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teokajlibroj's review against another edition
2.0
I really wanted to like this book. I loved the idea of class conflict and revolution in a magical fantasy setting. The Industrial Revolution seems like a great new area for fantasy with lots of potential. I have a big interest in politics so a novel where philosopher-assassins tackle political questions seemed amazing.
Yet I found it really difficult to get into the book. No matter how I tried, I just couldn't connect with the story. The writing is just too clunky and awkward. The author is trying to be profound but it just reads like a dense and obscure political treatise.
The characters are so dull. I'm forcing myself to care about them, but it's just too hard. They're just too empty and lifeless. There are 3 main characters and none of them have any agency, they are completely passive. They spend their time moping around, being melancholic and feeling sorry for themselves. The side characters too are empty and forgettable.
The conversations are completely dull and mechanical. In fact, there is little dialogue, instead the characters prefer to reminisce and remember the past in large exposition dumps (I swear, it feels like half of this book is just reminisces). Why won't somebody just do something?
I got halfway through the book and nothing had happened. No, seriously nothing. It still felt like the characters are being introduced and the plot hasn't begun. Every chapter I'm begging someone to actually do something instead of just feeling sad. Characters end their chapter in the same place as where it begun with nothing having changed. I reach the end of chapters struggling to remember if anything happened in what I just read.
Nor is there much worldbuilding. We are told that the Houses run society, but never told how? Is it feudalism, slavery, capitalism? How exactly do they control society? The revolutionaries aren't any clearer, in fact it's never said what they are rebelling against or what they will replace it with. They are in favour of freedom and that's all the detail so far. They supposedly like the working class, but don't seem to ever meet any of them. We are repeatedly told about the plight of the oppressed, never shown it.
There's the occasional philosophical statement awkwardly shoe-horned in every couple of paragraphs, but it doesn't connect with the plot or build any major theme. Don't even get me started on the half-hearted attempt at a love story. It's incredibly forced and doesn't feel the least bit natural.
Basically the problem with this book is that everything happens in people's heads, they say and do incredibly little. I slogged through two-thirds of it before finally giving up because I couldn't care less about what happened.
Yet I found it really difficult to get into the book. No matter how I tried, I just couldn't connect with the story. The writing is just too clunky and awkward. The author is trying to be profound but it just reads like a dense and obscure political treatise.
The characters are so dull. I'm forcing myself to care about them, but it's just too hard. They're just too empty and lifeless. There are 3 main characters and none of them have any agency, they are completely passive. They spend their time moping around, being melancholic and feeling sorry for themselves. The side characters too are empty and forgettable.
The conversations are completely dull and mechanical. In fact, there is little dialogue, instead the characters prefer to reminisce and remember the past in large exposition dumps (I swear, it feels like half of this book is just reminisces). Why won't somebody just do something?
I got halfway through the book and nothing had happened. No, seriously nothing. It still felt like the characters are being introduced and the plot hasn't begun. Every chapter I'm begging someone to actually do something instead of just feeling sad. Characters end their chapter in the same place as where it begun with nothing having changed. I reach the end of chapters struggling to remember if anything happened in what I just read.
Nor is there much worldbuilding. We are told that the Houses run society, but never told how? Is it feudalism, slavery, capitalism? How exactly do they control society? The revolutionaries aren't any clearer, in fact it's never said what they are rebelling against or what they will replace it with. They are in favour of freedom and that's all the detail so far. They supposedly like the working class, but don't seem to ever meet any of them. We are repeatedly told about the plight of the oppressed, never shown it.
There's the occasional philosophical statement awkwardly shoe-horned in every couple of paragraphs, but it doesn't connect with the plot or build any major theme. Don't even get me started on the half-hearted attempt at a love story. It's incredibly forced and doesn't feel the least bit natural.
Basically the problem with this book is that everything happens in people's heads, they say and do incredibly little. I slogged through two-thirds of it before finally giving up because I couldn't care less about what happened.
dyrimwolfe's review against another edition
3.0
I really really really wanted to like this book, but it just didn't happen.
I love fantasy but it's hard for me to get into something that is so all over the place.
I think I managed to get about half way through then just had to put it down because it moved too slow for me and I just couldn't get interested.
The first section with Kata and the Minotaur was the most interesting to me, but after I got to know more about the other characters the less I cared.
I couldn't find a connection to any of them other than Kata, and this is probably why I found the book to be so all over the place. There was nothing there to really ground me into it.
The world building was amazing, and with maybe another set of characters I could have gotten more into the book.
This is the type of writing that makes you think about everything instead of just laying it out for you, and those that don't like this and are expecting a less in depth journey should be wary.
I love fantasy but it's hard for me to get into something that is so all over the place.
I think I managed to get about half way through then just had to put it down because it moved too slow for me and I just couldn't get interested.
The first section with Kata and the Minotaur was the most interesting to me, but after I got to know more about the other characters the less I cared.
