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bones_jackson's review
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Nossa que livro ruim, ele não flui nada e os capítulos são gigantes, sem contar que a linguagem é tão antiga que parece que o Shakespeare nasceu de novo, escreveu esse livro e morreu de novo. O final da história é decepcionante
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Kidnapping, War, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Sexism, Slavery, and Violence
ceallaighsbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
“In the stories… any child suckled by a wild beast was destined to become a hero.”
TITLE—The Symmetry of Stars
AUTHOR—Alex Myers
PUBLISHED—2021
GENRE—retelling; fantasy/mythology
SETTING—Europe, Africa, and the Middle East in the medieval era
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—Nature vs Nurture, gods & humans, gender identity and social & cultural expectations of gender conformity, philosophy, coming of age, twinhood/siblinghood, storytelling
WRITING STYLE—felt very YA-y most of the time, took a great chunk of the book for the writing to start flowing properly; strongest section was “Little Mars’s” story—it was actually so much stronger it felt almost out of place from the rest of the book…
CHARACTERS—unfortunately the MC/narrator was the weakest character so it kind of clouded how strong the four twins’ characters really were… I think if the narrator’s character development and growth were better handled and maybe more philosophically organized it would have been a MUCH stronger story… I loved the choice of character names though…
STORY/PLOT—somewhat unoriginal and even predictable for the first half though it became stronger later on—it depended on the characters and philosophical message being *very* strong, almost perfect, which unfortunately they kind of weren’t…
PHILOSOPHY—a bit contradictory and incomplete—hung up on the Western ideas of dualities in both the natural & spiritual realms… it didn’t work for me. There were sparks of valuable insight but not enough consistency. The reader had to do too much guessing I think… and judging by the reviews I’ve read, most readers weren’t given enough to get the author’s point. 🤷🏻♀️
“I do believe that Bradamante had just figured out exactly how unfair the world could be. Not a bad lesson to learn. Now, what would she do with it?”
As with any work that tries to present a revolutionary idea while continuing to subscribe to the beliefs and values of the systems that created the condition of oppression against which the work is rebelling, there are bound to be a lot of holes, contradictions, and inconsistencies in the ideas and thought processes presented. Myers’s attempts at even just defining the concepts of Nature and Nurture in the first place were largely flawed and while I think that this was partly intentional and supposed to contribute to the character development of the narrating character, I still got the sense that there was some inner confusion on the part of the author’s own understanding of the terms and the nature of the “age old” debate that he was handling.
Another confusing aspect was the existence of the gods—their own natures and identities and their relationship with humans, their roles both in relation to humans and to other supernatural extraterrestrial elements, was all too lightly touched upon and I thought it needed to feel a bit more grounded in order for it all to be less distracting or less destabilizing to the story.
Also an authoritarian god MC obsessed with ruling the human world and forcing upon them their own ideas and philosophies just seemed like the super wrong choice for a book whose entire purpose was as a morality tale dealing with the philosophical question of Nature vs Nurture in terms of uplifting & positively fulfilling human life?
So while this book was mildly interesting and at times the story could be absorbing there were just a lot of things that didn’t work for me. I’m a little surprised because I thought Story of Silence was very successful at all of the things TSOS seemed to get wrong… 🤷🏻♀️ At the very least this story could have benefited from more worldbuilding and scene setting. I just think in order to be successful in communicating its “message” it needed to feel more like a *novel* than just a parable or whatever you want to call it.
Although in a way the shortcomings of the book made me think even more critically of the philosophical debate going on between the pages which was kind of beneficial and had I the energy for it I’d like to write a more comprehensive essay collecting all the statements about Nurture and Nature and figuring out exactly where the inconsistencies were stemming from but… I too tired for that. 😂 I think this *would* make a good, rigorous bookclub read though tbh.
“The best stories are told together—one person listens, the other shares, then the listener retells it, makes it better, makes it truer. You can’t tell stories on your own.”
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
TW // misogyny, slavery, abduction (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!)
Further Reading—
- The Story of Silence, by Alex Myers
- The Inheritance Trilogy, by NK Jemisin—the only book/s I’ve ever read with god characters that didn’t rankle me 😂
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny
Moderate: Slavery, Murder, and Kidnapping
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