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batesbarb's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This is an absolutely beautiful book. Samatar's skill with words honestly feels a little unfair. The prose is lush and enveloping, but I found it difficult to connect to the story itself. It's been 5 years or more since I read A Stranger in Olondria, and I had a terrible time trying to keep track of the various nations and factions and how they related to each other. I kept forgetting who was fighting who and who was fomenting rebellion where. Perhaps if I had read Stranger more recently, I would have felt less lost.
The rotating narrator construction really allowed Samatar to show her skill at voice and tone (the sections have beautifully distinct tones and focuses, so that even the ostensibly third-person sections have a very clear source and it is obvious they are centered around different women), but it undercut what momentum the story built. As soon as I felt like I had even a basic grasp on the structure of the world and the people in it, the story would move to a different woman, and I'd have to start all over again figuring out who anyone was and how they related to each other. The first two viewpoint characters were the most distant and least connected, which I think amplified the problem for me.
All in all, my feelings about the book are quite muddled. I kept moving back and forth between being absorbed and enticed by the beautiful prose, and frustrated and alienated because I couldn't keep track of or connect to the actual people and events of the story.
The rotating narrator construction really allowed Samatar to show her skill at voice and tone (the sections have beautifully distinct tones and focuses, so that even the ostensibly third-person sections have a very clear source and it is obvious they are centered around different women), but it undercut what momentum the story built. As soon as I felt like I had even a basic grasp on the structure of the world and the people in it, the story would move to a different woman, and I'd have to start all over again figuring out who anyone was and how they related to each other. The first two viewpoint characters were the most distant and least connected, which I think amplified the problem for me.
All in all, my feelings about the book are quite muddled. I kept moving back and forth between being absorbed and enticed by the beautiful prose, and frustrated and alienated because I couldn't keep track of or connect to the actual people and events of the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Emotional abuse and Colonisation
lanid's review
adventurous
emotional
reflective
- 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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, War, Gore, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, and Xenophobia
Minor: Lesbophobia, Hate crime, and Religious bigotry
tahsintries's review
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship, War, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Grief, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Colonisation, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Confinement
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