A review by eshurricane
The Mudfisher's Catch by Jude Mire

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I struggle to summarize because despite this being a novella, there is so much intricacy in the worldbuilding and plot that I feel like I’d end up spoiling things. Plus, the way that this world unfolds so organically as the story progresses…it’s better not to know things until they’re hitting you in the face.

I will say that this is such a unique brand of fantasy, with some genre-bending elements and a magic system that absolutely fascinated me. The characters are able to create mindblowing things that are so meticulously described it feels like the creatures are going to leap off of the page at me.

It’s also dystopian, which is something I don’t often see in fantasy. How a world with so much magic and wonder is faring now that the magic is in the hands of a few power-hungry kings, trickling down to the mudfishers that risk their lives just for a tiny bit of it.

There are some moments that had my gut churning, things I could taste and really feel. Despite the fact that my life is nothing like anything at all in the book, I still can be immersed, relate to the characters and their struggles, even when they lean to the darker side of grey.

There is a lot of nuance in how the different characters handle their situations, and I love that there is no fully black and white answer, that they do their best in the moment, and sometimes for selfish reasons. Sometimes it works out okay, sometimes it’s tragic, but all of it is enthralling and the pacing is perfect.

Perhaps this is all so vague, I’m just vomiting praise all over the page, but I can’t help it. I don’t like to do spoilery reviews. Plus I’m not alone, check out the other reviews of this book where readers are also saying ‘I don’t want to spoil anything just go read it!’ So I don’t want to spoil anything, just go read it.