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jematral's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
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? No
5.0
Beautiful prose, a complicated world being unraveled before you. Gothic, atmospheric and unique.
ezrasupremacy's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 ⭐️ rounded up bc there’s a good chance the problem is me and not the book.
i don’t really like fantasy, and i only picked this up bc of the darkness elements with which it was pitched to me, and while there was definitely lots of that, it was also so incredibly dull.
the writing was easy enough and the chapters really short so that you could flow through the book rather nicely, but the plot was so incredibly convoluted and still doesn’t make any sense to me even after finishing the book.
safe to say i will not be reading book two.
i think the beginning of this book was very slow, and then suddenly ramped up quite quickly, and then suddenly one thing after another happened, and it didn’t feel like there was enough pause or even impact of anything that happened to really make me care. like the person that was sold as one of the main villains throughout the first 50% of the book was defeated like it’s nothing in one chapter, then we realise the other main villain is actually a villain (yeah real shocker) and then after that i just completely lost what the point of anything was.
i’m sure a lot of questions would be answered in book two, but this was simply not good enough and did not make me care enough about any of the plot or the characters to want to read more of it/them.
i don’t really like fantasy, and i only picked this up bc of the darkness elements with which it was pitched to me, and while there was definitely lots of that, it was also so incredibly dull.
the writing was easy enough and the chapters really short so that you could flow through the book rather nicely, but the plot was so incredibly convoluted and still doesn’t make any sense to me even after finishing the book.
safe to say i will not be reading book two.
i think the beginning of this book was very slow, and then suddenly ramped up quite quickly, and then suddenly one thing after another happened, and it didn’t feel like there was enough pause or even impact of anything that happened to really make me care. like the person that was sold as one of the main villains throughout the first 50% of the book was defeated like it’s nothing in one chapter, then we realise the other main villain is actually a villain (yeah real shocker) and then after that i just completely lost what the point of anything was.
i’m sure a lot of questions would be answered in book two, but this was simply not good enough and did not make me care enough about any of the plot or the characters to want to read more of it/them.
apollos_books's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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? Yes
3.75
3.75/5 : I have so many mixed feelings about this book...There's a lot that I like and a lot that I hate, so I'll just make a pros and cons list
Pros:
+ The last 300 pages are incredibly dense with magical weirdness, wonder, and fantasy. I could not put the book down when I got to this part
+ Was giving Dickens x Ghibli
+ Lots of interesting commentary on class and gender
+ Amazing ending that presents a nice cliffhanger/set up for the next book
Cons:
- The first 200 pages are confusing at best and boring at worst. Nathan as a main character is at his most insufferable here
- A lot of the dialogue was unnecessarily lengthy. A lot of the characters would babble on and on for pages at a time
- RE commentary on gender: At times the commentary just felt straight up misogynistic. None of the girls and women in this story occupy empowering or holistic roles. They are either cold, unfeeling witches or sex workers, with both roles serving to prop up the male characters around them.
- It feels like there's too many cooks in the kitchen. Each character has their own complicated backstory, abilities, and motivations, but we never spend quite enough time with each character to fully learn about them and appreciate their complexities. There is little to no sense of emotion driving these characters
- Can be willfully esoteric at times. Sometimes this is charming, but more often it's just frustrating as a reader. Maintaining a "mysterious" atmosphere =/= leaving your reader scrambling and confused in the dark
Pros:
+ The last 300 pages are incredibly dense with magical weirdness, wonder, and fantasy. I could not put the book down when I got to this part
+ Was giving Dickens x Ghibli
+ Lots of interesting commentary on class and gender
+ Amazing ending that presents a nice cliffhanger/set up for the next book
Cons:
- The first 200 pages are confusing at best and boring at worst. Nathan as a main character is at his most insufferable here
- A lot of the dialogue was unnecessarily lengthy. A lot of the characters would babble on and on for pages at a time
- RE commentary on gender: At times the commentary just felt straight up misogynistic. None of the girls and women in this story occupy empowering or holistic roles. They are either cold, unfeeling witches or sex workers, with both roles serving to prop up the male characters around them.
- It feels like there's too many cooks in the kitchen. Each character has their own complicated backstory, abilities, and motivations, but we never spend quite enough time with each character to fully learn about them and appreciate their complexities. There is little to no sense of emotion driving these characters
- Can be willfully esoteric at times. Sometimes this is charming, but more often it's just frustrating as a reader. Maintaining a "mysterious" atmosphere =/= leaving your reader scrambling and confused in the dark
georgia_irl's review
1.5
I really wanted to like this book, and I did really enjoy the begining. Unfortunately my first thought after finishing it was "thank God that's over".
As the book went on it became clearer and clearer the disdain the author has for women. The smelling of the "oestrus" in the second half of the book was incredibly off putting, and almost every female character was a prostitute. This coupled with the language used whenever there is a female character on the page, did not make for a good reading experience.
It also felt like it needed a really good edit. There's a fantastic world in there, and some amazing ideas. Unfortunately this is let down by the uneven pacing and cluttered plot.
As the book went on it became clearer and clearer the disdain the author has for women. The smelling of the "oestrus" in the second half of the book was incredibly off putting, and almost every female character was a prostitute. This coupled with the language used whenever there is a female character on the page, did not make for a good reading experience.
It also felt like it needed a really good edit. There's a fantastic world in there, and some amazing ideas. Unfortunately this is let down by the uneven pacing and cluttered plot.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny
breeperscreepers's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
This book started strong, VERY strong. I loved the world and the Living Mud and the oozy goozy darkness of everything, it was insane in the best way. The middle lost me, it was more like a fever dream fairytale and things just kept snowballing faster without a moment to connect or digest - one minute our main character is learning to read and the next he's burning a civilization to ash with his mere godlike presence . After a certain point everything felt so unreal and unrelatable that I wasn't really interested in what happened next, it was just going to be more magical nonsense on an evermore grander scale.
It's a shame I stopped enjoying the story, the writing was good and the dark imagery was fantastic. Certain scenes towards the end were so morbid that it ticked my rating back up a bit.
On a side note, this book was marketed to me as a steampunky mix of China Míeville and Mervyn Peake, but I found it to be none of the three. It's a city. Every dang city has a few machines, that doesn't mean it's steampunk.
It's a shame I stopped enjoying the story, the writing was good and the dark imagery was fantastic. Certain scenes towards the end were so morbid that it ticked my rating back up a bit.
On a side note, this book was marketed to me as a steampunky mix of China Míeville and Mervyn Peake, but I found it to be none of the three. It's a city. Every dang city has a few machines, that doesn't mean it's steampunk.
theajwh's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
gracecashxx's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
kelleydoesbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5