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A review by abbythebookreviewer
The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport by Samit Basu
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Thank you to Tor Publishing for an Arc in exchange for my honest review.
I have mixed feelings on this story, on one hand I thought the world building was intriguing. But on the other hand the plot & writing style conflicted my emotions.
This story is told through a small bot (Moku) who we have no real background details on. The bot gives the story an omniscient feel which left me feeling detached from the story as a whole. As the bot had no relation to the characters it was hard to understand the motivations or purpose of the characters for the first 100 pages. I would have loved to have read the story through Lina, the female main character or at least had a shift in pov every other chapter.
The writing is good but I struggled with the lengthy dialogue dumps every other chapter. There was a lot of telling with very little showing. Again, I believe this was because of the narrative voice that was utilized.
It promised Aladdin mixed with Murderbot. It delivered on the Aladdin portion, I thought that part of the plot was fun! But unfortunately the Murderbot comparison is a bit of a reach in my opinion. I felt like at times the author was stretching to have Moku or Bador be like Murderbot but it fell short for me. Though the characters on their own (without the comparison) were super cool.
Overall, it was fun but not without flaws.
I have mixed feelings on this story, on one hand I thought the world building was intriguing. But on the other hand the plot & writing style conflicted my emotions.
This story is told through a small bot (Moku) who we have no real background details on. The bot gives the story an omniscient feel which left me feeling detached from the story as a whole. As the bot had no relation to the characters it was hard to understand the motivations or purpose of the characters for the first 100 pages. I would have loved to have read the story through Lina, the female main character or at least had a shift in pov every other chapter.
The writing is good but I struggled with the lengthy dialogue dumps every other chapter. There was a lot of telling with very little showing. Again, I believe this was because of the narrative voice that was utilized.
It promised Aladdin mixed with Murderbot. It delivered on the Aladdin portion, I thought that part of the plot was fun! But unfortunately the Murderbot comparison is a bit of a reach in my opinion. I felt like at times the author was stretching to have Moku or Bador be like Murderbot but it fell short for me. Though the characters on their own (without the comparison) were super cool.
Overall, it was fun but not without flaws.