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wordsareworlds's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
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? Yes
5.0
This book is a masterwork in playing with story structure, culture through diaspora, and basically so many feelings I felt on the verge of drowning in them but would drown happily.
Highly recommend the audiobook version, the narrator was a perfect pairing for the text and gave the entire work that extra dimension that drove home each level of the story.
Highly recommend the audiobook version, the narrator was a perfect pairing for the text and gave the entire work that extra dimension that drove home each level of the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, War, Body horror, Bullying, Murder, Violence, Grief, Animal cruelty, and Ableism
Moderate: Alcohol and Torture
Minor: Cannibalism
discarded_dust_jacket's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is a very imaginative story told in a very imaginative way, I have to say that first. The structure of the narrative and how it’s presented is like nothing I’ve ever read. The world is also incredibly unique and vivid.
The inclusion of the whispers of the dead peppered throughout add a ton of depth and nuance to an already multi-dimensional story.
I think the reason why it didn’t get a higher rating from me had more to do with my tendency to space out and struggle through dense fantasy. Especially in a book this long, the writing has to be naturally propulsive, or else it becomes too easy to simply give up in the event that you hit a slog 250 pages in, only realize you’ve still got half the book to go.
That happened to me here. Somewhere around the 370-480 page section of the story, I had to force myself to push on. All in all, I thought the ending was satisfying, but maybe it would’ve been easier for me to get through if the story hadn’t tried to do SO much.
The inclusion of the whispers of the dead peppered throughout add a ton of depth and nuance to an already multi-dimensional story.
I think the reason why it didn’t get a higher rating from me had more to do with my tendency to space out and struggle through dense fantasy. Especially in a book this long, the writing has to be naturally propulsive, or else it becomes too easy to simply give up in the event that you hit a slog 250 pages in, only realize you’ve still got half the book to go.
That happened to me here. Somewhere around the 370-480 page section of the story, I had to force myself to push on. All in all, I thought the ending was satisfying, but maybe it would’ve been easier for me to get through if the story hadn’t tried to do SO much.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Grief, Bullying, Cannibalism, Blood, Death of parent, Gore, Torture, Child death, Violence, and War
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