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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
This was a "typical" spec-fic read, but the fantasy plot was somewhat convoluted and hard to follow. I'd heard about some bi-rep in the main character, which is why I read the story, and it was there, but it was very plain, a little angsting over which partner to choose to support.
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
HIGHLIGHTS
~a seer who can’t See
~a literally underground nation
~one seriously awful grandmother
~a very distressing eye
Thank the gods that’s over!
I am not kidding: after a pretty solid start, Soothsayer rapidly became my ‘knockout’ read – the book I read to cure my insomnia. It worked excellently, and even when it didn’t put me to sleep, it made me put my ereader away and close my eyes just to escape it.
It’s not that Soothsayer is an actively bad book, like, say, Silk Fire. Spector knows how to put sentences together, has a pretty engaging protagonist, and does not shove excess worldbuilding down our throats.
But it’s so freaking heavy. 464 pages felt like twice that, and for the majority of them I was bored out of my mind.
Which I will grant is odd, because Soothsayer isn’t packed full of long stretches of nothing. Something was always happening. It’s just that they tended to be meandering things, or pretty plot-irrelevant things, or things that went in circles. And I fundamentally just didn’t care about any of it. Something about this book never clicked for me, leaving me passively watching instead of actively engaged in the story.
I really, really just wanted it to be over.
I think a huge part of this was due to the setting. The Tetrarchia – four kingdoms pretending to be one – really made no sense, and Spector didn’t try to justify it – I loved Kalyna’s disgust and ambivalence about royals and nobles and the rich, but her shrugging at the stupidity of her ‘betters’ wasn’t really enough for me. I tried to think of it as being like US states calling themselves one country, but the cultures Kalyna described were so wildly different they made Texas and New York look indistinguishable. I just didn’t buy it.
But even if I accepted the Tetrarchia, I actively resented the majority of the book being set in Rotfelsen. Rotfelsen should have been incredibly weird and interesting – it’s a country that exists almost entirely underground! But Kalyna is stuck on the surface for most of the book, because that’s where all the important people live.
…Why on Earth would you create a setting as cool as an underground nation – and then barely let your protagonist into it?! We get occasional mention/speculation of giant monsters that first carved out the tunnels that later turned into Rotfelsen – which, again, so cool – but that was another detail that went nowhere, shared as historical trivia rather than leading to a reveal that these monsters are still around, or something. And the glimpses we did get of the proper underground Rotfelsen were minimal, with very little visual description and no real worldbuilding – it’s just handwaved that people live down there pretending like everything’s aboveground, rather than going into the myriad ways a culture would have to adapt to, and be shaped by, living underground.
Read the rest at Every Book a Doorway!
~a seer who can’t See
~a literally underground nation
~one seriously awful grandmother
~a very distressing eye
Thank the gods that’s over!
I am not kidding: after a pretty solid start, Soothsayer rapidly became my ‘knockout’ read – the book I read to cure my insomnia. It worked excellently, and even when it didn’t put me to sleep, it made me put my ereader away and close my eyes just to escape it.
It’s not that Soothsayer is an actively bad book, like, say, Silk Fire. Spector knows how to put sentences together, has a pretty engaging protagonist, and does not shove excess worldbuilding down our throats.
But it’s so freaking heavy. 464 pages felt like twice that, and for the majority of them I was bored out of my mind.
Which I will grant is odd, because Soothsayer isn’t packed full of long stretches of nothing. Something was always happening. It’s just that they tended to be meandering things, or pretty plot-irrelevant things, or things that went in circles. And I fundamentally just didn’t care about any of it. Something about this book never clicked for me, leaving me passively watching instead of actively engaged in the story.
I really, really just wanted it to be over.
I think a huge part of this was due to the setting. The Tetrarchia – four kingdoms pretending to be one – really made no sense, and Spector didn’t try to justify it – I loved Kalyna’s disgust and ambivalence about royals and nobles and the rich, but her shrugging at the stupidity of her ‘betters’ wasn’t really enough for me. I tried to think of it as being like US states calling themselves one country, but the cultures Kalyna described were so wildly different they made Texas and New York look indistinguishable. I just didn’t buy it.
But even if I accepted the Tetrarchia, I actively resented the majority of the book being set in Rotfelsen. Rotfelsen should have been incredibly weird and interesting – it’s a country that exists almost entirely underground! But Kalyna is stuck on the surface for most of the book, because that’s where all the important people live.
…Why on Earth would you create a setting as cool as an underground nation – and then barely let your protagonist into it?! We get occasional mention/speculation of giant monsters that first carved out the tunnels that later turned into Rotfelsen – which, again, so cool – but that was another detail that went nowhere, shared as historical trivia rather than leading to a reveal that these monsters are still around, or something. And the glimpses we did get of the proper underground Rotfelsen were minimal, with very little visual description and no real worldbuilding – it’s just handwaved that people live down there pretending like everything’s aboveground, rather than going into the myriad ways a culture would have to adapt to, and be shaped by, living underground.
