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A review by orchidity
All the Paths of Shadow by Frank Tuttle
3.0
I genuinely enjoyed this book. It has all the elements of the type of book I love—strong female protagonist not solely motivated by romance, alternate world, magic, steampunk (in theory). The talking plant, Mug, was absolutely delightful, and was easily one of the best parts of the storyline.
Although the world building was solid in the beginning, it would have been wonderful to explore it more in depth throughout the book. The different nationalities and relationships between them could have been explored more as a foundation, as I found myself wondering what separates the Alons from the Eryans from the Phendelits (and why I should care), aside from the developments rooted in the dialogue.
Meralda, the main character, is strong and obviously intelligent. She spends the majority of the book in her lab, with a few breaks here and there to visit the Tower and go home to sleep. However, I didn't feel invested or connected to her character at all—we definitely know how often she ate and visited the water closet, but I would have loved to see some more character development. She felt a little two dimensional.
The inanimate objects with personalities were absolutely a highlight—the Tower and Mug added so much to the storyline. The staves were interesting, but seemed to be a means to an end with easy conflict resolution, which brings me to another point—the conflict resolution felt slightly abrupt, as another reviewer previously mentioned. I was reading the end, saying, wait, that was it? That's all it took?
Overall, my nitpicks are fairly small. It was an enjoyable, engaging read. I'll definitely pick up the sequel, as well as explore some of Mr. Tuttle's additional titles.
Although the world building was solid in the beginning, it would have been wonderful to explore it more in depth throughout the book. The different nationalities and relationships between them could have been explored more as a foundation, as I found myself wondering what separates the Alons from the Eryans from the Phendelits (and why I should care), aside from the developments rooted in the dialogue.
Meralda, the main character, is strong and obviously intelligent. She spends the majority of the book in her lab, with a few breaks here and there to visit the Tower and go home to sleep. However, I didn't feel invested or connected to her character at all—we definitely know how often she ate and visited the water closet, but I would have loved to see some more character development. She felt a little two dimensional.
The inanimate objects with personalities were absolutely a highlight—the Tower and Mug added so much to the storyline. The staves were interesting, but seemed to be a means to an end with easy conflict resolution, which brings me to another point—the conflict resolution felt slightly abrupt, as another reviewer previously mentioned. I was reading the end, saying, wait, that was it? That's all it took?
Overall, my nitpicks are fairly small. It was an enjoyable, engaging read. I'll definitely pick up the sequel, as well as explore some of Mr. Tuttle's additional titles.