A review by bunny_herondale
Flotsam by R.J. Theodore
4.0
ENGLISH:
First of all, thanks to Robot Dinosaur Press and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced readers copy of the book in exchange of a honest review.
I'm still not sure if it's 3.5 or 4 stars.
Ok, the book is good, is interesting and it's a good trilogy start. What bothers me is that the main character which is a grown adult that has stopped being a naive young girl some time ago makes mistakes that not even the dumbest protagonist of the most cliché teen movie or book would make. Things that were very obvious and she refused to see or not giving the enough importance to other things even when a goddess (literally) told her the importance of those said things!
So, I don't know how I would classify this book because it has many genres, something like a space opera with fantasy and steampunk, a weird mixup, but it works well.
I have to recognize that at the beginning of the book it was difficult for me to really get into the story, and that's partly because the story itself, the principal problem in the book, doesn't start until the 58% of the book, everything that happens before that is the construction and preamble to that specific moment, I just hope it doesn't happen the same in the sequel.
I loved all the rest of the characters, including the aliens with unpronounceable names, Meran, the Wind Sabre crew and even Hankirk. The deities were more like meh to me, they weren't by far the more interesting thing in the book, but there were many things that I did like.
My favorite quotes of the book:
ESPAÑOL:
Primero que nada, gracias a Robot Dinosaur Press y a NetGalley por proveerme con una copia avanzada del libro a cambio de una reseña honesta.
Estoy indecisa entre 3.5 y 4 estrellas.
Ok, el libro es bueno, es interesante y marca un buen inicio de trilogía. Lo que me molesta, es que la protagonista que es una mujer adulta que ya tiene sus añitos, cometa errores que ni el protagonista más tonto de cualquier película o libro cliché para adolescentes cometería. Cosas que eran muy obvias y que no quiso ver o no darle la suficiente importancia a otras cosas a pesar de que una diosa (literalmente) fue y le informó de la importancia de ciertas cosas.
Entonces, no sé exactamente cómo se clasificaría este libro porque tiene muchos géneros, algo como un space opera con fantasía y steampunk, una mezcla rara, sin embargo funciona bien.
Debo reconocer que al inicio me costó engancharme con el libro, y es que la historia en sí, la problemática principal, no empieza sino hasta el 58% del libro, todo lo que sucede antes es como la construcción y el preámbulo para ese momento en específico, solamente espero que en la secuela no suceda lo mismo.
Me encantaron todos los demás personajes, incluyendo los aliens con nombres impronunciables, Meran, la tripulación del Wind Sabre e incluso Hankirk. Las deidades se me hicieron personajes equis, no eran ni de lejos lo más interesante del libro, pero hay varias cosas que sí que me gustaron.
Mis frases favoritas del libro:
First of all, thanks to Robot Dinosaur Press and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced readers copy of the book in exchange of a honest review.
I'm still not sure if it's 3.5 or 4 stars.
Ok, the book is good, is interesting and it's a good trilogy start. What bothers me is that the main character which is a grown adult that has stopped being a naive young girl some time ago makes mistakes that not even the dumbest protagonist of the most cliché teen movie or book would make. Things that were very obvious and she refused to see or not giving the enough importance to other things even when a goddess (literally) told her the importance of those said things!
So, I don't know how I would classify this book because it has many genres, something like a space opera with fantasy and steampunk, a weird mixup, but it works well.
I have to recognize that at the beginning of the book it was difficult for me to really get into the story, and that's partly because the story itself, the principal problem in the book, doesn't start until the 58% of the book, everything that happens before that is the construction and preamble to that specific moment, I just hope it doesn't happen the same in the sequel.
I loved all the rest of the characters, including the aliens with unpronounceable names, Meran, the Wind Sabre crew and even Hankirk. The deities were more like meh to me, they weren't by far the more interesting thing in the book, but there were many things that I did like.
