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A review by narmaeth
Thorn's Dove by Carlotta Hughes
3.0
I'm 37% in and in some ways it's a decent story. There are some content warnings to be aware of: rape, abortion, drug abuse, abuse of power from past and present people towards the FMC.
A few things I have concerns about so far:
The red string of fate is a Chinese folklore thing, the orc culture Thorn is from is Scottish Gaelic. This cherry picking of one cultural aspect combined with another is some level of uncomfortable and disrespectful.
If you want to use the red string of fate aspect, make his culture Chinese.
The book very much gives me 'Objectified Scotsman Thursday' vibes, so I get a good hit of nostalgic amusement.
Only other gripe I have so far is that I'm not sure the author understands the meaning of 'bemused'. Bemused means confused, not amused.
Writing is otherwise good, plot is predictable but relatively enjoyable. Unsure how much people who don't have an understanding of Gaelic would enjoy it though, there's a lot scattered through the book.
A few things I have concerns about so far:
The red string of fate is a Chinese folklore thing, the orc culture Thorn is from is Scottish Gaelic. This cherry picking of one cultural aspect combined with another is some level of uncomfortable and disrespectful.
If you want to use the red string of fate aspect, make his culture Chinese.
The book very much gives me 'Objectified Scotsman Thursday' vibes, so I get a good hit of nostalgic amusement.
Only other gripe I have so far is that I'm not sure the author understands the meaning of 'bemused'. Bemused means confused, not amused.
Writing is otherwise good, plot is predictable but relatively enjoyable. Unsure how much people who don't have an understanding of Gaelic would enjoy it though, there's a lot scattered through the book.