A review by peytonktracy
Truth of the Divine by Lindsay Ellis

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This book was utterly unflinching in its brutal portrayal of PTSD, grief, and processing incomprehensibly huge emotional challenges and quandaries. It was deeply uncomfortable at times too for a whole multitude of reasons, most of which had to do with the author's very direct approach to these topics. I really enjoyed getting to witness Ellis' take on how the world might react to First Contact, the beautiful and ugly parts, and it felt so realistic at times it was easy to forget it hadn't happened. I also really loved Kaveh as a character and seeing his journey throughout the story as well. I only had two small complaints, and one of which doesn't even feel like a complaint but more of an observation and maybe even praise for Ellis' writing. That one is that sometimes it felt like we, the readers, were so thoroughly encapsulated in Cora's head, that we were also shrouded by her mental illness and it was hard at time to grasp the events happening because we were viewing it through the stormy emotional turmoil of her panic attacks. But this was where having Kaveh as a character and counter-perspective to Cora's really excelled because we could see what was happening from outside that hurricane as well. My second complaint was that I missed Ampersand in this book a lot. I was so invested in their journey as well, and because the plot was what it was (no spoilers) it felt like they just kinda popped in and out, and I hope we see more of them in the third book - which I will definitely seek out.
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