Scan barcode
A review by tessisreading2
The Golden City by J. Kathleen Cheney
3.0
This was fine but unremarkable. The worldbuilding is, in part, extremely complex, leading to a lot of infodumping over - really, the course of the entire book; there are multiple water-based species, an entire complex history of human interactions with each species, the culture and high society of the city, the central mystery of the book, the way magic functions in this world, and the personal histories and interactions of the two major characters and numerous, numerous minor characters. It felt overwhelming and, bluntly, a little clumsy, which leads me to the second issue - the worldbuilding didn't go far ENOUGH. Contradictory? Sure. But there are so many elements that diverge from our own world that it was jarring to read references to the Catholic Church, the Benedictine Order, the Freemasons, etc.; at one point the author references an epic poem by Camoes which exists in the real world which I, for one, have never read, making her casual mention of its contents more than a little confusing. It also felt like the worldbuilding played second fiddle to plot points sometimes, so for example we're told the sereia culture is matriarchal but .
Anyway, generally speaking it just felt like there was too much going on to the point where I didn't feel attached to the characters or the world. The pacing of the mystery didn't really work: we really only learned each new thing as our viewpoint characters learned it, and they just kind of stumbled from revelation to revelation, with a lot of the actual investigative work and connections being provided by other characters. When the entire revelation of the end game is a total surprise because the world-building didn't make it clear that this is even a possible thing, that doesn't really work - there needs to be enough in the atmosphere/background that you're like "oh, so THIS is Chekhov's gun going off" - instead, there never was a gun, sorry Chekhov! I enjoyed this fine, but I'm probably not going to aggressively seek out the sequels.
Spoiler
the sereia of authority in the city is a man - which plot-wise seems to be basically so that he can sexually harass Oriana, thereby making the reader more confident that she shouldn't trust her own people. But it doesn't make sense that a culture which treats men as poorly as we're told the sereia do would put a man in charge of a lot of women, in a politically sensitive and dangerous position moreover, without any elaboration or explanation.Anyway, generally speaking it just felt like there was too much going on to the point where I didn't feel attached to the characters or the world. The pacing of the mystery didn't really work: we really only learned each new thing as our viewpoint characters learned it, and they just kind of stumbled from revelation to revelation, with a lot of the actual investigative work and connections being provided by other characters. When the entire revelation of the end game is a total surprise because the world-building didn't make it clear that this is even a possible thing, that doesn't really work - there needs to be enough in the atmosphere/background that you're like "oh, so THIS is Chekhov's gun going off" - instead, there never was a gun, sorry Chekhov! I enjoyed this fine, but I'm probably not going to aggressively seek out the sequels.