A review by kiiouex
The Mirror Empire, by Kameron Hurley
2.0
It is a 600 page brick, part one of a fantasy saga, and does not attempt to tie up any of it's plot threads at this book's conclusion.
I didn't like any of the characters.
uhhgggg it's hard to review because I made it through the whole thing and there are some good ideas in here, the general plot and worldbuilding aren't bad, but I can't recommend it because it's such a drag.
There's, maybe eight viewpoint characters by the end? None of them are good people, and worse, none of them are interesting people. They all have the same detached, pragmatic sort of values which gives them all identical Protagonist mannerisms (except the Battered Husband who is very uncomfortable in a different way). None of them are sympathetic, which means I didn't care if they lived or died, which means the book failed.
There's a ton of gore and death which didn't matter because I didn't care. Swathes of named, minor characters wiped out - don't care! A perky, plucky youngster is introduced - assume he'll be dead by the chapter's end! A character falls off a cliff, and you finally feel a twinge of interest? The book changes PoV, throwing away whatever momentum it managed to build up to burden you with another horrible person. And - I am not making this up - when you eventually get back to the character who fell off the cliff, not only did they survive (it's not a spoiler if it's unsurprising), their next chapter ends with them falling into an icy lake. How could I possibly give a shit about any element in this gauntlet of misery?
And there are little bits that do work here and there, the idea of people being replaced with their 'shadow selves' from the alternate universe is great, some of the action reads well, I like the terrible hostile flora of their world. But oh it is not worth getting through the thinks-its-clever-yet-also-bland dialogue to get there.
That's without touching on any of the queer stuff because ??? I don't know how to feel about any of it except Uncomfortable. Poly and generally assumed bisexuality, multiple genders in all the fantasy societies, sure. Crude forms of sexism, but gender flipped? Uh. The vague implication that all these poly people are also incestuous? Er. Having a nonbinary character - great. Revealling that they're nonbinary because their body unwillingly and violently changes it's biological sex every now and then? No! Why!? I'm sure I picked this book up because it was on queer lists, and if that's the boat you're in, don't.
anyway I finished it because I don't DNF books I've physically bought, but that is the only reason why. uhg.
I didn't like any of the characters.
uhhgggg it's hard to review because I made it through the whole thing and there are some good ideas in here, the general plot and worldbuilding aren't bad, but I can't recommend it because it's such a drag.
There's, maybe eight viewpoint characters by the end? None of them are good people, and worse, none of them are interesting people. They all have the same detached, pragmatic sort of values which gives them all identical Protagonist mannerisms (except the Battered Husband who is very uncomfortable in a different way). None of them are sympathetic, which means I didn't care if they lived or died, which means the book failed.
There's a ton of gore and death which didn't matter because I didn't care. Swathes of named, minor characters wiped out - don't care! A perky, plucky youngster is introduced - assume he'll be dead by the chapter's end! A character falls off a cliff, and you finally feel a twinge of interest? The book changes PoV, throwing away whatever momentum it managed to build up to burden you with another horrible person. And - I am not making this up - when you eventually get back to the character who fell off the cliff, not only did they survive (it's not a spoiler if it's unsurprising), their next chapter ends with them falling into an icy lake. How could I possibly give a shit about any element in this gauntlet of misery?
And there are little bits that do work here and there, the idea of people being replaced with their 'shadow selves' from the alternate universe is great, some of the action reads well, I like the terrible hostile flora of their world. But oh it is not worth getting through the thinks-its-clever-yet-also-bland dialogue to get there.
That's without touching on any of the queer stuff because ??? I don't know how to feel about any of it except Uncomfortable. Poly and generally assumed bisexuality, multiple genders in all the fantasy societies, sure. Crude forms of sexism, but gender flipped? Uh. The vague implication that all these poly people are also incestuous? Er. Having a nonbinary character - great. Revealling that they're nonbinary because their body unwillingly and violently changes it's biological sex every now and then? No! Why!? I'm sure I picked this book up because it was on queer lists, and if that's the boat you're in, don't.
anyway I finished it because I don't DNF books I've physically bought, but that is the only reason why. uhg.