A review by kieralesley
Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear
3.0
I don't really know what to do with this book.
Straight off the bat the worldbuilding is AMAZING. Full points to Bear her cultures and magic and mythology and history are stunning. Even the world itself with the changing sky is beautiful. Her characters derive from their cultures really well, too, they're all unique and have different worldviews. Her prose is masterful, too, it's never overwrought but really well-considered and lovely.
However... I found it boring. I can't even explain why. If I had to explain the book to someone I'd come away talking of necromancers and giant flying birds and vast grasslands and wizard princesses and tiger-people. I just never engaged with it like I do with things I love. I was *reading* it but never fell through the page to experience it. I think it was partly the pacing - we spent a lot of time travelling to places and setting up camp, partly the characterisation - I didn't really worry about the characters at any point, which probably means I didn't care that much about them, and partly the plot - I wasn't that motivated by what was at stake or really worried about where it was going. I wasn't hooked.
I really wanted to like this one, and I did admire elements of it - I loved the worldbuilding and the prose! - but I'm not compelled to pick up the next one, despite the third book garnering rave reviews. I don't think I want to spend the time to get there.
2.5 stars, rounded up to 3.
Straight off the bat the worldbuilding is AMAZING. Full points to Bear her cultures and magic and mythology and history are stunning. Even the world itself with the changing sky is beautiful. Her characters derive from their cultures really well, too, they're all unique and have different worldviews. Her prose is masterful, too, it's never overwrought but really well-considered and lovely.
However... I found it boring. I can't even explain why. If I had to explain the book to someone I'd come away talking of necromancers and giant flying birds and vast grasslands and wizard princesses and tiger-people. I just never engaged with it like I do with things I love. I was *reading* it but never fell through the page to experience it. I think it was partly the pacing - we spent a lot of time travelling to places and setting up camp, partly the characterisation - I didn't really worry about the characters at any point, which probably means I didn't care that much about them, and partly the plot - I wasn't that motivated by what was at stake or really worried about where it was going. I wasn't hooked.
I really wanted to like this one, and I did admire elements of it - I loved the worldbuilding and the prose! - but I'm not compelled to pick up the next one, despite the third book garnering rave reviews. I don't think I want to spend the time to get there.
2.5 stars, rounded up to 3.