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A review by akallabeth
The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.0
this book being categorised and marketed as ya is really odd to me. i know teens can deal with heavy subjects and that's not really my quibble, but the way this is written just does not... read as ya.Â
the book is about. well. it's about the island of rollrock and how it comes to pass that its men start marrying selkie women (again) and the consequences and fallout of that. they live in a society. the main character is... well there's multiple povs. but not in a asoiaf epic fantasy sort of way. once a pov's done they're done, and we're on to the next, with our previous narrators seen from other people's perspectives only.Â
it's a bleak little book with no real protagonist, no one to root for in the classic sense, and no neat moral lesson to tie it off. everyone's a little bit sympathetic and a little bit despicable. it's also very slow-moving; a good part of it just reads like literary historical fiction. lanagan really takes the time to paint a picture for you of this odd, wind-swept, isolated island. it just reads much more like adult fantasy to me.
i really liked it & wish more people would read it, but it will not work for everybody.
(r/fantasy 2023 bingo read, square: bottom of the tbr. would also work for: published in the 2000s, coastal or island setting, mythical beasts, young adult I Fucking Guess.)
the book is about. well. it's about the island of rollrock and how it comes to pass that its men start marrying selkie women (again) and the consequences and fallout of that. they live in a society. the main character is... well there's multiple povs. but not in a asoiaf epic fantasy sort of way. once a pov's done they're done, and we're on to the next, with our previous narrators seen from other people's perspectives only.Â
it's a bleak little book with no real protagonist, no one to root for in the classic sense, and no neat moral lesson to tie it off. everyone's a little bit sympathetic and a little bit despicable. it's also very slow-moving; a good part of it just reads like literary historical fiction. lanagan really takes the time to paint a picture for you of this odd, wind-swept, isolated island. it just reads much more like adult fantasy to me.
i really liked it & wish more people would read it, but it will not work for everybody.
(r/fantasy 2023 bingo read, square: bottom of the tbr. would also work for: published in the 2000s, coastal or island setting, mythical beasts, young adult I Fucking Guess.)