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A review by filipmagnus
A Star-Reckoner's Lot by Darrell Drake
4.0
Disclaimer: This book has been kindly provided by Darrell Drake for free, in exchange for a review. No one said anything about being honest but I wasn't told to lie either, so it evens out somewhere along the line, I reckon.
A Star-Reckoner's Lot has been an interesting ride, one that left me some strong impressions. Some of those are bad but I'm happy to say, the good ones outweigh them by a...Lot! (Hah, I'm a comedian!) I'll start with what bothered me and make my way down to all the good bits so bear with me.
The Bad!
The Narration: At times, too distant. I would find myself losing focus, especially early on before I got more comfortable with the style. Furthermore, some of the word choices slapped me right out of the story and back to reality, which is always a pain!
The Beginning: The Start of this novel was a bit of a slog. The prose is somewhat difficult to get used to and the first few chapters come across as fragmentary and disconnected due to frequent time-skips. I could make the argument that the first chapter, which reads like a prologue and is from Ashtadukht's perspective, isn't necessary. I'm not sure there's a single thing I learned from that chapter that I wouldn't have learned from the next few -- and that's where I would toss the chapter in question into the bin.
The So-So!
Ashtadukht: Of the three main characters the book introduces us to, our sickly star-reckoner is the one I'm least fond of. Due to changes towards the last fourth of the novel, she's no longer on my 'firmly disliked characters' category but I still found her behaviour towards her companions too close to despicable on more counts than I can let pass.
That's not to say I didn't enjoy the changes she went through and I'll always treasure the time in her drunken company. Her wit playing against that of Waray and Tirdad made for some great dialogue (read under Dialogue for more on that).
Tirdad: From all the characters in the book, this one best fit the shoes your typical warrior wears; a man of honour and war who doesn't mind getting his hands dirty both with blood and with run-of-the-mill manual labour. I disliked nothing about him, or close to nothing but he never surprised me. Having read the synopsis to the second book though, I suspect I'll be surprised by him quite a whole lot.
(Before I continue, I would like to underline that these are my personal feelings towards the characters. If I spoke about the quality of characterization, that falls under the 'Good' section. I am however very partial and refuse to hide it lest the court of public opinion judges me an agent of the Lie!)
The Good!
The Setting: What a unique, wondrous place choice of setting. I know shamefully little of the Sasanian Empire and after reading this I'm hungry to learn more. Of course, this being a fantasy novel, I don't advise you to try and contest a history major's knowledge with what you might glean from A Star-Reckoner's Lot...but Darrell Drake's love and respect for the period shows and resonates with ease.
Star- and Planet-Reckoning: I'm a stickler for interesting magic systems. Using the position of the stars to battle evil creatures of chaos (or the Lie, in this case) is a recipe for success, especially if you're trying to get into my good graces! Planet-Reckoning I found even more interesting and I suspect it's quite a bit stronger (certainly scarier)
The Cover: What a stunning cover this book has. Take a glimpse at it, if you haven't already, come on! Truly a wonder; from what I understand, we have a Kickstarter campaign to thank for the stellar look--money well spent, Darrell.
Waray: This precious half-div egg-chewer is mad as bonkers, and I love her for it. She's got it all -- bloodthirst, a healthy craving for eggs and a deep-rooted need to belong and avoid being lonely. It's like looking into a mirror. On a serious note, Waray was my favourite character and the one I'll remember for a long time to come.
Maybe.
Not my most structured review but there you go. A Star-Reckoner's Lot is an interesting novel, one with a few hurdles that keep me from giving it an amazing five-star review on Goodreads but it well earns its 4/5 'Very good' score. I'm also happy to award this my personal and very nebulous "Hottest(?) cousin on cousin will they/won't they action" award!
Would I re-read it? Not in its entirety. There are parts and strips of dialogue, which I would dearly love to revisit, however.
Would I read the next book in the series? Yes! Yes, I would. A few months from now, I'd love to reacquaint myself with this particular setting and follow along in the star-reckoning journey.
You'll enjoy this book if you are:
- looking for a different and unique setting;
- into astronomy-based magic;
- an Iranian from the seventh century A.D., wondering what's happened with his beloved empire, trying to kick back and relive the old div-hunting glory days;
- a div, probably. Your folks are represented a bit on the dark side but you're evil monsters in service of the Lie, what did you expect?
There you have it! My mostly all too honest review of an exciting indie fantasy novel under the banner of TBRindr, an initiative whose purpose is to highlight indie authors and their works.
