Reviews

The Story of Silence by Alex Myers

diya13's review

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

batbaby's review against another edition

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adventurous dark inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This actually took me a while to read, I wish it had more about silence’s nonbinary/gender queerness because really he read as a trans man for the majority of the book. And their gender non comformity/discussion only came about by Merlin going yeah but you’re not a man are you. This isn’t to invalidate silence’s gender experience I just wish they came to the development of their own volition. I wish we explored more romance towards the end like maybe going back to Ame or Alfred. I enjoyed the magical elements of the book especially hearing about the selkie  or the nymph I just wish it had more of the fantasy element. I enjoyed this book but it definitely had its faults and the cover “a tale of a non-binary knight” feels misleading for the majority of the book Silence is a trans masculine minstrel but hey-ho
Also the man-in-a dress trope was annoying and harmful at the end and I was just expecting it to be sapphic.
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pallotj's review

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challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

suza_98's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective

5.0

heather_leila's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

kaygee_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

geekberry's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

asta_cassel's review

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adventurous challenging lighthearted reflective relaxing sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The book is everything it’s trying to be

elatedbooks's review against another edition

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2.75

For stories bear the imprint of all who tell them.

This is a very confusing review for me to write.

I loved the author’s narrative style, especially at the beginning with the more classic quest tale of Merlin & the dragon (I was so sad there wasn’t more fun fantasy things in it :( )

But the representation of women in this really made me uncomfortable. I know that it’s something the author actually acknowledges that obviously it’s based on a medieval tale & is therefore indicative of their contemporary beliefs. Plus the author explained their careful consideration of the portrayal of women & i’m pretty sure they even mention updating their roles in the story. But I don’t know if that’s enough for a published novel in this day and age because a female presence was distinctly lacking & when it was displayed it was so disgustingly flat & tropey (literally reduced to the mother figure & a couple of temptresses). It was so bad that I had to do some recon on the author & wasn’t surprised to find it written by a man but was dismayed to find it written by a trans man!

As for the gender exploration element I was similarly disappointed. It got a bit better towards the end as the final couple chapters tied it up more but it didn’t feel revolutionary or even participatory relevant for a lot of it. I know it catalyses the story & Silence does struggle with it continuously but only in quite an immediate way without touching on bigger ideas regarding gender. Its hard because ultimately, as a cis person, it’s not really my place to criticise the representation or exploration of gender fluidity but I just felt left wanting like this could have been so much more.

rachdotmoe's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0