Reviews

Edit several months later: downgrading to 3 stars because I really didn’t like this very much.

I’m finishing this book really not sure how to rate it. I am settling on 3.5 rounded up to 4. It was beautifully written and demonstrated creative world building, the stunning development of cultures and languages, and it prominently featured people of color and LGBTQ characters. I loved all of those things about the book. Frankly, I think I would have loved everything about this book, but the length of the book really took away from the experience for me. Too much happened for this to be one book, and I think it should have been divided into at least a two-book series. Despite the beauty of the story, the amount of time it took me to get through it made me enjoy it much less than I could have.

A word of advice to those that haven’t read this yet, read it on a Kindle if you can! The world building and characters would have been very confusing if I didn’t have the Kindle X-ray feature.

anna108's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

From the moment I started reading I was swept up in this adventure. It is compelling, fun, tragic, and beautiful. For such a long story, it reads quickly, each chapter piling onto the next as the story weaves across continents, lives, and cultures. I loved the world-building, especially the way the mythologies of each culture stemmed from the same distant past, but contradicted each other into swirling ripples of confusion for the characters. Perhaps my biggest problem with the book is that the in the end one of the many mythologies was proven "right," effectively solving something that to me was a beautiful mystery.

Spoiler

I also was saddened by how tragic the book was, especially to Tane. I think the story would have been just as rich and maybe a little more fun if she had been allowed to have some good times. It became a little frustrating when everyone she loved kept being killed or kidnapped.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fabulously refreshing fact that this book exists in a world without sexism or homophobia. I love fantasy for its ability to imagine other ways of thinking and this book does that beautifully.

P.S. In my heart, Tane is genderqueer.

aidanwmitchell's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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