This review was originally posted on my blog, https://filip-magnus-writes.blog/
A Star-Reckoner's Lot has been an interesting ride, one that left me some strong impressions. Some of those are bad but I'm happy to say, the good ones outweigh them by a...Lot! (Hah, I'm a comedian!) I'll start with what bothered me and make my way down to all the good bits so bear with me.
The Bad!
The Narration: At times, too distant. I would find myself losing focus, especially early on before I got more comfortable with the style. Furthermore, some of the word choices slapped me right out of the story and back to reality, which is always a pain!
The Beginning: The Start of this novel was a bit of a slog. The prose is somewhat difficult to get used to and the first few chapters come across as fragmentary and disconnected due to frequent time-skips. I could make the argument that the first chapter, which reads like a prologue and is from Ashtadukht's perspective, isn't necessary. I'm not sure there's a single thing I learned from that chapter that I wouldn't have learned from the next few -- and that's where I would toss the chapter in question into the bin.
The So-So!
Ashtadukht: Of the three main characters the book introduces us to, our sickly star-reckoner is the one I'm least fond of. Due to changes towards the last fourth of the novel, she's no longer on my 'firmly disliked characters' category but I still found her behaviour towards her companions too close to despicable on more counts than I can let pass.
That's not to say I didn't enjoy the changes she went through and I'll always treasure the time in her drunken company. Her wit playing against that of Waray and Tirdad made for some great dialogue (read under Dialogue for more on that).
Tirdad: From all the characters in the book, this one best fit the shoes your typical warrior wears; a man of honour and war who doesn't mind getting his hands dirty both with blood and with run-of-the-mill manual labour. I disliked nothing about him, or close to nothing but he never surprised me. Having read the synopsis to the second book though, I suspect I'll be surprised by him quite a whole lot.
(Before I continue, I would like to underline that these are my personal feelings towards the characters. If I spoke about the quality of characterization, that falls under the 'Good' section. I am however very partial and refuse to hide it lest the court of public opinion judges me an agent of the Lie!)
The Good!
The Setting: What a unique, wondrous place choice of setting. I know shamefully little of the Sasanian Empire and after reading this I'm hungry to learn more. Of course, this being a fantasy novel, I don't advise you to try and contest a history major's knowledge with what you might glean from A Star-Reckoner's Lot...but Darrell Drake's love and respect for the period shows and resonates with ease.
Star- and Planet-Reckoning: I'm a stickler for interesting magic systems. Using the position of the stars to battle evil creatures of chaos (or the Lie, in this case) is a recipe for success, especially if you're trying to get into my good graces! Planet-Reckoning I found even more interesting and I suspect it's quite a bit stronger (certainly scarier)
The Cover: What a stunning cover this book has. Take a glimpse at it, if you haven't already, come on! Truly a wonder; from what I understand, we have a Kickstarter campaign to thank for the stellar look--money well spent, Darrell.
Waray: This precious half-div egg-chewer is mad as bonkers, and I love her for it. She's got it all -- bloodthirst, a healthy craving for eggs and a deep-rooted need to belong and avoid being lonely. It's like looking into a mirror. On a serious note, Waray was my favourite character and the one I'll remember for a long time to come.
Maybe.
Not my most structured review but there you go. A Star-Reckoner's Lot is an interesting novel, one with a few hurdles that keep me from giving it an amazing five-star review on Goodreads but it well earns its 4/5 'Very good' score. I'm also happy to award this my personal and very nebulous "Hottest(?) cousin on cousin will they/won't they action" award!
Would I re-read it? Not in its entirety. There are parts and strips of dialogue, which I would dearly love to revisit, however.
Would I read the next book in the series? Yes! Yes, I would. A few months from now, I'd love to reacquaint myself with this particular setting and follow along in the star-reckoning journey.
You'll enjoy this book if you are:
- looking for a different and unique setting;
- into astronomy-based magic;
- an Iranian from the seventh century A.D., wondering what's happened with his beloved empire, trying to kick back and relive the old div-hunting glory days;
- a div, probably. Your folks are represented a bit on the dark side but you're evil monsters in service of the Lie, what did you expect?
There you have it! My mostly all too honest review of an exciting indie fantasy novel under the banner of TBRindr, an initiative whose purpose is to highlight indie authors and their works.
This review was originally posted on my blog, https://filip-magnus-writes.blog/