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armaget's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Interesting book- Read for school and not something I would have picked up myself, not being much into fantasy. However, I was very surprised how much this book grew on me. Should have known- before we started reading it, the teacher told us this was a book she read that stuck with her a long time after she read it. Now, she's passed it on to me and now I have to be thinking about old British couples with fantasy-dementia, shitty knights not doing their jobs, manipulated children with hatred in their hearts, (hey, that's a trope from The Violent Bear it Away) and metaphors for memory.
Metaphors for memory this book is absolutely steeped in. Anymore discussion on memory is gonna kill me. But it was very well done. There are so many angles that the thing is attacked at that you could pick any chapter of the book and have a differing take, which leads to me my other take-
It is very much a sum of it's parts thing, I'd say. Again, I'm not very into fantasy and there is some classic fantasy adventuring here that was actually extremely dull. Lots of sitting around and visiting random villages- Someone in my class said it would have been better as a short story, but I definitely disagree on that.
Like I said before, every chapter has it's important input. It may not be the funnest book to read but once you get to the end it is so so worth it to just piece together your own interpretation with what you've been provided.
So, lots of takes, lots of cool shit you can think about.
Metaphors for memory this book is absolutely steeped in. Anymore discussion on memory is gonna kill me. But it was very well done. There are so many angles that the thing is attacked at that you could pick any chapter of the book and have a differing take, which leads to me my other take-
It is very much a sum of it's parts thing, I'd say. Again, I'm not very into fantasy and there is some classic fantasy adventuring here that was actually extremely dull. Lots of sitting around and visiting random villages- Someone in my class said it would have been better as a short story, but I definitely disagree on that.
Like I said before, every chapter has it's important input. It may not be the funnest book to read but once you get to the end it is so so worth it to just piece together your own interpretation with what you've been provided.
So, lots of takes, lots of cool shit you can think about.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dementia, Xenophobia, and Death
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Sexual assault
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