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moody_gobling's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
albyatross's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
Look I love a religious-themed fantasy novel, ok. And yeah, maybe Csorwe abandons the prophecy cult she was raised in at 14 thus necessitating a weird time skip in the middle of the book, but also she's partly like an orc and watching a maybe-orc grapple with the life-long impact of being a traitor to their religion was a breath of fresh air. Ok. Ok.
And her bits bickering with Tal and Oranna were fun.
ps - The Box is mostly a plot MacGuffin to make the plot Go, so if you hate those, skip on out.
And her bits bickering with Tal and Oranna were fun.
ps - The Box is mostly a plot MacGuffin to make the plot Go, so if you hate those, skip on out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Toxic friendship
Minor: Alcohol
garbage_mcsmutly's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
This was a pretty good book but just not really my jam?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Minor: Slavery and Injury/Injury detail
sophiesmallhands's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-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, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Torture, Religious bigotry, and Murder
Minor: Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and War
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
I had to start this over from the beginning about halfway in because I realized I hadn't understood anything that had happened in the previous 5 chapters, but even paying closer attention, this is a difficult novel to follow. Despite how much is happening, it also turned out to be quite underwhelming -- even boring -- for me.
The prose itself is fine, doesn't stand out as uniquely good or bad. There's a little too much telling over showing, though, particularly when it comes to characters' feelings and opinions -- and yet too little information when it comes to general exposition. This world has a lot of cool, complex elements to it -- seemingly traditional Tolkien/D&D-inspired cultures, some sci-fi elements, various systems of magic and religion -- but little work is put into earnestly fleshing them out or truly explaining them. I think some writers hear people complain about exposition dumps and just assume all consolidated blocks of exposition are unwanted, so never actually bother to list out how their world works, which I assume to be happening here.
The magic/religious aspects are probably the only things described in detail, and even then I don't think I understand the basics of the magic. Incorporating traveling between worlds could also be interesting, but the mechanics and terminology are vague; I was never able to figure out how the gates/Maze work, or even whether the "worlds" are meant to be on different planets in some solar system/universe, or even in different parallel timelines, or just locations within the same planet you can... warp to, or something to that effect? Weirdly, the one thing that this world does have in common with ours are other animals, which I feel like is another area of missed potential, though I might just be too into fantasy biology/ecology.
The different groups (unclear, again, whether they should be treated as nationalities, ethnicities, or entire species) are probably meant to be classic fantasy species -- I say "probably" because the most done to establish this is mentioning characteristics like tusks and ear types. Only a handful of descriptions even hint at values, traditions, cuisine, and so on that exist within these cultures, let alone differ between them. I assume from character names that the Qarsazhi use the name order of last followed by first and the Oshaaru don't use surnames, but this seems to not ever be directly stated at all, so it ends up just feeling like random flavor. Having some worldbuilding elements be there just to be there/"for fun" would be fine... if there were enough other well-developed descriptions to back them up. It feels almost as if Larkwood wanted to subvert overdone sword and sorcery tropes (villainous orcs vs heroic humans and elves, for instance), but then also figured the standard reader would fill in the blanks.
I picked "a mix" for whether this is plot-/character-driven, but somehow it doesn't actually feel like it's either? There's kind of a central plot, but it's pursued in a series of weirdly paced (alternately meandering and breakneck, neither with much real sense of urgency or risk) mini-quests. Most characters don't have much agency or personality of their own, carried along by the needs of either the current or overarching plot or other, equally flat characters. A lot of important development, like Csorwe's training and changing relationships with Sethennai and Tal, happens almost completely off-page.
The character voices are not very distinct either, which especially stands out in this setting, with everyone coming from completely different social classes, locations, languages, general upbringings and worldviews, etc -- surely there could have been at least a little more variation with regards to, say, senses of humor and sentence structure. Instead, multiple times, a POV would switch and I would have lost track of who was narrating within four paragraphs.
