A review by heykellyjensen
Island's End by Padma Venkatraman
2.0
2.5.
This wasn't remarkable for me. I think it'll be mostly forgettable down the line.
Uido lives on a remote island with her tribe which is very unlike modern society, and a lot of what they believe in are spiritual guides. She sees a lot of visions at night, and when she admits to this to their spiritual leader Lah-ame, he chooses to make her the tribe's next guide. When she passes her final test in his teachings, she's told to be careful not to exert her power yet.
Of course she does it, and that unleashes a number of events which lead to to understanding the importance of accepting tradition and new ideas and how both can work together to build a better world. It's kind of cliche but it's done well enough to make it less so here.
My problem was the big event of the story felt completely rushed and it didn't feel urgent. I blame this on the writing. It's first person present, and rather than being immediate, it's distancing. I never quite got inside Uido's head, nor did I find her offering me much of what was going on around her emotionally. It happened and that was all. I understand this could be an entire element of the culture itself, and that would make sense, but it's not satisfying to me and leaves the story quite one note.
This wasn't remarkable for me. I think it'll be mostly forgettable down the line.
Uido lives on a remote island with her tribe which is very unlike modern society, and a lot of what they believe in are spiritual guides. She sees a lot of visions at night, and when she admits to this to their spiritual leader Lah-ame, he chooses to make her the tribe's next guide. When she passes her final test in his teachings, she's told to be careful not to exert her power yet.
Of course she does it, and that unleashes a number of events which lead to to understanding the importance of accepting tradition and new ideas and how both can work together to build a better world. It's kind of cliche but it's done well enough to make it less so here.
My problem was the big event of the story felt completely rushed and it didn't feel urgent. I blame this on the writing. It's first person present, and rather than being immediate, it's distancing. I never quite got inside Uido's head, nor did I find her offering me much of what was going on around her emotionally. It happened and that was all. I understand this could be an entire element of the culture itself, and that would make sense, but it's not satisfying to me and leaves the story quite one note.