hannan_'s review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Would have probably enjoyed this a lot more with a simpler naming convention and a glossary that wasn’t 30 pages long.
Overall, nice and slow story — there isn’t too much action, and any action is very very curt.
Katherine Addisons main strength comes in her characterization. Maia is such a complex, empathetic character. The way he thinks about other characters also brings them to life. Maia’s longing for companionship, working through his trauma, his developing emotional intelligence, and overall kindness was a delight to read. The most unrealistic part of this story? The fact that he’s a teenage boy (18, but still…).
I do think that there were some themes that were introduced that I felt could have been explored a bit more. For example, I felt that the prejudice that goblins felt in the elven court (including Maia) was hinted at but never fully resolved. (Which, now thinking about it, might have been intentional on the author bc can racism be solved overnight?) another aspect is that Maia learns of a fortress built on top of a sacred indigenous burial ground, and feels bad about it— but this conflict was brought up and never resolved (maybe in a future novella?)
This is often recommended as a “cozy” fantasy. While 80% is cozy, I’d recommend checking content warnings for the other 20%, because they are quite grim, to the extent that I wouldn’t recommend this as a cozy fantasy.
I think that the pacing was nice and slow, and the beginning was super interesting. There was a middle book slump, but a really engaging payoff in the last 150ish pages. The book just takes a while to set up this complex net of a political machination.
The world building was complex. It presented this small slice of this larger world, alluding to but not fully developing the world beyond the court.
I think my biggest problem is that for the first time in my life, I’ve had trouble juggling characters in my head. There were so many, and each of them had multiple names and titles based on an imaginary and unnecessarily complex naming system. There were so many similar names, from people who weren’t related, making it even worse. Addison needed to realize, that naming 10 people in a paragraph— some multiple times with different titles and different honorifics— made it impossible to read. I’d understand if the naming system was based off of an already established culture, but you had terms 20+ characters long, and a 30 page glossary which took up alot of time to get through and really broke immersion in the story.
Thankfully, there were parts where I realized I didn’t necessarily need to recall who a person was. But there were also multiple parts in the story where I had to put the book down to take a breather because the book was throwing alot of information at you at once.
Overall, nice and slow story — there isn’t too much action, and any action is very very curt.
Katherine Addisons main strength comes in her characterization. Maia is such a complex, empathetic character. The way he thinks about other characters also brings them to life. Maia’s longing for companionship, working through his trauma, his developing emotional intelligence, and overall kindness was a delight to read. The most unrealistic part of this story? The fact that he’s a teenage boy (18, but still…).
I do think that there were some themes that were introduced that I felt could have been explored a bit more. For example, I felt that the prejudice that goblins felt in the elven court (including Maia) was hinted at but never fully resolved. (Which, now thinking about it, might have been intentional on the author bc can racism be solved overnight?) another aspect is that Maia learns of a fortress built on top of a sacred indigenous burial ground, and feels bad about it— but this conflict was brought up and never resolved (maybe in a future novella?)
This is often recommended as a “cozy” fantasy. While 80% is cozy, I’d recommend checking content warnings for the other 20%, because they are quite grim, to the extent that I wouldn’t recommend this as a cozy fantasy.
I think that the pacing was nice and slow, and the beginning was super interesting. There was a middle book slump, but a really engaging payoff in the last 150ish pages. The book just takes a while to set up this complex net of a political machination.
The world building was complex. It presented this small slice of this larger world, alluding to but not fully developing the world beyond the court.
I think my biggest problem is that for the first time in my life, I’ve had trouble juggling characters in my head. There were so many, and each of them had multiple names and titles based on an imaginary and unnecessarily complex naming system. There were so many similar names, from people who weren’t related, making it even worse. Addison needed to realize, that naming 10 people in a paragraph— some multiple times with different titles and different honorifics— made it impossible to read. I’d understand if the naming system was based off of an already established culture, but you had terms 20+ characters long, and a 30 page glossary which took up alot of time to get through and really broke immersion in the story.
Thankfully, there were parts where I realized I didn’t necessarily need to recall who a person was. But there were also multiple parts in the story where I had to put the book down to take a breather because the book was throwing alot of information at you at once.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Grief, and Death of parent
r_gale's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Enjoyed this book a lot more then I thought I would, there was alot most about the internal working of a made up government then I though I would be interested in but I struggled to put the book down.
Touches on serious subjects in a sensitive way, (without glorifying them or them getting upsetting).
I Loved Maia the main character and can't wait to read what he gets up to next. Want more of Vedero and Csethiro!
Touches on serious subjects in a sensitive way, (without glorifying them or them getting upsetting).
I Loved Maia the main character and can't wait to read what he gets up to next. Want more of Vedero and Csethiro!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and Death
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Sexual harassment
kers_tin's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Xenophobia, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Bullying, Child abuse, Abandonment, and Death of parent
birdofalltrades's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Violence, Bullying, Classism, Grief, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Murder, Blood, and Sexism
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual assault, and Alcoholism
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, and Infertility
clarabooksit's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, Sexism, Abandonment, Grief, Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Racism
Moderate: Violence, Alcoholism, Death, and Murder
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
lex_y's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, and Bullying
Minor: Xenophobia
ethuiliel's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Colonisation, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Suicide, and Violence
Minor: Misogyny and Racism
amandaterasu's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This is my favorite book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, Body shaming, Xenophobia, Bullying, and Misogyny
Moderate: Classism, Colonisation, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Alcoholism and War
A lot of the Content Warnings (but not all!) here are about recovering from the trauma inflicted by the content listed. This is a book about healing and moving forward after trauma.localcryptid's review against another edition
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I think there is a specific audience for this book, but unfortunately it wasn't me.
