A review by orionoconnell
The Never Tilting World by Rin Chupeco
2.0
The premise of this book, from the way it was described both by publisher and author drew me in. It sounded like an amazing adventure story full of found-family and a diverse cast of leads that would render me emotionally compromised.
But, honestly, it didn't tick any of the boxes I'd hoped for as a reader. The characters kind of blended together, and while I'm a little hesitant with switching-POVs to begin with, the only thing that I looked forward to when changing POVs was that it meant I was a chapter closer to finishing the book. I didn't connect with any of the main characters, really. They all just fell flat and had plotlines that seemed very pushed together. The romances were also very one-dimensional to me. Haidee and Arjun being a better buildup still than Lan and Odessa (though both were not without fault). The sex was unnecessary for me, because the relationships themselves were not built up properly it all just seemed kind of forced. And spoiler: with Odessa and Lan, it kinda was.
The book has a great deal of action sequences, admittedly also not my thing. The world-building kind of fell short for me, and descriptions just left me confused, as though I'm supposed to discern these things about this world without never being shown or adequately told. It seemed a bit lackadaisical of the author. I feel like there were things that we should have been 'shown' but we were just told with what seemed like very little enthusiasm. Same issue with the 'gates'. Not what I look for in a novel dealing with world-building.
I am a pretty quick reader, but this one I could only tolerate in 50 page a day increments, and that was pushing it. I couldn't get invested. I was bored with the characters, bored with the journey, bored and a little confused about the world I was looking so forward to exploring. Perhaps the world-breaking would have been a more interesting novel to start with? The fall of the world? I don't know. I just...struggled with almost every aspect of this one.
It feels like the book was all set up to be brilliant, and it just somehow fell short in all the ways it needed to come together.
I do hope that other readers enjoy it, but it wasn't for me.
Trigger Warnings for this Book: Sexual Assault, Mentions of Rape, Graphic Violence, Cannibalism Mentions, PTSD, Sexual Content (non-descriptive).
But, honestly, it didn't tick any of the boxes I'd hoped for as a reader. The characters kind of blended together, and while I'm a little hesitant with switching-POVs to begin with, the only thing that I looked forward to when changing POVs was that it meant I was a chapter closer to finishing the book. I didn't connect with any of the main characters, really. They all just fell flat and had plotlines that seemed very pushed together. The romances were also very one-dimensional to me. Haidee and Arjun being a better buildup still than Lan and Odessa (though both were not without fault). The sex was unnecessary for me, because the relationships themselves were not built up properly it all just seemed kind of forced. And spoiler: with Odessa and Lan, it kinda was.
The book has a great deal of action sequences, admittedly also not my thing. The world-building kind of fell short for me, and descriptions just left me confused, as though I'm supposed to discern these things about this world without never being shown or adequately told. It seemed a bit lackadaisical of the author. I feel like there were things that we should have been 'shown' but we were just told with what seemed like very little enthusiasm. Same issue with the 'gates'. Not what I look for in a novel dealing with world-building.
I am a pretty quick reader, but this one I could only tolerate in 50 page a day increments, and that was pushing it. I couldn't get invested. I was bored with the characters, bored with the journey, bored and a little confused about the world I was looking so forward to exploring. Perhaps the world-breaking would have been a more interesting novel to start with? The fall of the world? I don't know. I just...struggled with almost every aspect of this one.
It feels like the book was all set up to be brilliant, and it just somehow fell short in all the ways it needed to come together.
I do hope that other readers enjoy it, but it wasn't for me.
Trigger Warnings for this Book: Sexual Assault, Mentions of Rape, Graphic Violence, Cannibalism Mentions, PTSD, Sexual Content (non-descriptive).