Read the rest at Every Book a Doorway!
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An odd read. If I had to summarize it, I’d say it’s a story about characters caught between larger forces beyond their control (e.g., politics, the whims of those in power, etc.), and their attempts to survive or have agency despite all that.
The first person narration works for and against the story in different ways. Sometimes, especially towards the start, Kalyna’s voice leans a bit too much on exposition, explaining Tetrarchia’s history or other random cultural tidbits directly at the reader. Other times, it’s helpful to get insight into Kalyna’s inner moral struggles as she balances her survival (and that of her family) with that of Rotfelsen or Tetrarchia overall.
It does feel very… chaotic. There are multiple factions vying for power, and none of them appear to be particularly competent, clever, or working towards a specific vision of the future they want. It reads as very messy and disorganized, which maybe isn’t entirely inaccurate to how government or the world functions, but it does feel a bit unsatisfying. Like, obviously Kalyna has to be some level of cunning and resourceful to stay attuned to the ever-shifting political sands around her. But watching her stay one step ahead of selfish, myopic fools somehow feels both satisfying and disappointing.
The first person narration works for and against the story in different ways. Sometimes, especially towards the start, Kalyna’s voice leans a bit too much on exposition, explaining Tetrarchia’s history or other random cultural tidbits directly at the reader. Other times, it’s helpful to get insight into Kalyna’s inner moral struggles as she balances her survival (and that of her family) with that of Rotfelsen or Tetrarchia overall.
It does feel very… chaotic. There are multiple factions vying for power, and none of them appear to be particularly competent, clever, or working towards a specific vision of the future they want. It reads as very messy and disorganized, which maybe isn’t entirely inaccurate to how government or the world functions, but it does feel a bit unsatisfying. Like, obviously Kalyna has to be some level of cunning and resourceful to stay attuned to the ever-shifting political sands around her. But watching her stay one step ahead of selfish, myopic fools somehow feels both satisfying and disappointing.
DNF at 78%
I really tried, but the storyline meandered through so much nonsense that didn't go anywhere and the characters weren't likable or even true to themselves, changing to fit the plot rather than evolving as people.
And the repetition
I really tried, but the storyline meandered through so much nonsense that didn't go anywhere and the characters weren't likable or even true to themselves, changing to fit the plot rather than evolving as people.
And the repetition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
alyna Aljosanovna is from a long line of soothsayers, though she lacks the gift. She lives and travels throughout the four kingdoms of the Tetrarchia, primarily because the family needs to ply their trade, but people, though enamoured by the idea of soothsaying, often turn on the trio because of fear, keeping the family constantly moving to stay ahead of trouble. To keep the family fed, Kalyna has masqueraded as the soothsayer, using, at times, her father's visions, but others, mostly just well-crafted readings of people's words, and sometimes outright lies.
Though her bad-tempered and coldhearted grandmother can probably still see the future, she prefers to keep mum on the subject, while constantly emotionally abusing Kalyna for killing her mother at her birth, and for lacking the family gift. Kalyna's kind and loving father continues to have visions, but his lack cohesion, and require much interpretation, though his latest is fairly unambiguous, showing the utter physical destruction of the Tetrarchia and most of its people within three months.
Shortly afterward, Kalyna, her father and grandmother are kidnapped by Lenz, the spymaster of Prince Friendhelm of Rotfelsen (one of the four kingdoms) because of her supposed soothsaying ability. Kalyna knows that she must now run the most dangerous con of her life, while escaping Tetrarchia in time to save her family and herself.
Lenz wants her help foretelling the future so that the Prince can maintain his position and the King is kept from harm. To do this, Kalyna must get to know various ministers and higher-ups in the army so she can let Lenz know who's might try to assassinate the King, all while wondering how long she can keep her many lies to Lenz and others straight so that her father will stay alive (she's not so sure she wants her grandmother safe). Through careful observation, and a number of strange conversations with the many factions, Kalyna slowly unravels many of the intricate plots, after some false assumptions and starts, to reveal that there is much more going on in Rotfelsen, including an ancient danger, which is likely the cause of her father's dire prediction.
Kalyna won my heart almost immediately after I met her. She's smart, unsentimental (except about her father), witty, clever at reading people and crafting what they want to hear, and fast with her sickle (women aren't allowed swords in this world). She's got a healthy amount of self-preservation, and will do her best to talk herself out of bad situations, and when she can't, well, there are her fists and her sickle….
Kalyna is a wonderfully complicated person, who, though empathetic, won't hesitate at using someone if it means she can protect those she cares about. She is observant and cynical, and though she makes many mistakes in Rotfelsen's Court, and sometimes steers others in poor or dangerous directions, her aim is averting the massive disaster her father saw coming.
I absolutely loved Kalyna, and the amusing tone of her narration. I also loved the complicated relationships and many machinations swirling around her, wonderfully fleshing out this part of the Tetrarchia. Kalyna gets to know many important players in Rotfelsen, and it's through the many odd conversations she has that Rotfelsen is revealed to be full of political intrigue, while also giving the reader a great sense of the type of people in this kingdom.
