A review by waclements7
A Daughter of No Nation by A.M. Dellamonica
5.0
I won an ARC from Tor and this is an honest review.
*
*
*
*
I will try not to be spoilery, and this really is an honest review, because when I won the ARC, I had no idea who A.M. Dellamonica was, was shocked I'd actually won anything at all, (because I never win things), and had entered because I thought the book looked interesting. I had _heard_ of A.M. Dellamonica before, so her name was familiar. Since this was the second book, after I won this book, I got a copy of the first book, and by the time I'd finished "Child of the Hidden Sea," this was the most wanted book I'd won that I hadn't known I wanted. Maybe that's the trick to winning books, to not know how much you really want them in the first place.
I don't know if I can adequately express how much in love with Stormwrack, the alternate universe Dellamonica has created, I am. Or how much I adore the characters, and the sibling relationships and their interactions, the magnificence of the worldbuilding, the wonderful dialogue... I love Sophie as the main character because she is so smart, yet she is just as fallible to making human mistakes as anyone, and blurts out inappropriate things and puts her foot in her mouth--she is just so _irrepressible_. Sometimes to her own detriment, and those around her.
This continuation of her adventures in Stormwrack as a result of what happens in "Child of the Hidden Sea" are just as enthralling as the first. The situation is more confusing for Sophie as she tries to sort out her feelings for her father as she visits his home country and finds out things that have been deliberately kept from her--things that would have changed her mind about visiting, thus voiding the contract she agreed on to help free her mother.
The layers of family are handled so well--her family on Erstwhile vs. her family on Stormwrack, and how she feels so intertwined with both. The differences between what separates a child from an adult, contrasted with the age at which heavy responsibilities are taken on, is fascinating.
The continuing dance between Sophie and Parrish is so much fun. And how Varena handles things.
I admire so much the way Dellamonica writes, the way she comes up with the subplots that weave together into such an amazing story. Turtles, automatons, throttle vines, warring island nations, pirates, all interconnected in such a brilliant way. And the cat. I love the cat. And Tonio. Parrish's mother. There are just so many things--_Nightjar_, the belief in predestination and all the "sciences" that Sophie finds shocking and amazing and somewhat horrifying, the discoveries she and Bram start to make. It just leaves me breathless. I felt like crying when the book was over, because I just didn't want it to end.
I feel like winning this book is so much more than just winning a book. I've found about a new author, a new world that I can't stop thinking about, and it's made my fictional book life a happier, better place. And I didn't even know it would be. I am recommending these books to everyone. They are such an accomplishment; they are, to me, what a really good fantasy is--they feel like living, breathing things, a remarkable new world where I'm just as delighted as Sophie to find out what's the same and what's different. And just a little bit afraid as she and Bram posit their ideas about what those similarities and differences mean. But what a ride!
*
*
*
*
I will try not to be spoilery, and this really is an honest review, because when I won the ARC, I had no idea who A.M. Dellamonica was, was shocked I'd actually won anything at all, (because I never win things), and had entered because I thought the book looked interesting. I had _heard_ of A.M. Dellamonica before, so her name was familiar. Since this was the second book, after I won this book, I got a copy of the first book, and by the time I'd finished "Child of the Hidden Sea," this was the most wanted book I'd won that I hadn't known I wanted. Maybe that's the trick to winning books, to not know how much you really want them in the first place.
I don't know if I can adequately express how much in love with Stormwrack, the alternate universe Dellamonica has created, I am. Or how much I adore the characters, and the sibling relationships and their interactions, the magnificence of the worldbuilding, the wonderful dialogue... I love Sophie as the main character because she is so smart, yet she is just as fallible to making human mistakes as anyone, and blurts out inappropriate things and puts her foot in her mouth--she is just so _irrepressible_. Sometimes to her own detriment, and those around her.
This continuation of her adventures in Stormwrack as a result of what happens in "Child of the Hidden Sea" are just as enthralling as the first. The situation is more confusing for Sophie as she tries to sort out her feelings for her father as she visits his home country and finds out things that have been deliberately kept from her--things that would have changed her mind about visiting, thus voiding the contract she agreed on to help free her mother.
The layers of family are handled so well--her family on Erstwhile vs. her family on Stormwrack, and how she feels so intertwined with both. The differences between what separates a child from an adult, contrasted with the age at which heavy responsibilities are taken on, is fascinating.
The continuing dance between Sophie and Parrish is so much fun. And how Varena handles things.
I admire so much the way Dellamonica writes, the way she comes up with the subplots that weave together into such an amazing story. Turtles, automatons, throttle vines, warring island nations, pirates, all interconnected in such a brilliant way. And the cat. I love the cat. And Tonio. Parrish's mother. There are just so many things--_Nightjar_, the belief in predestination and all the "sciences" that Sophie finds shocking and amazing and somewhat horrifying, the discoveries she and Bram start to make. It just leaves me breathless. I felt like crying when the book was over, because I just didn't want it to end.
I feel like winning this book is so much more than just winning a book. I've found about a new author, a new world that I can't stop thinking about, and it's made my fictional book life a happier, better place. And I didn't even know it would be. I am recommending these books to everyone. They are such an accomplishment; they are, to me, what a really good fantasy is--they feel like living, breathing things, a remarkable new world where I'm just as delighted as Sophie to find out what's the same and what's different. And just a little bit afraid as she and Bram posit their ideas about what those similarities and differences mean. But what a ride!