thirteen, and ruined, ruined, ruined, by the ending where .
It's so disappointing, because this was otherwise a really great series with fascinating worldbuilding that I haven't seen in any other fantasy. But that one really nasty of the ending ruined the whole thing.
Spoiler
it turns out that Hezhi was all along just a love-interest prop for the white guy, Perkar. He is like, twenty! She is like, thirteen! This is not good! Yeah, sure, they wait a while before getting married or whatever. But it just puts a really bad taste in my mouth, personally, as an East Asian woman, to have a white writer write about a white protagonist eventually romancing an Asian preteen. Total grossnessIt's so disappointing, because this was otherwise a really great series with fascinating worldbuilding that I haven't seen in any other fantasy. But that one really nasty of the ending ruined the whole thing.
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