My favorite quotes of the book:
It wasn’t the most impressive private airship in the skies— just a single lift balloon, a handful of cannons, and room for a small crew. But it was hers. You didn’t get to have or keep much in this world.
She couldn’t give him back the future he’d lost, but she never stopped trying to make a new one for him.
Talk to the goddess that had a penchant for turning people into mermaids if they pissed her off.
Of course.
Why not?
Then a wave hit her. Desolation. Aching emptiness.
Silus Cutter is dead.
Her god. The being who created her people and protected them. The being who was supposed to be immortal.
He wasn’t. He was dead. And she was kneeling among his murderers.
“We all do...” Xe paused for a moment, resting. “...what we must to survive. Act for what we believe is the greater good of our people.”
Sometimes, she thought. And other times we act selfishly and court disaster.
“Do you have a purpose I can live for?”
“Same thing I have. Freedom.”
“This one would raze it all to the ground for you,” she said, her eyes flashing at Talis.
Dug’s eyelids lowered, and he inhaled deeply. He looked intoxicated, leaning toward Meran, who cupped his chin. But Meran looked at Hankirk.
“As would he.”
“Should have killed him,”she said under her breath to Dug.
“You still can.”
She stayed silent. She’d already proven that she couldn’t.
ESPAÑOL:
Primero que nada, gracias a Robot Dinosaur Press y a NetGalley por proveerme con una copia avanzada del libro a cambio de una reseña honesta.
Estoy indecisa entre 3.5 y 4 estrellas.
Ok, el libro es bueno, es interesante y marca un buen inicio de trilogía. Lo que me molesta, es que la protagonista que es una mujer adulta que ya tiene sus añitos, cometa errores que ni el protagonista más tonto de cualquier película o libro cliché para adolescentes cometería. Cosas que eran muy obvias y que no quiso ver o no darle la suficiente importancia a otras cosas a pesar de que una diosa (literalmente) fue y le informó de la importancia de ciertas cosas.
Entonces, no sé exactamente cómo se clasificaría este libro porque tiene muchos géneros, algo como un space opera con fantasía y steampunk, una mezcla rara, sin embargo funciona bien.
Debo reconocer que al inicio me costó engancharme con el libro, y es que la historia en sí, la problemática principal, no empieza sino hasta el 58% del libro, todo lo que sucede antes es como la construcción y el preámbulo para ese momento en específico, solamente espero que en la secuela no suceda lo mismo.
Me encantaron todos los demás personajes, incluyendo los aliens con nombres impronunciables, Meran, la tripulación del Wind Sabre e incluso Hankirk. Las deidades se me hicieron personajes equis, no eran ni de lejos lo más interesante del libro, pero hay varias cosas que sí que me gustaron.
Mis frases favoritas del libro:
It wasn’t the most impressive private airship in the skies— just a single lift balloon, a handful of cannons, and room for a small crew. But it was hers. You didn’t get to have or keep much in this world.
She couldn’t give him back the future he’d lost, but she never stopped trying to make a new one for him.
Talk to the goddess that had a penchant for turning people into mermaids if they pissed her off.
Of course.
Why not?
Then a wave hit her. Desolation. Aching emptiness.
Silus Cutter is dead.
Her god. The being who created her people and protected them. The being who was supposed to be immortal.
He wasn’t. He was dead. And she was kneeling among his murderers.
“We all do...” Xe paused for a moment, resting. “...what we must to survive. Act for what we believe is the greater good of our people.”
Sometimes, she thought. And other times we act selfishly and court disaster.
“Do you have a purpose I can live for?”
“Same thing I have. Freedom.”
“This one would raze it all to the ground for you,” she said, her eyes flashing at Talis.
Dug’s eyelids lowered, and he inhaled deeply. He looked intoxicated, leaning toward Meran, who cupped his chin. But Meran looked at Hankirk.
“As would he.”
“Should have killed him,”she said under her breath to Dug.
“You still can.”
She stayed silent. She’d already proven that she couldn’t.