A review by egraney
The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan
3.0
First off, I highly recommend listening to this as an audiobook as the reader has a gorgeous voice and does a fantastic job differentiating characters. At first, I really thought I would adore this book and I do, with reservations. The world is richly wrought and fascinating. There are enough details regarding the various religions and societies to feel real and tangible without being overly descriptive. The characters were definitely intriguing and varied.
Here are my hesitations (spoilers follow.) I read speculative fiction all the time so this is one me but, I just can't get into the whole mermaid thing. It feels so unrealistic (right? Like vampires, werewolves, ghosts et al are somehow more plausible?) So 100% on me for taking issue with it. But I did. And it pulled me right out of the book. Also, the mermaid (merman? gender neutral but still able to impregnate people mer creature?) essentially just goes around raping and impregnating random women and this is not an issue? The only issue is the fact that the child is some sort of hybrid that people cannot handle. That really bothered me. A lot. I would also have appreciated a bit more detail surrounding Callenish's mother. So, she forces her young child to assist her in giving birth and when that child, rightly, doesn't know how to help and the baby dies she goes batshit insane? Whuh?
This book probably deserves more than 3 stars based on the richly imagined world and the skill of the writing. But it was not a book for me.
Here are my hesitations (spoilers follow.) I read speculative fiction all the time so this is one me but, I just can't get into the whole mermaid thing. It feels so unrealistic (right? Like vampires, werewolves, ghosts et al are somehow more plausible?) So 100% on me for taking issue with it. But I did. And it pulled me right out of the book. Also, the mermaid (merman? gender neutral but still able to impregnate people mer creature?) essentially just goes around raping and impregnating random women and this is not an issue? The only issue is the fact that the child is some sort of hybrid that people cannot handle. That really bothered me. A lot. I would also have appreciated a bit more detail surrounding Callenish's mother. So, she forces her young child to assist her in giving birth and when that child, rightly, doesn't know how to help and the baby dies she goes batshit insane? Whuh?
This book probably deserves more than 3 stars based on the richly imagined world and the skill of the writing. But it was not a book for me.