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nakutski's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
3.5/5 for the novel itself but a 4/5 for the audiobook, which was narrated very well and was highly enjoyable. The tale itself reminded me of a traditional saga, long, winding, looping and at times overcomplicated with long family names, associations and place names. I find the 15th century setting intriguing, as well as the religious, historic, political and pagan elements of the story. There is A LOT going on in this book in the foreground and in the background and the sheer amount of information that is spilled into the reader is very dense, which contributes to the slowing down of the pace. It turns out that in the print version of the book the Latin and Italian sayings and phrases (of which there are very many) were not translated, which I am glad of, because in the audio version this was translated to the listener and came across as very... patronising? Arguably few readers will be knowledgeable in Latin or speakers of Italian and romance languages, so it is a highly personal take on my behalf. The supernatural encounters were my favourite by far and I found the secondary characters to be the most interesting of the lot. The main character didn't really inspire me at all. The way women are written in this book leaves *much* to be desired, but at the same time my expectations for this particular writer were not set high. All in all, it was an interesting experience but the plot is overly complicated and dense for my liking, I'm finding myself, sadly, not particularly thrilled or curious about what happens next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Murder