Reviews

The Winged Histories by Sofia Samatar

youmns's review against another edition

Slow-moving, disorienting, rudderless. From others' reviews, it seems the book gets better when we change perspectives, but I couldn't bring myself to care enough to power through.

baldwinme40's review against another edition

5.0

AAAAAAAAAH????
COHERENT REVIEW TO COME, MAYBE

steganogasaurus's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

exist0ni's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

polarbear2023's review against another edition

had potential but so confusing like what's going on 

taylormsinclair's review against another edition

adventurous informative reflective medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

agnodike_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Such a good, complicated book. I shall come back to it, armed with a pen and a notebook.

My fave quotes (of many!):

She had a willful and hectic happiness with which she was determined to conquer the world.

Hope, stubborn and bitter to the taste. That hides water. That bears the drought. An ugly plant with the power to heal.

bearsincastles's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

At times a dense and even exhausting read, but this book’s (many) moments of poetic clarity make it worth it. The explorations of the difference and distance between memory and history and the-often violent- mundanity of distilling one into the other was so well done. For those who enjoy fantasy but are ambivalent about the tropes of the genre and are interested in seeing them lovingly yet deftly upset and explored.

Looking forward to reading more by this author

craftysilicate's review

adventurous challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

rodneywilhite's review against another edition

5.0

This is maybe my favorite novel I've read in years. The way the narrative unfolds (and doesn't unfold) is so beautiful.

I think there are some commonalities with Faulkner in how the past and present are consistently intruding upon one another, and how time is more like an ebb and flow that occasionally washes over the story than a linear sequence of events. It also shares with The Sound and the Fury the structure of four personas telling the same story, each of them revising, clarifying, and complicating it.

However, and I mean this sincerely, Samatar has a much more deft touch than Faulkner and a better ear for the poetic.

I could go on and on, but this is such a formally excellent book, you just gotta read it yourself.