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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
What an adventure! My expectations were high and they were met, thankfully.
I don’t think I’ve ever read a book where I enjoyed every single character and actively wanted to know more about them. The side character mentioned 3 times? I’d like a chapter please.
This book was very magical. The magic was all music, which I enjoyed as a music player and listener.
The first section (the book is split into 3 sections) was a little rough, ngl. It dragged and it really didn’t give me much to look forward to. That all went away once I reached section 2.
There were some parts where the sentences were just sooooo long and very wordy that I literally could not understand what was happening, but that didn’t hinder my enjoyment.
Luna slayed and I wish we had a book about her. In fact, I wish there was some more insight to why
Some quotes I enjoyed, because they were funny or beautiful.
“This farmer who is a librarian who studied to be a bard. I don’t suppose we can get all that into one act.”
“Caladrius’s attention veered sharply back to Hexel. Veris, staring at him, spoke. “You haven’t heard her sing?” Hexel stared back at them. “No” he said warily. “Why?”
“No, no, no, no,” until her cry rose and a bird caught it in its beak and flew away, echoing her over the city.”
“Even silence seemed dangerous; it was the language of the hunter, the language of the dead.”
“If he is signaling–” “Or the guard. A trap, maybe.” “Who would be stupid enough to walk into it?” No one answered. They began to move again, toward the beckoning light.”
Read for the 2024 Fantasy Bingo
I don’t think I’ve ever read a book where I enjoyed every single character and actively wanted to know more about them. The side character mentioned 3 times? I’d like a chapter please.
This book was very magical. The magic was all music, which I enjoyed as a music player and listener.
The first section (the book is split into 3 sections) was a little rough, ngl. It dragged and it really didn’t give me much to look forward to. That all went away once I reached section 2.
There were some parts where the sentences were just sooooo long and very wordy that I literally could not understand what was happening, but that didn’t hinder my enjoyment.
Luna slayed and I wish we had a book about her. In fact, I wish there was some more insight to why
Spoiler
she let Caladrius live and why she let her father become blind. It’s clear she doesn’t have the same moral as her father but I would’ve liked to know a little more about that.Some quotes I enjoyed, because they were funny or beautiful.
“This farmer who is a librarian who studied to be a bard. I don’t suppose we can get all that into one act.”
“Caladrius’s attention veered sharply back to Hexel. Veris, staring at him, spoke. “You haven’t heard her sing?” Hexel stared back at them. “No” he said warily. “Why?”
“No, no, no, no,” until her cry rose and a bird caught it in its beak and flew away, echoing her over the city.”
“Even silence seemed dangerous; it was the language of the hunter, the language of the dead.”
“If he is signaling–” “Or the guard. A trap, maybe.” “Who would be stupid enough to walk into it?” No one answered. They began to move again, toward the beckoning light.”
Read for the 2024 Fantasy Bingo
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
r/fantasy bingo 2024-25: Entitled Animals
Hard Mode: The animal in the title is a fantasy or sci-fi creature. (DONE)
Another classic (ish) fantasy book, and this one wasn't what I expected at all tbh! It was really flowery-written in a way which was pretty, but also often obscured the meaning of the words so I found it a bit hard to follow at times. The world-building was interesting but as vague as the magic system, which while it was kinda compelling, made it a bit frustrating for me because a) it was hard to follow what the fuck was happening!!, and b) the potential was there but it fell a bit short for me. I love interesting magic systems, but I also love understanding what I'm reading haha. It was basically a revenge story about a kid whose entire house was killed by the Basilisk, but it's just the nickname of a high house and not an actual basilisk, boo. Idk, it was okay! Compelling enough that I finished it cos I wanted to see what happened. Also one of the places was called Luly which I loved, cos that's my nickname for my cat Lula haha.
Hard Mode: The animal in the title is a fantasy or sci-fi creature. (DONE)
Another classic (ish) fantasy book, and this one wasn't what I expected at all tbh! It was really flowery-written in a way which was pretty, but also often obscured the meaning of the words so I found it a bit hard to follow at times. The world-building was interesting but as vague as the magic system, which while it was kinda compelling, made it a bit frustrating for me because a) it was hard to follow what the fuck was happening!!, and b) the potential was there but it fell a bit short for me. I love interesting magic systems, but I also love understanding what I'm reading haha. It was basically a revenge story about a kid whose entire house was killed by the Basilisk, but it's just the nickname of a high house and not an actual basilisk, boo. Idk, it was okay! Compelling enough that I finished it cos I wanted to see what happened. Also one of the places was called Luly which I loved, cos that's my nickname for my cat Lula haha.
This is Patricia McKillip's version of [b:Tigana.|104089|Tigana (10th Anniversary Edition)|Guy Gavriel Kay|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171506613s/104089.jpg|1907200] Or at least that's what I kept mentally comparing it to as I read it. I did try to shake myself out of that mindset because it is, of course, it's own book, but if books were people these two would be very close friends.
So, obviously, I loved it. The characters are very well realized, the story is nicely paced and holds your attention, and, while it's a bit sentimental and romantic it never gets syrupy. Maybe one of my favorite of her recent books. Right up there with [b:Od's Magic|19823|Od Magic|Patricia A. McKillip|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167289683s/19823.jpg|21023] anyway.
