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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
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Spear Cuts Through Water is a lyrical, story-within-a-story, epic fantasy tale. On its surface, it is about the journey of two men fighting the tyrannical rule of a god-like imperial dynasty. In its depths, this is a "a love story. down to the blade-dented bone".
The narrative mixes first, second, and third person in a way that pulled me into the characters and enveloped me in the story's moods - ranging from somber to horrified to heart-racing action and everything in between. The writing style evokes oral storytelling, and I think that worked well. A major theme that the novel explores is how stories tie people together and define them, and the way the second person narration ties into the third person narrative emphasizes that. There were moments throughout the story where I truly thought "This was a beautiful way to tell this tale."
The main story is of Jun and Keema, who by chance join together to shepherd a runaway god. Their country has been ruled by a despotic imperial dynasty that has drawn their magical powers from this god, and the three princes - the Three Terrors - will stop at nothing to reclaim her. Jun and Keema's encounters with the Three Terrors create tense and quick action sequences, with a brutality that the story does not shy away from, but also does not dwell in. There is violence, body horror, and cannibalism, but it never felt gratuitous.
There is also a romanticism underpinning the narrative, a yearning for belonging and love that is central to the narrative because our need for love and belonging is central to our humanity. This is not a romance genre novel though, so I hesitate to add a romance tag, even as some of the romantic sentiments in the story took my breath away.
Overall, I loved this book. The style, plot, characters, and setting all worked together to create a story that grabbed my heart and pulled it into a fantastical, brutal, romantic place.
The narrative mixes first, second, and third person in a way that pulled me into the characters and enveloped me in the story's moods - ranging from somber to horrified to heart-racing action and everything in between. The writing style evokes oral storytelling, and I think that worked well. A major theme that the novel explores is how stories tie people together and define them, and the way the second person narration ties into the third person narrative emphasizes that. There were moments throughout the story where I truly thought "This was a beautiful way to tell this tale."
The main story is of Jun and Keema, who by chance join together to shepherd a runaway god. Their country has been ruled by a despotic imperial dynasty that has drawn their magical powers from this god, and the three princes - the Three Terrors - will stop at nothing to reclaim her. Jun and Keema's encounters with the Three Terrors create tense and quick action sequences, with a brutality that the story does not shy away from, but also does not dwell in. There is violence, body horror, and cannibalism, but it never felt gratuitous.
There is also a romanticism underpinning the narrative, a yearning for belonging and love that is central to the narrative because our need for love and belonging is central to our humanity. This is not a romance genre novel though, so I hesitate to add a romance tag, even as some of the romantic sentiments in the story took my breath away.
Overall, I loved this book. The style, plot, characters, and setting all worked together to create a story that grabbed my heart and pulled it into a fantastical, brutal, romantic place.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Violence, Cannibalism, Death of parent, War
Moderate: Body horror, Incest, Misogyny
Minor: Ableism
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-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
This is a very confusing book, so you need to be ready for that. If you're overwhelmed, check out my video on TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@sarahmore.books/video/7497192155472022806) or Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/p/DI3amNFoNLY/) for some basic, spoiler-free background to hopefully avoid some of the frustration and confusion before reading this book.
Themes: love, power, duty, guilt, pride, intergenerational, interconnected past and present, time, stories, divinity, meaning/purpose
Themes: love, power, duty, guilt, pride, intergenerational, interconnected past and present, time, stories, divinity, meaning/purpose
Style (1): I could tell from the very first paragraph that it was beautifully written in a very literary style. Strangely, it was written in second-, third-, and even first-person, changing mid-sentence. It was confusing at first, but you get used to it once you figure out how to expect the changes (usually signaled by italics and new section headings). Overall, I enjoyed the style of writing very much (once I figured it out), although I remain unconvinced of what is gained (other than fun) by switching perspectives mid-sentence (e.g., "a boy... looked at his commander and I realized that I was standing beside the bravest pesron..." vs. "a boy... looked at his commander and he realized that he was standing beside the bravest person...").
Plot (0.5): It was mostly original though at least one theme was taken from popular mythology (the minotaur ), which felt cheap as it was not cited as a retelling). It did not always feel coherent as new fantastical elements would continuously shock the reader in ways that felt jarring instead of immersive, at least to me (e.g., Jun and Keema fall into a dream of the Sleeping Sea; suddenly the Third Terror transformed into a giant??) . I simply wasn't always convinced by all the fantasy elements. I'm not sure how to describe it other than to say that it wasn't "realistic" or "authentic" enough for me. I'd love to know myself how a writer could "convince" a reader of the veracity of such fantasy elements.
Atmosphere/Setting (0.5): The setting was so descriptive that it was easy to imagine the details of the scenes, but it was a serious struggle at times, especially in the first 130 pages, to understand which of the 3 main settings was being described and what the connection between them was. (I've posted a video on TikTok and Instagram describing the settings to help new readers, linked above). Moreover, it was not always immersive, such as when the setting would change very suddenly and not always to a setting we were already familiar with. While I like the writing style in general, this aspect could have used some work so that the reader would have felt a bit more guided, the change would have felt less drastic, and it wouldn't have kicked the reader out of the fantasy immersion.
Characters (1): I love characters who are a little mad or who grapple with internal dissonances, so Jun was a favourite. The Daware man was also lovingly stubborn. Even the tortoise that they unfortunately called The Defect was adorable. The main characters were believeable and each had their own hidden motivations which were revealed as the story went on. There were also many other snippets of thoughts or happenings from random or tangential characters throughout which was fun (again, once you got used to the style). There were selfish, ambitious, loyal, and love-struck characters, a little bit of everything. Also, the main romance subplot was a frustratingly nice slow burn.
Enjoyment (0.25): I must admit that I was extremely frustrated with this book for a long time, especially the first 130 pages. I seriously considered DNF-ing it, but I persevered because everyone seems to love it. I think I would have liked it more if not for the hype that raised my expectations and I think part of me enjoys the fact that I simply figured out wtf is going on in this book now that I've finally finished it. Putting that aside, I enjoyed the overall story and message, but there were parts that were very frustratingly confusing or uncomfortable to read about (such as cannibalism and some gore).
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gore, Incest, Violence, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder
Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts
adventurous
challenging
emotional
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: Violence
Moderate: Ableism, Sexual content
Minor: Incest
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, War
Moderate: Sexual content, Torture, Death of parent
Minor: Child death, Incest, Rape
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Cannibalism, Sexual harassment, War
Minor: Alcoholism
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I do not know if I can put into words how beautiful and lovely this story is. I adore the dual timelines and the way they weave together near the end. It is simultaneously about how life goes on even after we're gone and we're specks in the great tapestry of life AND about how one person (or two) can make a grand difference in the world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Grief, Alcohol
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:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Incest, Cannibalism