Although much of this book is occupied with political scheming, Kalyna does have her heart touched by a few people, and even develops feelings for two. Despite gaining her freedom thanks to her actions, Kalyna is on the move again, a little wiser, and more confident of herself after all that she accomplished. It's a great place to wrap this book up, though I know she's headed for another part of the Tetrarchia, where I hope we get more of Kalyna's fast-thinking and cunning on display.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Erewhon Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.
Though her bad-tempered and coldhearted grandmother can probably still see the future, she prefers to keep mum on the subject, while constantly emotionally abusing Kalyna for killing her mother at her birth, and for lacking the family gift. Kalyna's kind and loving father continues to have visions, but his lack cohesion, and require much interpretation, though his latest is fairly unambiguous, showing the utter physical destruction of the Tetrarchia and most of its people within three months.
Shortly afterward, Kalyna, her father and grandmother are kidnapped by Lenz, the spymaster of Prince Friendhelm of Rotfelsen (one of the four kingdoms) because of her supposed soothsaying ability. Kalyna knows that she must now run the most dangerous con of her life, while escaping Tetrarchia in time to save her family and herself.
Lenz wants her help foretelling the future so that the Prince can maintain his position and the King is kept from harm. To do this, Kalyna must get to know various ministers and higher-ups in the army so she can let Lenz know who's might try to assassinate the King, all while wondering how long she can keep her many lies to Lenz and others straight so that her father will stay alive (she's not so sure she wants her grandmother safe). Through careful observation, and a number of strange conversations with the many factions, Kalyna slowly unravels many of the intricate plots, after some false assumptions and starts, to reveal that there is much more going on in Rotfelsen, including an ancient danger, which is likely the cause of her father's dire prediction.
Kalyna won my heart almost immediately after I met her. She's smart, unsentimental (except about her father), witty, clever at reading people and crafting what they want to hear, and fast with her sickle (women aren't allowed swords in this world). She's got a healthy amount of self-preservation, and will do her best to talk herself out of bad situations, and when she can't, well, there are her fists and her sickle….
Kalyna is a wonderfully complicated person, who, though empathetic, won't hesitate at using someone if it means she can protect those she cares about. She is observant and cynical, and though she makes many mistakes in Rotfelsen's Court, and sometimes steers others in poor or dangerous directions, her aim is averting the massive disaster her father saw coming.
I absolutely loved Kalyna, and the amusing tone of her narration. I also loved the complicated relationships and many machinations swirling around her, wonderfully fleshing out this part of the Tetrarchia. Kalyna gets to know many important players in Rotfelsen, and it's through the many odd conversations she has that Rotfelsen is revealed to be full of political intrigue, while also giving the reader a great sense of the type of people in this kingdom.
Although much of this book is occupied with political scheming, Kalyna does have her heart touched by a few people, and even develops feelings for two. Despite gaining her freedom thanks to her actions, Kalyna is on the move again, a little wiser, and more confident of herself after all that she accomplished. It's a great place to wrap this book up, though I know she's headed for another part of the Tetrarchia, where I hope we get more of Kalyna's fast-thinking and cunning on display.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Erewhon Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.
Honestly part of the reason why I’m dnfing may be poor timing, because this week has been stressful and not the most conductive to reading.
Nonetheless, the book is divided into very short sections that break up the flow of the text. There’s a lot of exposition hammered in that hinders the tempo further. There’s also a lot of repetition of the three basic facts: 1) the protagonist has been kidnapped, 2) there’s a looming massive threat and 3) the protagonist can’t run from it until she’s reunited with her father. This is stated over and over. Speaking of statements — the author is also prone to very dry, matter-of-fact statements regarding social questions, such as the position of women in society. That’s a good topic for discussion, but it would be so much more interesting if the points arose organically from the story instead of being presented in lectures. I guess it ties back to the author’s overall love for exposition.
There’s some good, creative ideas here and the writing is readable enough. The storytelling part has been a miss for me though.
Nonetheless, the book is divided into very short sections that break up the flow of the text. There’s a lot of exposition hammered in that hinders the tempo further. There’s also a lot of repetition of the three basic facts: 1) the protagonist has been kidnapped, 2) there’s a looming massive threat and 3) the protagonist can’t run from it until she’s reunited with her father. This is stated over and over. Speaking of statements — the author is also prone to very dry, matter-of-fact statements regarding social questions, such as the position of women in society. That’s a good topic for discussion, but it would be so much more interesting if the points arose organically from the story instead of being presented in lectures. I guess it ties back to the author’s overall love for exposition.
There’s some good, creative ideas here and the writing is readable enough. The storytelling part has been a miss for me though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Unfortunately, the writing style is not for me. 3 stars, as I need to be somewhat neutral
~ I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own ~
~ I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own ~
I REALLY hated the grandmother. Like despise with every fiber of my being. But really loved the rest of the story.