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neera_exlibris's review
I really didn't like that sexual harassment and physical trauma were used very transparently as ways to make Saffron dislike her world and create a secondary reason for why she couldn't immediately go back to Earth. Additionally, the sexual harassment was used as a quick and easy way to make the reader sympathise with Saffron before she goes through the portal, instead of just allowing us to spend more time with her. A lot of things about this reminded me of old-school fantasy and not in a good way. The physical trauma was presumably also meant to show the reader how dangerous the situation in Kena was at that moment, but that could've been done in so many ways that didn't involve what felt like frankly unnecessary trauma for the main character.
I'm very glad that I'd already read the author's more recent book, A Strange and Stubborn Endurance, before picking this up because otherwise I would've missed out on a great book!
I'm very glad that I'd already read the author's more recent book, A Strange and Stubborn Endurance, before picking this up because otherwise I would've missed out on a great book!
sophiesmallhands's review
I struggled to connect with the two POV characters and the shock factor of the initial sexual harassment and injury (unrelated) in the early chapters felt unnecessary and forced.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Minor: Misogyny, Homophobia, and War
verumsolum's review against another edition
4.5
This is a really good story, though I am slightly disappointed in where the story is left. It definitely is a complete story, but it is also a partial one. I have not deducted points for this, because the book's resolution makes sense to me, but I have a difficult time with series where the story I am most interested in isn't resolved in the book I've paid for, but require reading more of the series to get. (But that's more about me than this book.)
zoe2000's review against another edition
adventurous
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? It's complicated
3.5
I do enjoy a good worldbuilding, it has to be said
lexi_spanier's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-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
4.25
kivt's review against another edition
2.0
i wanted to like this but i just didn’t. i liked being dumped into the portal world just like Saffron, with events and relationships already in motion that i just needed to figure out. i did not like how Meadows handled exposition, which is the book’s main flaw. it felt like every five pages there was a massive block of text, usually Gwen’s internal monologue or another character externally monologuing, to explain the history of the world, the characters, their beliefs, and how and why Kena is different from Earth. it was genuinely interminable.
my biggest problem with “classic genre or trope, but make it inclusive” books (which i read a lot of because i want them to be good) is when books explore social themes through telling or lecturing rather than showing. you can do a lot with a diverse cast of characters that interact in a realistic way. you can’t do much with a cast of characters that feels like you were hellbent on completing your diversity pokédex at any cost, especially when you don’t let them make mistakes with each other. if polyamory or asexuality are going to be cultural norms, i want to see the evidence in how that culture functions, how people within it relate to those norms, and what they think to explain or not explain to an outsider. i don’t want long fuckin lectures about it between stale characters who seem to adapt to each other’s differences with no real friction. you include a diverse cast and wrestle with social issues to tell a more interesting story than the genre’s overabundance of white dude stories about whites dudes, and/or to make a political argument. this book did neither and as a result was incredibly boring.
the pacing was also rushed and the characters really underdeveloped.
my biggest problem with “classic genre or trope, but make it inclusive” books (which i read a lot of because i want them to be good) is when books explore social themes through telling or lecturing rather than showing. you can do a lot with a diverse cast of characters that interact in a realistic way. you can’t do much with a cast of characters that feels like you were hellbent on completing your diversity pokédex at any cost, especially when you don’t let them make mistakes with each other. if polyamory or asexuality are going to be cultural norms, i want to see the evidence in how that culture functions, how people within it relate to those norms, and what they think to explain or not explain to an outsider. i don’t want long fuckin lectures about it between stale characters who seem to adapt to each other’s differences with no real friction. you include a diverse cast and wrestle with social issues to tell a more interesting story than the genre’s overabundance of white dude stories about whites dudes, and/or to make a political argument. this book did neither and as a result was incredibly boring.
the pacing was also rushed and the characters really underdeveloped.
willow1113's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Sexual harassment
densorcell's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
The narrators and MCs spanned at least 3 generations, which I found novel and rewarding. Reading this was borderline therapeutic, with a lot of the adults giving mentorship and advice everyone deserves to hear without being put on pedestals by the author. Poly-normative, but (iirc) nothing sexual happens. There are really interesting factions/guilds (specifically the “storytellers” who consider themselves more of a “force” than a “person/character” in the universe).
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death and Animal death
jessrock's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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? It's complicated
2.75
I really liked A Strange and Stubborn Endurance and its sequel All the Hidden Paths, so I was curious to read more from Foz Meadows, but this was very unpolished. There's an interesting story with interesting characters at the heart of it, but the writing isn't great, the story jumps between too many perspectives too frequently, and the copy editing (at least in the digital edition I read) is so poor that it affects the reader's ability to follow the story - most significantly because of missing line breaks during dialogue that make it very difficult to tell which character is speaking, but there are also doubled or missing words and stray letters or punctuation marks in places they don't belong. The last couple of chapters were a mess and the book ends without resolving anything at all; there's a sequel but I don't know that I'll bother to read it.