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A review by scottish_kat
The Song of the Sycamore by Edward Cox
4.0
This is an interesting book. with a feeling of freshness about it.
The setting is wonderful with enough quirk that i'd happily read more books set in this world.
The opening 25% of the book is really, really good. It hooked me in early and established the characters and the story well.
Over the next 15% or so I completely lost interest and if this wasn't a NetGalley book I would probably have given up at the 40% mark. The primary reason for this is that the main character is just so passive. Wendel doesn't question anything, he doesn't make any decisions, he doesn't rail against his situation. For me, he's too accepting - he goes where he's told to go and does what he's told to do and that really irritated me. Wendel might be the main character but he's a far cry from being a protagonist and it's hard to tell who the protagonist is.
I'm really glad I kept going though because the final 40% is a return to the excellence of the first part.
I really enjoyed the resolution - it felt right,
I loved the sections where Wendel was doing his city service, the characters and the relationships between them were really strong, I felt Wendel had more agency and personality in these sections.
I have to give this book a rating of 4 stars (3 stars is "enjoyable but average" and this book is way better than average.) even if, in my opinion, it has flaws.
The setting is wonderful with enough quirk that i'd happily read more books set in this world.
The opening 25% of the book is really, really good. It hooked me in early and established the characters and the story well.
Over the next 15% or so I completely lost interest and if this wasn't a NetGalley book I would probably have given up at the 40% mark. The primary reason for this is that the main character is just so passive. Wendel doesn't question anything, he doesn't make any decisions, he doesn't rail against his situation. For me, he's too accepting - he goes where he's told to go and does what he's told to do and that really irritated me. Wendel might be the main character but he's a far cry from being a protagonist and it's hard to tell who the protagonist is.
I'm really glad I kept going though because the final 40% is a return to the excellence of the first part.
I really enjoyed the resolution - it felt right,
I loved the sections where Wendel was doing his city service, the characters and the relationships between them were really strong, I felt Wendel had more agency and personality in these sections.
I have to give this book a rating of 4 stars (3 stars is "enjoyable but average" and this book is way better than average.) even if, in my opinion, it has flaws.