I did think the themes of personal and systematic exploitation and manipulation were interesting, and if the characters had been stronger, Csorwe's sort of "cycle" where she does for someone else what Sethennai did for her would have been super satisfying. The main romance, as well as some other dynamics, also could have been compelling, but its development is a bit too fast and, again, the individual characters felt shallowly written.
Had so much potential, but unfortunately my expectations were far from met.
The prose itself is fine, doesn't stand out as uniquely good or bad. There's a little too much telling over showing, though, particularly when it comes to characters' feelings and opinions -- and yet too little information when it comes to general exposition. This world has a lot of cool, complex elements to it -- seemingly traditional Tolkien/D&D-inspired cultures, some sci-fi elements, various systems of magic and religion -- but little work is put into earnestly fleshing them out or truly explaining them. I think some writers hear people complain about exposition dumps and just assume all consolidated blocks of exposition are unwanted, so never actually bother to list out how their world works, which I assume to be happening here.
The magic/religious aspects are probably the only things described in detail, and even then I don't think I understand the basics of the magic. Incorporating traveling between worlds could also be interesting, but the mechanics and terminology are vague; I was never able to figure out how the gates/Maze work, or even whether the "worlds" are meant to be on different planets in some solar system/universe, or even in different parallel timelines, or just locations within the same planet you can... warp to, or something to that effect? Weirdly, the one thing that this world does have in common with ours are other animals, which I feel like is another area of missed potential, though I might just be too into fantasy biology/ecology.
The different groups (unclear, again, whether they should be treated as nationalities, ethnicities, or entire species) are probably meant to be classic fantasy species -- I say "probably" because the most done to establish this is mentioning characteristics like tusks and ear types. Only a handful of descriptions even hint at values, traditions, cuisine, and so on that exist within these cultures, let alone differ between them. I assume from character names that the Qarsazhi use the name order of last followed by first and the Oshaaru don't use surnames, but this seems to not ever be directly stated at all, so it ends up just feeling like random flavor. Having some worldbuilding elements be there just to be there/"for fun" would be fine... if there were enough other well-developed descriptions to back them up. It feels almost as if Larkwood wanted to subvert overdone sword and sorcery tropes (villainous orcs vs heroic humans and elves, for instance), but then also figured the standard reader would fill in the blanks.
I picked "a mix" for whether this is plot-/character-driven, but somehow it doesn't actually feel like it's either? There's kind of a central plot, but it's pursued in a series of weirdly paced (alternately meandering and breakneck, neither with much real sense of urgency or risk) mini-quests. Most characters don't have much agency or personality of their own, carried along by the needs of either the current or overarching plot or other, equally flat characters. A lot of important development, like Csorwe's training and changing relationships with Sethennai and Tal, happens almost completely off-page.
The character voices are not very distinct either, which especially stands out in this setting, with everyone coming from completely different social classes, locations, languages, general upbringings and worldviews, etc -- surely there could have been at least a little more variation with regards to, say, senses of humor and sentence structure. Instead, multiple times, a POV would switch and I would have lost track of who was narrating within four paragraphs.
I did think the themes of personal and systematic exploitation and manipulation were interesting, and if the characters had been stronger, Csorwe's sort of "cycle" where she does for someone else what Sethennai did for her would have been super satisfying. The main romance, as well as some other dynamics, also could have been compelling, but its development is a bit too fast and, again, the individual characters felt shallowly written.
Had so much potential, but unfortunately my expectations were far from met.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, and Alcohol
alliebliterary's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Self harm, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
shingekiyes's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
(another audio rental from the library)
overall, the plot was pretty convoluted and i think i would have enjoyed this more as a physical book where i would ‘t miss any details. at times i wasn’t sure why each character was where or what they were doing, but in the second half everything came together and it was absolutely a wild ride.
despite the pacing issues and the time-skips, this was such a fun read. i genuinely had so much fun experiencing the character interactions and individual plots. Csorwe has my ENTIRE HEART and i will be thinking about her and Shuthmili every second of every day until i die. i love fantasy lesbians in space. (Tal was also fucking hilarious and i can’t wait to read more of him in the next book.)
