A review by cliobemuzedbookworm
Emperor of the Eight Islands by Lian Hearn
Did not finish book.
dnf 100 pages in
I was a bit uncomfortable about it being a japanese story written by a white woman.
I can't speak to whether it's done well or not, but ultimately I just wasn't interested enough at the 100 page mark.
It's written in a fairytale-esque style that I appreciate in fairy tales but that doesn't really work for me for longer stories as it is a quite detached style. At least here I felt like there was real distance between reader and characters and so I wasn't getting what I msot want out of my fantasies.
I live for character work and when there is this much distance I feel like I'm left a bit cheated. Our protagonist also seemed to be someone to whom things happened rather than who makes things happen, which also didn't help my engagement with the text.
I was a bit uncomfortable about it being a japanese story written by a white woman.
I can't speak to whether it's done well or not, but ultimately I just wasn't interested enough at the 100 page mark.
It's written in a fairytale-esque style that I appreciate in fairy tales but that doesn't really work for me for longer stories as it is a quite detached style. At least here I felt like there was real distance between reader and characters and so I wasn't getting what I msot want out of my fantasies.
I live for character work and when there is this much distance I feel like I'm left a bit cheated. Our protagonist also seemed to be someone to whom things happened rather than who makes things happen, which also didn't help my engagement with the text.