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dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
0.5 stars I have never hated the prose in a book more, I cried from pure relief when it was over. No emotional depth until the end, only similes, similes, similes, piss and shit everywhere and then more similes. IT'S OVER I'M FREE
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Gore, Excrement, Vomit, Cannibalism
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Here’s the thing: I can tell this is a wonderful book, but I just couldn’t pay attention. The characters did not click for me, and the structure was difficult to understand via audiobook. I also think, half of the middle section could have been cut out.
The setting was vivid and complex, the characters, diverse, and the plot mysterious. But overall, not for me.
I wouldn’t say no to trying it again in print, we will see.
The setting was vivid and complex, the characters, diverse, and the plot mysterious. But overall, not for me.
I wouldn’t say no to trying it again in print, we will see.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Cannibalism
Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Child abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child death, Sexual assault, Suicide
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really wanted to like this. I had heard so much about it and in theory it has all of the elements of the kind of book that I usually adore, but no matter how much I tried, I simply couldn't connect with the story. The narrative layers were beautiful and I know what they intended to do with this being a multigenerational story, but I can't help but feel like they were part of the reason why most of the characters felt so distant to me.
There's also the fact that this seemed to be Jun's tale above all else. Keema was right there next to him, by to me he read more like a deuteragonist — while Jun's past, his experiences, his trauma, and his journey to come to terms with this and change are deeply explored, Keema's by contrast, just… are not.
Keema is described as missing an arm from the get-go but for over 70% of the book, the story almost completely refuses to tell us how Keema himself feels about his disability. We see how other people react to his missing arm; we see him be ostracised, be called slurs and a man of poor fortune, but not how Keema feels about any of this nor the other ways in which his disability affects his daily life. This was deeply frustrating to me, and my wanting to learn more about Keema became the main reason why I kept on reading, but when he finally tells his story, what do we get? We're told that this story was for Jun alone and that it shouldn't matter to the reader, because Keema only feels nostalgic about his loss and it doesn't really affect him at all, since it was so long ago.
This felt like a very shallow portrayal of disability to me. I understand and appreciate the author's intent to have Keema be a character beyond his disability and make it clear that it doesn't define him. Our disabilities are not our entire identities, but they are still part of who we are and I don't think that that should be ignored or denied. Furthermore, while I don't think that this was what the author meant at all, the implication that experiences with disability should not be spoken of (we're told that we shouldn't care how Keema lost his arm) left a bitter taste in my mouth.
This book has a disabled main character, but at the same time seems scared of actually describing disability, which makes me incredibly sad. There's so much that could have been explored with how Keema is a great warrior, and how he must have had to adapt his fighting style after the loss of his arm, the trauma of this loss and how he overcame it, and how he came to indeed feel whole once more and accept and love who he was (as we see him do by the end of the book). I see the potential and I'm so sad that those things weren't touched on, while we did explore Jun's trauma. I'm sad that Keema felt to me like such an afterthought.
That being said, I do wish that I had like this book. I think that it has a lot of important messages and I'm so glad to see that so many people love it and that it means so much to them. I don't think that it's a bad book, but it's simply not one that I personally enjoyed.
There's also the fact that this seemed to be Jun's tale above all else. Keema was right there next to him, by to me he read more like a deuteragonist — while Jun's past, his experiences, his trauma, and his journey to come to terms with this and change are deeply explored, Keema's by contrast, just… are not.
Keema is described as missing an arm from the get-go but for over 70% of the book, the story almost completely refuses to tell us how Keema himself feels about his disability. We see how other people react to his missing arm; we see him be ostracised, be called slurs and a man of poor fortune, but not how Keema feels about any of this nor the other ways in which his disability affects his daily life. This was deeply frustrating to me, and my wanting to learn more about Keema became the main reason why I kept on reading, but when he finally tells his story, what do we get? We're told that this story was for Jun alone and that it shouldn't matter to the reader, because Keema only feels nostalgic about his loss and it doesn't really affect him at all, since it was so long ago.
This felt like a very shallow portrayal of disability to me. I understand and appreciate the author's intent to have Keema be a character beyond his disability and make it clear that it doesn't define him. Our disabilities are not our entire identities, but they are still part of who we are and I don't think that that should be ignored or denied. Furthermore, while I don't think that this was what the author meant at all, the implication that experiences with disability should not be spoken of (we're told that we shouldn't care how Keema lost his arm) left a bitter taste in my mouth.
This book has a disabled main character, but at the same time seems scared of actually describing disability, which makes me incredibly sad. There's so much that could have been explored with how Keema is a great warrior, and how he must have had to adapt his fighting style after the loss of his arm, the trauma of this loss and how he overcame it, and how he came to indeed feel whole once more and accept and love who he was (as we see him do by the end of the book). I see the potential and I'm so sad that those things weren't touched on, while we did explore Jun's trauma. I'm sad that Keema felt to me like such an afterthought.
That being said, I do wish that I had like this book. I think that it has a lot of important messages and I'm so glad to see that so many people love it and that it means so much to them. I don't think that it's a bad book, but it's simply not one that I personally enjoyed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Violence, Cannibalism, Murder
Moderate: War
Minor: Death of parent
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder
Minor: Rape, Slavery, Grief, War
adventurous
dark
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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cannibalism
Moderate: Ableism
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I don’t fully know how to express what this book did to me, so here are a couple of my favourite quotes:
“”Fuck off,” he said, which, to Keema’s ears, had the same melody as I love you.”
FML
“The two boys, who once wanted nothing more than someone to fight, now faced each other.”
“And the spear cuts through water.” AHHHHHH
This is what I wished the Song of Achilles had been lol
FML
“The two boys, who once wanted nothing more than someone to fight, now faced each other.”
“And the spear cuts through water.” AHHHHHH
This is what I wished the Song of Achilles had been lol
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Ableism, Rape
Minor: Homophobia
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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:
Yes
This was the most beautiful and strange book I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. The prose was exquisite and the storyline was so unique and original. A fever dream of a book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, War
Moderate: Ableism
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It deleted our long review just as we finished it because of writing it on glitchy mobile...
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, Abandonment
Minor: Incest
There is a lot of descriptions of cruelty, especially from the corrupt royal family that have powers.
They do things like torture and kill people (including children) as their normal baseline.
Abuse and mind control/brain washing and war and locking family members up and dying are a Thing.
For example, The second terror has the power to will others to do as he commands. So he attempts to get someone to commit violent incest, but this doesn't actually happen. He does, however, get to command all kinds of other messed up things for his amusement.
A lot of ableist slurs because one of the major characters is an amputee in a society that heavily stigmatizes amputation as a form of punishment. And another character was heavily shunned, neglected, and mentally regressed / animalistic, so he is often compared to a child/childe.
Tbh, should just assume that all the content warnings appear in some form or another.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Death, Violence, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent
Moderate: Incest, Sexual content