i also loved the non-human protagonist and a style that combined DnD and sci-fi tropes. it was a really unique book—style and thematically—and i’m so glad i decided to read it. (based off one review that said “unrealistic. not EVERY character can be gay!”)
the messaging of each of our lived belonging to ourselves and the important of freedom really hit home for me. Csorwe and Shuthmili’s experiences in their religious cults and their unique reactions to their upbringings really touched me, and i wonder if the author has has her own experience with religious extremism or indoctrination.
i loved this, especially the end, and i am moving right along into the next one!!!
overall, the plot was pretty convoluted and i think i would have enjoyed this more as a physical book where i would ‘t miss any details. at times i wasn’t sure why each character was where or what they were doing, but in the second half everything came together and it was absolutely a wild ride.
despite the pacing issues and the time-skips, this was such a fun read. i genuinely had so much fun experiencing the character interactions and individual plots. Csorwe has my ENTIRE HEART and i will be thinking about her and Shuthmili every second of every day until i die. i love fantasy lesbians in space. (Tal was also fucking hilarious and i can’t wait to read more of him in the next book.)
i also loved the non-human protagonist and a style that combined DnD and sci-fi tropes. it was a really unique book—style and thematically—and i’m so glad i decided to read it. (based off one review that said “unrealistic. not EVERY character can be gay!”)
the messaging of each of our lived belonging to ourselves and the important of freedom really hit home for me. Csorwe and Shuthmili’s experiences in their religious cults and their unique reactions to their upbringings really touched me, and i wonder if the author has has her own experience with religious extremism or indoctrination.
i loved this, especially the end, and i am moving right along into the next one!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Torture, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, and Murder
Minor: War
anna_hepworth's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
medium-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
4.5
This book is structured in four separate interlinked stories, and on my first attempt this failed me -- because the start of the second was so different from the previous, with different viewpoint characters, and a time skip, and I struggled to get invested. Particularly, because the first part is so self-contained.
I have lots of scattered thoughts, and they are spoilery, so I'm going to restrict myself to some general comments and leave this as a short review. The world-building is fantastic. The multiple worlds, the travel mechanism, the gods, the magic and technology, all deftly sketched and fitted in to the story seamlessly. The characters are amazingly detailed and complex individuals. The main viewpoint character, Csorwe, is morally grey and yet it was entirely understandable how they get from their childhood expectations to their adult self. The plot is intricate, and strongly adheres to the approach I have previously seen attributed to Lois McMaster Bujold of 'if in doubt, make things worse' (said approach attributed to Emily Tesh in the acknowledgements). And the writing is lush.
Having finished it, I'm now reaching for book 2, and very much looking forward to finding out what else happens. I'm presuming that the safe life that several of the characters have gone off to find won't be, or that those characters won't appear in further instalments. And I imagine that there are some worlds-changing events to come, given a) the implications of some events in this book and b) the synopsis of the second.
I have lots of scattered thoughts, and they are spoilery, so I'm going to restrict myself to some general comments and leave this as a short review. The world-building is fantastic. The multiple worlds, the travel mechanism, the gods, the magic and technology, all deftly sketched and fitted in to the story seamlessly. The characters are amazingly detailed and complex individuals. The main viewpoint character, Csorwe, is morally grey and yet it was entirely understandable how they get from their childhood expectations to their adult self. The plot is intricate, and strongly adheres to the approach I have previously seen attributed to Lois McMaster Bujold of 'if in doubt, make things worse' (said approach attributed to Emily Tesh in the acknowledgements). And the writing is lush.
Having finished it, I'm now reaching for book 2, and very much looking forward to finding out what else happens. I'm presuming that the safe life that several of the characters have gone off to find won't be, or that those characters won't appear in further instalments. And I imagine that there are some worlds-changing events to come, given a) the implications of some events in this book and b) the synopsis of the second.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Torture, and Murder
catpajama's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Murder
Moderate: Gore, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail
starccato's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, and Alcohol
Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Self harm, and Vomit