The writing itself was a big drawback. The shift between plain English and more archaic English (thee, thou, willst, etc) felt forced and a bit jarring. I think the intent was to demonstrate a level of formality and ritual, but it didn't feel particularly well executed. It maybe would have worked a bit better if we had had more time with Maia before he was taken to the main court.
The characters also feel immensely underdeveloped. Maia is the narrative focus, and unfortunately this means that none of the other characters get much time to develop. The antagonist stay antagonistic for exactly the reasons you expect them to. They feel very one-dimensional and boring.. The supporting characters continue to like Maia for the same reasons they start off liking Maia. Some of them get a small vignette to explain why they like Maia, but there are very few characters that switch from disliking Maia to liking him. At best you will see a shift from ambivalent to care. It feels like a failure of political intrigue.
There are several plot points that feel, at best, dissappointing in the way they are treated. Spoilers for discussion of the plot, discussion of suicide, and discussion of homophobia. Neither of these things felt necessary for larger story. It's dissappointing so say the least that the author felt it necessary to include them.
The big "twist" of the novel is also dissappointing in that the first time it happens it's shocking. Unexpected! Exciting! And then it happens again. And then it happens *a third time*. And it doesn't feel shocking or unexpected or exciting anymore. It just feels like a waiting game to see if we get to make it to the end of the book before the another antagonist tries for another round of the same plot point.
In all, I had friends who were excited about the book, loved the characters, and loved the plot, but for me there were just too many small issues that piled up and never let me enjoy it. I was dissappoined in the book and I was dissappointed in not being able to join my peers in enjoying it.
The writing itself was a big drawback. The shift between plain English and more archaic English (thee, thou, willst, etc) felt forced and a bit jarring. I think the intent was to demonstrate a level of formality and ritual, but it didn't feel particularly well executed. It maybe would have worked a bit better if we had had more time with Maia before he was taken to the main court.
The characters also feel immensely underdeveloped. Maia is the narrative focus, and unfortunately this means that none of the other characters get much time to develop. The antagonist stay antagonistic for exactly the reasons you expect them to. They feel very one-dimensional and boring.
Spoiler
The singular betrayal of the mage is a bit of a suprise, but because it is also a suprise to Maia it doesn't really feel like a useful plot point. It would've been nice to see some of his dissatisfaction foreshadowed. But his betrayal just kind of comes out of left field, is unsuccessful, he kills himself, and we get a lot of filler discussion of people being unhappy with the betrayal but that doesn't do much to really develop the character relationships.There are several plot points that feel, at best, dissappointing in the way they are treated. Spoilers for discussion of the plot, discussion of suicide, and discussion of homophobia.
Spoiler
Firstly, I particularly I hated the way that ritual suicide came into play in the plot. It's not a topic I care for under any circumstance, but when the mage who betrays Maia is forced to commit suicide they way he is disucssed after death is upsetting. Prior to killing himself he asks Maia to witness the event because he has no one else. The scene itself was graphic, but worse is the cleric who says he was exaggerating when he said he had no one left. It feels like an unnecessary jab at people who commit suicide. That may feel like an unkind assumption and a bit of a reach, but considering the way the singular gay relationship is handled I stand by that reading of it. Which brings me to my second big nit-pick: homophobia. It feels as though we are supposed to see Maia as benevolent for continuing to work with a gay man despite viewing his sexuality as "unnatural love" because the gay man acknowledged the relationship was wrong and chose to leave the church. Distasteful as it is, I could perhaps excuse that description in something written in 2004. In 2014? What was the point, unless it was something the author genuinely believes?The big "twist" of the novel is also dissappointing in that the first time it happens it's shocking. Unexpected! Exciting! And then it happens again. And then it happens *a third time*. And it doesn't feel shocking or unexpected or exciting anymore. It just feels like a waiting game to see if we get to make it to the end of the book before the another antagonist tries for another round of the same plot point.
In all, I had friends who were excited about the book, loved the characters, and loved the plot, but for me there were just too many small issues that piled up and never let me enjoy it. I was dissappoined in the book and I was dissappointed in not being able to join my peers in enjoying it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide and Xenophobia
Minor: Homophobia and Sexual harassment
Ritual suicideSpoiler
one of the characters is forced to commit ritual suicide and the scene is rather descriptive.Spoiler
It is implied that one character narrowly escaped being the victim of a sexual assault at the hands of several other characters. There are no repurcussions for the characters that inteded to commit the assault.Spoiler
once character discusses sentencing his male lover to death for murdering his wife. His sexuality is considered to be wrong, sinful, and a curiosity by the main character.marsh_mall0w's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Suicide, and Child abuse
Moderate: Bullying, Death, and Xenophobia
Minor: Homophobia