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A review by liinukka
The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard
2.0
First of all ... Ngoc Bich? Really? It seems somewhat deliberate and silly to name a character this way when you're writing for an English speaking audience. (No, I don't care if it's beautiful and meaningful in Vietnamese. You should know what it sounds like to English speakers and be prepared for the associations it invokes). I also didn't like how they kept calling Lucifer "Morningstar." I know that's what his name means, but I feel like using it as a proper name just sounds like the author is a try-hard.
At the end of it, that's pretty much why I didn't like this book. It's trying to be something way more than it actually is. The world and characters in it could've been so interesting. I loved the idea of meshing all the various mythos together, from Christianity, to Buddhism, to Chinese divinities. There was so much great potential that the ultimate let-down just feels so crushing in comparison.
When you peel back all the wordy details, what you really get is a very barebones plot with poorly developed characters. The concept of Houses that rule in an almost feudal system after some vague apocalypse/war is very cool, but I was left cold by the story anyway. Why? Because I didn't care about anyone. So, some mysterious entity is killing off members of Silverspires. Uh...so what? I felt nothing. And I think after 400 pages, this is not my fault but the author's fault. If she can't make me feel a thing in the whole of the story, then that's not on me.
It's weird ... it's not as though the characters annoyed me or angered me. I just felt complete indifference. And in a way, that's even worse. /shrug.
Lastly ... I'm getting sick and tired of changing POVs!!! Please, just stick to ONE or learn how to write third person omniscient. I was getting whiplash reading this thing. It kept switching back and forth between 3 or 4 characters. I often didn't even know whose perspective I was reading.
At the end of it, that's pretty much why I didn't like this book. It's trying to be something way more than it actually is. The world and characters in it could've been so interesting. I loved the idea of meshing all the various mythos together, from Christianity, to Buddhism, to Chinese divinities. There was so much great potential that the ultimate let-down just feels so crushing in comparison.
When you peel back all the wordy details, what you really get is a very barebones plot with poorly developed characters. The concept of Houses that rule in an almost feudal system after some vague apocalypse/war is very cool, but I was left cold by the story anyway. Why? Because I didn't care about anyone. So, some mysterious entity is killing off members of Silverspires. Uh...so what? I felt nothing. And I think after 400 pages, this is not my fault but the author's fault. If she can't make me feel a thing in the whole of the story, then that's not on me.
Spoiler
As for the final culprit of the murders ... we were introduced to her way too late. Even Lucifer's appearance was a major disappointment. And when Isabelle died, I wondered whether I was supposed to feel bad about that. (I didn't).It's weird ... it's not as though the characters annoyed me or angered me. I just felt complete indifference. And in a way, that's even worse. /shrug.
Lastly ... I'm getting sick and tired of changing POVs!!! Please, just stick to ONE or learn how to write third person omniscient. I was getting whiplash reading this thing. It kept switching back and forth between 3 or 4 characters. I often didn't even know whose perspective I was reading.