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iftheshoef1tz's review
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This book was a chore. Clunky, paragraph-long exposition and worldbuilding that only had 2-3 sentences in it (and they were long paragraphs!! Literally a page and a third in one memorable section), characters that felt wooden and completely unknowable despite being in first person…the last 100 pages were the most interesting, although there were glimmers of interesting things sprinkled throughout, which is what kept me going.
I appreciated Altagracia being an unreliable narrator, especially when it’s revealed thatshe lied about being chosen as the next prophet I also really liked that same-sex relationships and nonbinary people just were, there was no fanfare or scandal in those identities. The relationship between Anita and Gracia was baffling, as if it were unsure about where and when it wanted to be said relationship. I thought they had negative chemistry for most of the book, although both of them clearly loved Ceirran. I think they could be an interesting pair in future books, but their sex scene felt SO shoe-horned in (and I think it was immediately after Ceirran died , to boot.
The pacing overall was confused. The middle section should’ve been a lot shorter and the last 100 pages should’ve been expanded (where was all the fighting?? I didn’t want to read a reflection on the war, I wanted to READ the war!). I also frequently felt that the characters were telling each other and themselves how clever they were, and most of the time their wants and desires were opaque, so I couldn’t tell if they were being clever after all.
Tropes:
Unreliable narrator
Queers in outer space
Politics ™️
Cleopatra retelling
I appreciated Altagracia being an unreliable narrator, especially when it’s revealed that
The pacing overall was confused. The middle section should’ve been a lot shorter and the last 100 pages should’ve been expanded (where was all the fighting?? I didn’t want to read a reflection on the war, I wanted to READ the war!). I also frequently felt that the characters were telling each other and themselves how clever they were, and most of the time their wants and desires were opaque, so I couldn’t tell if they were being clever after all.
Tropes:
Unreliable narrator
Queers in outer space
Politics ™️
Cleopatra retelling
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Violence, Blood, and War
Moderate: Sexual content and Colonisation
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