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A review by shmadsie
Sun of Blood and Ruin by Mariely Lares
1.0
This was just... not well-written. There were more than a few occasions where it took me a couple paragraphs to figure out what had just happened and it completely spoils the moment. There are little moments where Leonora has her final face-to-face with Nabarres and the line is "I sever flesh" and then in the next paragraph it's clear she cut off his arm but, like, that could've been a moment if it hadn't been flubbed! Then there are things like the Obsidian Butterfly, who towards the end is almost exclusively called the Demon Queen (despite being primarily the 'Obsidian Butterfly' before then) who takes on her Nagual form of a monstrous deer; she's a monstrous deer for four sentences - not even a full paragraph break - then switches back to her goddess form to use her snake-like tail to knock the Sword of Integrity out of Leonora's hand. I'm sorry..... what was the point of the butterfly being a deer? Was it just to be confusing? Because that is literally the only place it is mentioned and it does not matter AT ALL. There were so many times this happened because the world-building just wasn't done well (I'm still not totally clear on what tonalli can do even now???) and then throw in multiple names for everything and just randomly going: oh yeah, and x can do x now and they're the child of x! WHAT, WHY!
I also didn't understand the purpose for killing off Ines - it seemed to serve absolutely none. Tezca (also... did not love the name change halfway through) and Leonora didn't seem to have really much of anything going on? Every time Leonora showed up unannounced he was with a different girl so.... hard to believe in much of a love connection, y'know? The guy really didn't seem that interested. More like: yeah, if you're into it, sure, but if not... eh, I'll figure something out.
I liked the potential of Amalia but it wasn't delivered on. I was told she was smart but she never actually got to be smart.
Book: She's a strategist.
Me: Great, do a strategy!
*crickets*
Also, some of this was just straight-up dumb as shit. Like. You want me to revere Leonora's dad as a good guy when, uh, the reason Leonora exists is because he cheated on his wife and she didn't seem super on board about that. I understand these marriages can potentially be arranged/loveless but, still, I probably wouldn't want to raise my partner's lovechild knowing it would make everyone of my social circle act like gossipy douches around me. I mean, yeah, the vice regent wasn't great but there wasn't even a little empathy for her position either. Just a completely inaccurate: my mother and father were saints and she's evil. Ummm, *raises hand* I know a few things that might've had something to do with that. Then Jeronimo acting like he's making some great concession by agreeing to.... do all the things Spain was already supposed to be doing and still wouldn't be doing if they hadn't just lost a war against the indigenous people who live there. He's literally standing on bodies in a war he just lost like, yeah, you're gonna have RIGHTS now. Yeah, because they just WON the WAR that you LOST. You're not doing anything for them, they're doing things for you by not cutting your head off right now!
Oh, and we killed one of two stated queer people. *curtsies*
I also didn't understand the purpose for killing off Ines - it seemed to serve absolutely none. Tezca (also... did not love the name change halfway through) and Leonora didn't seem to have really much of anything going on? Every time Leonora showed up unannounced he was with a different girl so.... hard to believe in much of a love connection, y'know? The guy really didn't seem that interested. More like: yeah, if you're into it, sure, but if not... eh, I'll figure something out.
I liked the potential of Amalia but it wasn't delivered on. I was told she was smart but she never actually got to be smart.
Book: She's a strategist.
Me: Great, do a strategy!
*crickets*
Also, some of this was just straight-up dumb as shit. Like. You want me to revere Leonora's dad as a good guy when, uh, the reason Leonora exists is because he cheated on his wife and she didn't seem super on board about that. I understand these marriages can potentially be arranged/loveless but, still, I probably wouldn't want to raise my partner's lovechild knowing it would make everyone of my social circle act like gossipy douches around me. I mean, yeah, the vice regent wasn't great but there wasn't even a little empathy for her position either. Just a completely inaccurate: my mother and father were saints and she's evil. Ummm, *raises hand* I know a few things that might've had something to do with that. Then Jeronimo acting like he's making some great concession by agreeing to.... do all the things Spain was already supposed to be doing and still wouldn't be doing if they hadn't just lost a war against the indigenous people who live there. He's literally standing on bodies in a war he just lost like, yeah, you're gonna have RIGHTS now. Yeah, because they just WON the WAR that you LOST. You're not doing anything for them, they're doing things for you by not cutting your head off right now!
Oh, and we killed one of two stated queer people. *curtsies*