Scan barcode
fussl's review
adventurous
emotional
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
geo__'s review
Started off as interesting, but it turned into something very different very quickly and it just didn't quite click with me.
seekerxr's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.25
This might genuinely be one of the most unique fantasy books I've ever read.
I've only ever read one portal fantasy before, which I did not like and ended up DNFing, but I am SO glad I ended up giving this a try regardless. It had none of the things I had problems with in the other book I DNFed: modern language, while included to show Safi's origins, was minimal enough that it enhanced it rather than hindering the story. The conflict between Safi wanting to experience something new while still missing home and wanting to return while also feeling guilty about wanting to stay was very well balanced, I feel.And she CHOSE to return home in the end and was mostly secure in that choice, which I feel like isn't common in this genre.
The worldbuilding in this book was just incredible. Besides one or two instances that I can think of (which was still very well done in my opinion) there was no real info dumping at ALL. This book doesn't talk down to you in the least; you're thrown into the world and approached like you've always been there and they don't spell much out for you. You gotta pay attention and piece things together, which isn't difficult as long as you're alert but it presents a fun challenge that makes you engage with the book even more and it's SO refreshing.
I'm obsessed with the way gender and sexuality were approached in this book. Polyamorous marriages not just being common but being the NORM? A specific set of magic for gender-reassignment surgery, which is not only known about but fully respected? Just incredible.
Safi was also a very likeable main character. She handled everything EXTREMELY well, considering her age, and she went through the absolute ringer as well. Her little romance was very cute and I hope we see more of it in the next book!
Will absolutely be continuing this story!
I've only ever read one portal fantasy before, which I did not like and ended up DNFing, but I am SO glad I ended up giving this a try regardless. It had none of the things I had problems with in the other book I DNFed: modern language, while included to show Safi's origins, was minimal enough that it enhanced it rather than hindering the story. The conflict between Safi wanting to experience something new while still missing home and wanting to return while also feeling guilty about wanting to stay was very well balanced, I feel.
The worldbuilding in this book was just incredible. Besides one or two instances that I can think of (which was still very well done in my opinion) there was no real info dumping at ALL. This book doesn't talk down to you in the least; you're thrown into the world and approached like you've always been there and they don't spell much out for you. You gotta pay attention and piece things together, which isn't difficult as long as you're alert but it presents a fun challenge that makes you engage with the book even more and it's SO refreshing.
I'm obsessed with the way gender and sexuality were approached in this book. Polyamorous marriages not just being common but being the NORM? A specific set of magic for gender-reassignment surgery, which is not only known about but fully respected? Just incredible.
Safi was also a very likeable main character. She handled everything EXTREMELY well, considering her age, and she went through the absolute ringer as well. Her little romance was very cute and I hope we see more of it in the next book!
Will absolutely be continuing this story!
shimauchiha's review against another edition
4.0
I absolutely love Goodreads. I love the infinite lists and recommendations and my never-ending to read list. However, there is one thing I miss about life before Goodreads and that's the joy of discovering books in a bookshop simply by looking at a cover and reading the synopsis, no reviews, no ratings. Nowadays, almost all the books I read are based on what I've researched and decided on before even leaving the house. I have found some of my absolute favourite books this way, however, it's taken some of the joy out of going to a bookshop.
So this time, I took a risk and picked this up from my local bookshop without ever having heard of it. I didn't recognize the writer, I hadn't seen it in any list and I didn't quickly check the rating with my phone. The cover was beautiful though, the first page was interesting and the synopsis told me it was a portal fantasy. It made me realise how truly long it had been since I read a portal fantasy. It's true that they've fallen out of fashion. Right now serious fantasy is all about hard magic and intricate world building in another universe with no connection to ours and I love it. However, there is something nostalgic about a simple good old portal fantasy where you get everything explained to you because the main character needs the information and you always have pop culture references because the MC just can't stop themselves from making wierd comments and being met by confused stares of other characters. Portal fantasy may be old fashioned, but it's easy and comfortable and fun.
So I picked this up, I started reading and then I regretted my choice within the first ten pages. The writing seemed so unbelievably clumsy. The narrative voice was strange, the shifts between POVs was clumsy and there was an info dump every few pages. As soon as we entered the new world, it was like the author was standing there with a huge red sign saying "Here are a bunch of weird sounding words to cover up the fact that there isn't really that much world building!"
The thing with finding books on Goodreads is that while there are still a lot of times where I don't like a book or don't see what the hype was about, those are generally cases of personal opinion. Books that get famous on Goodreads usually at least have good writing and meet the basics of everything. In the first few chapters, it seemed to me that I should just stick with that method from now and save myself all the trouble of reading badly written books with nice covers.
Then, however, something magical happened. The book started improving rapidly. After the author stepped away from bombarding me with information I could actually see that there was some decent world building beneath all the thermology. The magic may not have been the structured, limited hard magic of new fantasy but it wasn't just some convenient problem solver either. In fact, it didn't play that big of a part in the book, instead, it focused on the characters and through them, it tackled so many big issues so boldly. Race, gender, sexuality and disability were all freely discussed, yet it didn't feel overwhelming or preachy, just a natural part of the characters' lives.
Speaking of characters, they're one of the strongest points of this book. They're interesting, complicated people who actually have bad shit happen to them. They don't get out of every situation unscathed, in fact, they don't get out of any situation without sacrificing something. That's the most modern aspect of the book, that our heroes are actually human and aren't in possession of some sort of supernatural luck which lets them just walk in and out of dangerous situation after dangerous situation without a hair out of place.
