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srm's review
adventurous
emotional
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? It's complicated
4.25
Another beautiful and fascinating fantasy Renaissance book from Kay. After DNFing A Brightness Long Ago, I think I'm definitely going to have to give it another try after enjoying this and All the Seas of the World so much.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Colonisation, Suicide, War, Death, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Alcohol, Pregnancy, Blood, and Child death
massivepizzacrust's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Although it took me a while to get into this one, I found the overall experience very rewarding. Guy Gavriel Kay has a way of crafting plot that makes the future seem at once unpredictable and inevitable. I loved the way the perspectives met and crossed, and the little moments where something was described from multiple points of view. I felt a little cheated that we never got the on-screen sibling reunion that I thought we were building towards but I thought all other story lines had very satisfying ends.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, War, Death, Xenophobia, and Murder
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Abortion and Confinement
aseaoftomes's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
This was such an interesting book and I had a really great time reading it.
This book is a Renaissance based fantasy dealing with places like Italy, the Ottoman Empire and the Balkans (primarily Croatia - Dubrovnik) and it's a story of revenge, trade, pirates and art. It's kind of hard to explain this book in a way.
The writing was pretty good - it had a good pace and the descriptions were good and it all flowed really well.
The plot was interesting. I loved all of the different aspects of the world and each storyline we followed and ultimately how it all tied together.
Te world building was rich and vivid. I've been to several of the places mentioned in the book (not necessarily the exact cities, but the countries) so I was able to picture everything really well. I love pirate stories and the folklore and history surrounding this one was so well done. And I thought the cultures were each captured really well.
Finally, the characters. We follow several different characters from each place and I found I enjoyed all of them and their arcs. I definitely had moments of liking some more than others at different points in the book.
Overall, a solid and fun read and I'm definitely going to pick up more by this author in the future.
This book is a Renaissance based fantasy dealing with places like Italy, the Ottoman Empire and the Balkans (primarily Croatia - Dubrovnik) and it's a story of revenge, trade, pirates and art. It's kind of hard to explain this book in a way.
The writing was pretty good - it had a good pace and the descriptions were good and it all flowed really well.
The plot was interesting. I loved all of the different aspects of the world and each storyline we followed and ultimately how it all tied together.
Te world building was rich and vivid. I've been to several of the places mentioned in the book (not necessarily the exact cities, but the countries) so I was able to picture everything really well. I love pirate stories and the folklore and history surrounding this one was so well done. And I thought the cultures were each captured really well.
Finally, the characters. We follow several different characters from each place and I found I enjoyed all of them and their arcs. I definitely had moments of liking some more than others at different points in the book.
Overall, a solid and fun read and I'm definitely going to pick up more by this author in the future.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Death, and Sexual content
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