A review by pine_wulf
Ariah by B.R. Sanders
4.0
This is a coming of age novel in a fantastic universe with some great rep. I went into it with mistaken expectations. Somehow I thought it was about him learning magic and helping take down the evil empire with a poly relationship. Nope. He does learn magic, but it's not a central focus. More like an ever-present underlying motive. The magic is central to who Ariah is, but the book is not about the magic, it's about Ariah. As for the evil empire, they won already and it doesn't change. Great colonizing force that everyone else just has to put up with. Was correct about the poly relationship. So with these incorrect assumptions in mind, I was disappointed at first, because I kept waiting for something to happen. Then I realized I was wrong and had to shift gears, and then I really enjoyed myself.
This book is about growing as a person and engaging in meaningful relationships along the way. And I loved all the characters. They were very well realized. And because Ariah doesn't really settle very well, there is a lot of travel and we see different pockets of culture. It's very interesting. But I am at a bit of a loss to understand the Droma properly. All the different people and circumstances feel like a rich, but difficult, life evoking several emotions in me.
My main issues are with world-building. I do struggle with believing that the different peoples could be as disparate as they are. Yes, there is natural barriers leading to isolation, but not complete isolation. You can cross the desert with camels. Why wouldn't there have been more contact with the Droma before the Qin started taking them as slaves? That would have prevented from the peoples growing as different as they did. I also have stupid niggling questions which aren't important at all. Such as, the Droma were herding antelopes. (As well as goats and yaks.) Real world antelopes have been difficult to domesticate. They are very flighty. And what were they using the antelopes for? More milk? I'm sure you can just explain that they aren't real world antelopes, so they can be tamed, but it still annoys me.
Overall, I do recommend giving this one a read. Just go in knowing what it is. Don't expect a lot of plot. This is more slice-of-life.
This book is about growing as a person and engaging in meaningful relationships along the way. And I loved all the characters. They were very well realized. And because Ariah doesn't really settle very well, there is a lot of travel and we see different pockets of culture. It's very interesting. But I am at a bit of a loss to understand the Droma properly. All the different people and circumstances feel like a rich, but difficult, life evoking several emotions in me.
My main issues are with world-building. I do struggle with believing that the different peoples could be as disparate as they are. Yes, there is natural barriers leading to isolation, but not complete isolation. You can cross the desert with camels. Why wouldn't there have been more contact with the Droma before the Qin started taking them as slaves? That would have prevented from the peoples growing as different as they did. I also have stupid niggling questions which aren't important at all. Such as, the Droma were herding antelopes. (As well as goats and yaks.) Real world antelopes have been difficult to domesticate. They are very flighty. And what were they using the antelopes for? More milk? I'm sure you can just explain that they aren't real world antelopes, so they can be tamed, but it still annoys me.
Overall, I do recommend giving this one a read. Just go in knowing what it is. Don't expect a lot of plot. This is more slice-of-life.