So, obviously, I loved it. The characters are very well realized, the story is nicely paced and holds your attention, and, while it's a bit sentimental and romantic it never gets syrupy. Maybe one of my favorite of her recent books. Right up there with [b:Od's Magic|19823|Od Magic|Patricia A. McKillip|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167289683s/19823.jpg|21023] anyway.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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:
No
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
First read 01/2025 for the r/Fantasy book bingo (bards square)
I tried to read Jaleigh Johnson's Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: The Road to Neverwinter (oof ouch my colon) for the bards square, and it went terribly, but I managed to finish this one! Since I picked it up for the bingo, I didn't really know anything going into it, except that Patricia McKillip was one of those writers who's meant to be Very Good. Not merely in the sense that she can come up with a cool worldbuilding idea, or make a particularly twisty plot, but that she can write, and that problems in her books are unlikely to be solved by a bout of convenient violence. She won the Mythopoeic Award four times, which should tell you something.
This was a more or less accurate impression. The plot is a fairly standard tale of the lost heir returning for revenge, but the opera within the book very neatly pokes fun at this whilst lifting the drama to new heights, so it gets a pass. There was more violence than I expected, but it didn't really provide tidy solutions. In fact, the majority of it happened in the background, and mostly to people who'd done nothing to deserve it; the casual brutality was rather shocking after 250 pages of peace and plotting. Good stuff.
The writing was indeed impressive, but at times it definitely seemed to be trying too hard. There were a number of points when it flat-out contradicted itself in an effort to be poetic, like so:
I tried to read Jaleigh Johnson's Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: The Road to Neverwinter (oof ouch my colon) for the bards square, and it went terribly, but I managed to finish this one! Since I picked it up for the bingo, I didn't really know anything going into it, except that Patricia McKillip was one of those writers who's meant to be Very Good. Not merely in the sense that she can come up with a cool worldbuilding idea, or make a particularly twisty plot, but that she can write, and that problems in her books are unlikely to be solved by a bout of convenient violence. She won the Mythopoeic Award four times, which should tell you something.
This was a more or less accurate impression. The plot is a fairly standard tale of the lost heir returning for revenge, but the opera within the book very neatly pokes fun at this whilst lifting the drama to new heights, so it gets a pass. There was more violence than I expected, but it didn't really provide tidy solutions. In fact, the majority of it happened in the background, and mostly to people who'd done nothing to deserve it; the casual brutality was rather shocking after 250 pages of peace and plotting. Good stuff.
The writing was indeed impressive, but at times it definitely seemed to be trying too hard. There were a number of points when it flat-out contradicted itself in an effort to be poetic, like so:
She waited for Brio Hood. He came silently, but she heard him before he wanted her to. His shadow, she might have told him, brushed too carelessly across stone. Still, she did not move before he spoke. Then she turned, smiling at him, the brittle collection of bone and cold shriveled thought that no one ever noticed, even after it was too late.
Please don't try to convince me that he's never noticed when you've just told me that someone's noticed him. I'm not quite that thick. The opening was also wildly confusing; being the first pages of a fantasy novel, pretty much anything can happen. If the book tells me that the ash is looking around the room, then crawled out of the hearth, I will believe that this is some sort of sentient ash spirit. If it's actually narrating a traumatised child perceiving himself as dead/ash, I'm going to have to go back and reread it once I figure this out. It would have worked in the middle of the book, once a precedent had been set, but right off the bat? It's too poetic, too fast. That said, the magic was incredibly vague in a really good way, so that I was never quite sure what it was going to do, or what it might be capable of. A lot of the time, the characters didn't know either. It felt very appropriately magical.
I didn't have high hopes for this bingo square, because I worried that a fantasy writer doing a bards novel would produce pretty hackneyed stuff, and it was rather hackneyed, but I'm happy to have read it all the same. Music was given an appropriately large role without ever feeling like it characterised the whole setting, and I particularly enjoyed the relationship between Caladrius and his adult son Hollis. The book mostly centred around men, but the female characters were varied and interesting, particularly the rather enigmatic Luna Arioso. It wasn't by any means a horny book, but the world had very relaxed attitudes towards sex, which is an uncommon combination in fantasy novels, particularly when the society created remains misogynistic ("I'll find you a husband, to keep you out of trouble," says one character.) Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading more McKillip.
I didn't have high hopes for this bingo square, because I worried that a fantasy writer doing a bards novel would produce pretty hackneyed stuff, and it was rather hackneyed, but I'm happy to have read it all the same. Music was given an appropriately large role without ever feeling like it characterised the whole setting, and I particularly enjoyed the relationship between Caladrius and his adult son Hollis. The book mostly centred around men, but the female characters were varied and interesting, particularly the rather enigmatic Luna Arioso. It wasn't by any means a horny book, but the world had very relaxed attitudes towards sex, which is an uncommon combination in fantasy novels, particularly when the society created remains misogynistic ("I'll find you a husband, to keep you out of trouble," says one character.) Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading more McKillip.
slow-paced
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is not a book for everyone. It’s a slow-paced, character driven story that only has a plot in the final third of the book. It’s also a strange narrative style that relied a lot on symbolism and jumped around in time for the first few chapters. This is my first McKillip book so I don’t know if this is just her style or if this book is an outlier, but it was difficult to get into at first. If you like things to be explained, especially magic systems, this isn’t for you. The magic is a complete mystery, even to the characters of the book.
I’m glad I read it though. It really pushed me out of my comfort zone and it’s been years since Ive read something challenging in terms of the metaphors, symbolism, and imagery. It’s a book that gives you a lot to think about.
I’m glad I read it though. It really pushed me out of my comfort zone and it’s been years since Ive read something challenging in terms of the metaphors, symbolism, and imagery. It’s a book that gives you a lot to think about.