Saffron reacts to this new world in a way that actually seems real. She doesn't turn into some superhero warrior badass in a day. They give her an axe and she swings it like a Tennis racket. She feels confused and overwhelmed, but also excited because she is in a FREAKING new world. She worries about what's happening back home. She gets hurt and her actions in this world aren't a separate part of her life but they have real and lasting consenquences. She isn't perfect, she worries about her a scar affects her looks even though she knows it's vain and she acknowledges it. She notices when she is acting unconsciously racist and stops herself. She is capable and smart and strong. A heroine worth reading about.
There are many other points I wanted to go through, but in the end what really matters is that it's different. It's not mainstream fantasy, it's not just another portal fantasy either. It's something worth taking a chance on, even though that's the last thing I thought I would say when I first started reading it.
So this time, I took a risk and picked this up from my local bookshop without ever having heard of it. I didn't recognize the writer, I hadn't seen it in any list and I didn't quickly check the rating with my phone. The cover was beautiful though, the first page was interesting and the synopsis told me it was a portal fantasy. It made me realise how truly long it had been since I read a portal fantasy. It's true that they've fallen out of fashion. Right now serious fantasy is all about hard magic and intricate world building in another universe with no connection to ours and I love it. However, there is something nostalgic about a simple good old portal fantasy where you get everything explained to you because the main character needs the information and you always have pop culture references because the MC just can't stop themselves from making wierd comments and being met by confused stares of other characters. Portal fantasy may be old fashioned, but it's easy and comfortable and fun.
So I picked this up, I started reading and then I regretted my choice within the first ten pages. The writing seemed so unbelievably clumsy. The narrative voice was strange, the shifts between POVs was clumsy and there was an info dump every few pages. As soon as we entered the new world, it was like the author was standing there with a huge red sign saying "Here are a bunch of weird sounding words to cover up the fact that there isn't really that much world building!"
The thing with finding books on Goodreads is that while there are still a lot of times where I don't like a book or don't see what the hype was about, those are generally cases of personal opinion. Books that get famous on Goodreads usually at least have good writing and meet the basics of everything. In the first few chapters, it seemed to me that I should just stick with that method from now and save myself all the trouble of reading badly written books with nice covers.
Then, however, something magical happened.
Spoiler
The main character got her fingers chopped off! Not seriously, though that was cool.Speaking of characters, they're one of the strongest points of this book. They're interesting, complicated people who actually have bad shit happen to them. They don't get out of every situation unscathed, in fact, they don't get out of any situation without sacrificing something. That's the most modern aspect of the book, that our heroes are actually human and aren't in possession of some sort of supernatural luck which lets them just walk in and out of dangerous situation after dangerous situation without a hair out of place.
Saffron reacts to this new world in a way that actually seems real. She doesn't turn into some superhero warrior badass in a day. They give her an axe and she swings it like a Tennis racket. She feels confused and overwhelmed, but also excited because she is in a FREAKING new world. She worries about what's happening back home. She gets hurt and her actions in this world aren't a separate part of her life but they have real and lasting consenquences. She isn't perfect, she worries about her a scar affects her looks even though she knows it's vain and she acknowledges it. She notices when she is acting unconsciously racist and stops herself. She is capable and smart and strong. A heroine worth reading about.
There are many other points I wanted to go through, but in the end what really matters is that it's different. It's not mainstream fantasy, it's not just another portal fantasy either. It's something worth taking a chance on, even though that's the last thing I thought I would say when I first started reading it.
kivt's review against another edition
2.0
i wanted to like this but i just didn’t. i liked being dumped into the portal world just like Saffron, with events and relationships already in motion that i just needed to figure out. i did not like how Meadows handled exposition, which is the book’s main flaw. it felt like every five pages there was a massive block of text, usually Gwen’s internal monologue or another character externally monologuing, to explain the history of the world, the characters, their beliefs, and how and why Kena is different from Earth. it was genuinely interminable.
my biggest problem with “classic genre or trope, but make it inclusive” books (which i read a lot of because i want them to be good) is when books explore social themes through telling or lecturing rather than showing. you can do a lot with a diverse cast of characters that interact in a realistic way. you can’t do much with a cast of characters that feels like you were hellbent on completing your diversity pokédex at any cost, especially when you don’t let them make mistakes with each other. if polyamory or asexuality are going to be cultural norms, i want to see the evidence in how that culture functions, how people within it relate to those norms, and what they think to explain or not explain to an outsider. i don’t want long fuckin lectures about it between stale characters who seem to adapt to each other’s differences with no real friction. you include a diverse cast and wrestle with social issues to tell a more interesting story than the genre’s overabundance of white dude stories about whites dudes, and/or to make a political argument. this book did neither and as a result was incredibly boring.
the pacing was also rushed and the characters really underdeveloped.
my biggest problem with “classic genre or trope, but make it inclusive” books (which i read a lot of because i want them to be good) is when books explore social themes through telling or lecturing rather than showing. you can do a lot with a diverse cast of characters that interact in a realistic way. you can’t do much with a cast of characters that feels like you were hellbent on completing your diversity pokédex at any cost, especially when you don’t let them make mistakes with each other. if polyamory or asexuality are going to be cultural norms, i want to see the evidence in how that culture functions, how people within it relate to those norms, and what they think to explain or not explain to an outsider. i don’t want long fuckin lectures about it between stale characters who seem to adapt to each other’s differences with no real friction. you include a diverse cast and wrestle with social issues to tell a more interesting story than the genre’s overabundance of white dude stories about whites dudes, and/or to make a political argument. this book did neither and as a result was incredibly boring.
the pacing was also rushed and the characters really underdeveloped.
kschmuckers's review
adventurous
mysterious
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
4.0
k_hanvey's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
eletricjb's review against another edition
3.0
Ugh. Liked the world building, hated the writing style. And it ended on just enough of a cliff hanger that I might have to keep reading these??
notamy's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.25