I couldn't find a connection to any of them other than Kata, and this is probably why I found the book to be so all over the place. There was nothing there to really ground me into it.
The world building was amazing, and with maybe another set of characters I could have gotten more into the book.
This is the type of writing that makes you think about everything instead of just laying it out for you, and those that don't like this and are expecting a less in depth journey should be wary.
claire_melanie's review against another edition
4.0
there is a lot going on in this book and so it took me a little while to get into it but once i hit my rhythm i really enjoyed it. however the loss of my favourite character makes me a little uncertain about what will happen to the story without her voice, and without any other female narrator. will definitely pick up the second book though to see what happens.
linguana's review against another edition
Here's another review book I couldn't finish. It suffered from many of the same symptoms as "The Waking Engine" by David Eddison did, but Rjurik Davidson did give his characters a bit more room to come to life.
While Eddison simply seemed to have added characters in order to show off his fancy world building, Davidson shifts perspective to keep things moving. However, every single chapter starts with a few pages of boring exposition, there is little dialogue and not nearly enough world building set up in order to understand the events that are happening. If I hadn't read the blurb, I would have been rather lost.
But - and this is a big But - this book isn't without merit. I believe that many people will like it a lot more than I did. The style didn't appeal to me and after about a third, I gave up. After all, forcing myself to read 10 pages at a time and then putting the book down annoyed isn't my idea of fun. But if you enjoy the writing and don't mind the exposition, there could be something there for you.
With three protagonists - vastly different in social status and personality - there is a good chance readers will fall in love with at least one of them and follow their story longer than I did. Kata, a former street urchin now employed by House Technis, has to kill two minotaurs in order to pay off her dept. Maximilian is a rebel, collecting people for his cause to overthrow the political status quo. And Boris is trying to better the working conditions for railroad workers.
There are hints of magic and tons of politics - but I didn't get deep enough into them to be hooked. While I believe this book may just kick off eventually, I lack the stamina to push through more than a third of a book to finally get to the parts that are good. I would definitely recommend to read an excerpt and see if it's for you. And if it is, be nice and let me know if I missed something brilliant.
While Eddison simply seemed to have added characters in order to show off his fancy world building, Davidson shifts perspective to keep things moving. However, every single chapter starts with a few pages of boring exposition, there is little dialogue and not nearly enough world building set up in order to understand the events that are happening. If I hadn't read the blurb, I would have been rather lost.
But - and this is a big But - this book isn't without merit. I believe that many people will like it a lot more than I did. The style didn't appeal to me and after about a third, I gave up. After all, forcing myself to read 10 pages at a time and then putting the book down annoyed isn't my idea of fun. But if you enjoy the writing and don't mind the exposition, there could be something there for you.
With three protagonists - vastly different in social status and personality - there is a good chance readers will fall in love with at least one of them and follow their story longer than I did. Kata, a former street urchin now employed by House Technis, has to kill two minotaurs in order to pay off her dept. Maximilian is a rebel, collecting people for his cause to overthrow the political status quo. And Boris is trying to better the working conditions for railroad workers.
There are hints of magic and tons of politics - but I didn't get deep enough into them to be hooked. While I believe this book may just kick off eventually, I lack the stamina to push through more than a third of a book to finally get to the parts that are good. I would definitely recommend to read an excerpt and see if it's for you. And if it is, be nice and let me know if I missed something brilliant.
littlepanda's review against another edition
4.0
This is by far one of the best books I’ve read in 2016 ! After reading the Broken Empire series I had a hard time to get back into fantasy because I had a feeling everything felt the same but this book was great! Absolutely genius for me!
full review:
https://littlepandareads.wordpress.com/2017/01/25/unwrapped-sky-review/
full review:
https://littlepandareads.wordpress.com/2017/01/25/unwrapped-sky-review/
aileend's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
cinzia's review against another edition
4.0
This is technically 3.5 stars rather than 4 in my opinion however I gave it 4 stars as it seemed to do a degree of injustice to the book to rate it at a mere 3 star.
tregina's review against another edition
3.0
Minotaurs are a woefully underused creature in speculative fiction and I loved them here. The whole beginning of the book really worked for me, and objectively the whole book was just as well conceived and written, the problem for me was that after that it never quite drew me in. There was a distance that I couldn't seem to close.
magentabyfive's review against another edition
3.0
This was rather... underwhelming. The intrigue was rather lack luster. The only interesting character was the "bad guy" and that was just to see his decent into madness. The Assassin while being "badass" also acted liking a wilting flower the whole time. And the revolutionist was underwhelming.
That might have been the point, but it didn't make for a very interesting read. The middle had enough intrigue for me to give this a three, and I did like the Director's rise and plot progression, but the other two made the end of the book a bit of a slog to get through.
That might have been the point, but it didn't make for a very interesting read. The middle had enough intrigue for me to give this a three, and I did like the Director's rise and plot progression, but the other two made the end of the book a bit of a slog to get through.