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jeanreadstherealgoodbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
mmmicah's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
THE CRUELEST THING ABOUT THIS BOOK IS THAT THERE ISN'T MORE. MS WELLS I NEEED MOREEEEE!!!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Genocide, Death, Gore, and Grief
carriehickmannn's review against another edition
3.0
I loved the worldbuilding here, but while the character concepts and parallel plots were interesting, nothing ever dove deeper than surface level. Somehow this 400 page book felt more like a writing exercise than an actual story.
greatgreyowl's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
sendlasagna's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
- Came to this book by way of frantic revelation at 4 AM that Martha Well released new fantasy last year that I only today heard of?? Went to the library at 6:15 PM after work and finished it 4 days later. A classic Wells, and very very lovable. A classic Wells also in that there’s no
spectacular singular villain, but a reasonably built out conspiracy throughout the book but that exact lack of egregious shock and violence is why I love her. - While answering the Storygraph review questions I realised, there is no strong “character development” per se, because the plot is bifold: vignettes from the characters’ history, and their brief present-day escapade. So the plot is not quite the slow unravelling of their personhood, and this is by design. But even if it’s not character dev, it is very much emotional dev. By page 400, you learn exactly why you loved them on page 1.
- Page 188, the other demons moved when he moved. A moment I died for.
- 3 paragraphs on Page 409 where no one says a word – this is a goddamn love story 😭😭😭
- As a simple analog, you can think of this as a Shadow and Bone type story with more mature characters and stronger sociocultural worldbuilding, and also the villain is not
the same/one man but an ideology - Interesting portion of a rebellion to focus on. Again, a common Wells feature where the delight and novelty is in the early pages of worldbuilding and in ignoring expected story beats. The endings of her books do tend to feel devoid of revelation and because I like her, I think this is good and is training readers to learn to to read the slow story, the unremarkable story, the quietly existing tale (like real life)
- Love how the white people are one flattened culture lmao
- Very satisfying past/ present parallels in alternating chapters
- I really enjoyed the descriptions of murk
- — and how open sea felt so different from a drying river and from submerged ruins, all while also creating brief pockets of visuals for grasslands, underearth, bluff/expanse, and a couple of seatowns. Def an interesting geographic writing, worth looking at from an EH perspective
- The Rising World Coalition part needs work, but im not gonna dock a star, I enjoyed imagining this too much
- After reading other reviews: I think there’s a difference between Tolkien “missing crucial information” and people like NK Jemisin’s and Martha Wells’ “missing crucial information”, wrt multichatacter & mis en scene storytelling. The latter never bothers me. Also, kzimm2024 has a great review for the book.
anxious_necromancer's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
baldwinme40's review against another edition
5.0
The plot is like 3.5 stars - maybe more on a reread? I didn't have the energy to focus much on the present timeline and keep all the groups straight. (There are 4 different types of magic users, please that's so many) The world building is super detailed and vivid. Kai is wonderful and the side characters are great too, some more than others. I mean you can't go wrong with powerful demon prince on a quest to rescue his girlboss Witch BFF's wife & can't stop accidentally adopting orphans along the way. Martha Wells knows what I want in a book and I think we should be besties.
hognob's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
cadonelson's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
sticklecat's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25