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A review by yrc
The Name of All Things by Jenn Lyons
5.0
"Maybe everyone is wrong and we can only choose which wrong is most acceptable to us".
This is one of my main takes from the book- the day of good and bad guys has been over for a while now. Both gods and mortals and anything between have their own motives, and all one can do is choose amongst them.
During the events in the Capital, many things happened in Jorat and Yor to a woman called Janel whom Kirhin met in the afterlife (keeping it vague to avoid spoilers). Kirhin is hunting for the Black Night which he assumes is playing against the brutal Relus Var and Duke Kane. However, almost everything that seems simple at face value is anything but.
What I found truly well done in this book in particular was the world building both socially and physically. Lyons's critique on gender politics and ethnicity was one of the most original ones I as fantasy reader have ever come across. In addition, the fact that there are no simple solutions to complex high-stake problems made the story believable. We also spent more time in Jorat and Yor, and got to see their for ice Hyaenas, how cool is that!
Despite the fact this was a challenging read (mostly because of the scope and the amount of characters and connection to the plot) it was very refreshing and easy to read compared to the slightly convoluted narrative structure in the first book. I highly recommend this and personally think This series so far is on par with modern fantasy great such as Martin, Rothfus and Jemisin!
This is one of my main takes from the book- the day of good and bad guys has been over for a while now. Both gods and mortals and anything between have their own motives, and all one can do is choose amongst them.
During the events in the Capital, many things happened in Jorat and Yor to a woman called Janel whom Kirhin met in the afterlife (keeping it vague to avoid spoilers). Kirhin is hunting for the Black Night which he assumes is playing against the brutal Relus Var and Duke Kane. However, almost everything that seems simple at face value is anything but.
What I found truly well done in this book in particular was the world building both socially and physically. Lyons's critique on gender politics and ethnicity was one of the most original ones I as fantasy reader have ever come across. In addition, the fact that there are no simple solutions to complex high-stake problems made the story believable. We also spent more time in Jorat and Yor, and got to see their for ice Hyaenas, how cool is that!
Despite the fact this was a challenging read (mostly because of the scope and the amount of characters and connection to the plot) it was very refreshing and easy to read compared to the slightly convoluted narrative structure in the first book. I highly recommend this and personally think This series so far is on par with modern fantasy great such as Martin, Rothfus and Jemisin!