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hazel_oat's review
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
typo-ridden and poorly written; incestuous sibling relationship thrown in for shock value. gave a second star b/c who doesn’t love queer rep!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Incest, and War
Moderate: Sexual content, Confinement, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death, Murder, and Torture
bingsoojung's review
5.0
Stone and Steel is a novella about Aaliyah, the champion of the Queen Odessa, killer of the old king, and hero of the people, and how she comes to terms with the fallacies of her adopted sister and lover Odessa and reasserts her title as hero of the people. It explores themes of corrupt monarchs, loyal knights, and, of course, tragic lover stories.
So let’s make something clear, I am not sure what to rate this book. Although I’ve rated it a 5/5 that’s not actually my rating, it’s more a ‘I am genuinely unsure what I want to rate this book, so I’ll give it a 5/5 because I think the author deserves the applause. As other reviews have stated, I’m not sure this novella was well-written, and that is not for lack of the authors technical skill or prose, which was wonderful, but because this should’ve been a book series and not a single novella. In fact, every issue I had with this novella could’ve been fixed if it was a book series I think. Or even just an entire novel. The pacing of this was far too quick, it felt like we went from issue to issue at a breathtaking speed that made it far too hard to enjoy the story at any given time. Characters came to realisations far quicker than they should’ve. Betrayals, travel, love stories, all happened far faster than they should’ve. But literally all of that could’ve been fixed with a novel or a series of books. Which this wasn’t. I don’t think even with better writing that could’ve been fixed for a novella though. Which lead me to giving this a 5 star rating.
To begin with what I enjoyed though, I really enjoyed the structure of this story and the characters. While Aaliyah had frankly shit taste in women, her fallacies and faults, as well as the fallacies and faults of all the characters, truly felt like a central part of the story. No one in this was perfect, and yet they were still all delightful to read about. The relationship with Odessa and Aaliyah was weird as shit, between the psuedo-incest (I say psuedo because they’re adopted, not because it’s not incest), and over-dependance Odessa had fostered Aaliyah. It truly felt toxic and purposefully so on the part of the author. In fact, much of this story is driven by the imperfect relationships between people and how they’ve failed each other, and Dunbar writes these relationships incredibly well. Dunbar’s dialogue, distinctness of characters, an ability to explore them is, by far, the strongest part of this story, and helps the story along fantastically. However, I would’ve liked more exploration of the characters outside of Aaliyah and their motivations. But, once more, that would’ve required more words.
To give critique of it though that’s not about it’s length, I felt as if the magic system and worldbuilding was lackluster. While interesting, it felt, in many ways, hollow, as if it were only a facade for the characters and the story they were trying to tell. I would’ve liked more exploration of the world, though I’m not sure more could’ve been given without breaking the speed of this book even more.
So let’s make something clear, I am not sure what to rate this book. Although I’ve rated it a 5/5 that’s not actually my rating, it’s more a ‘I am genuinely unsure what I want to rate this book, so I’ll give it a 5/5 because I think the author deserves the applause. As other reviews have stated, I’m not sure this novella was well-written, and that is not for lack of the authors technical skill or prose, which was wonderful, but because this should’ve been a book series and not a single novella. In fact, every issue I had with this novella could’ve been fixed if it was a book series I think. Or even just an entire novel. The pacing of this was far too quick, it felt like we went from issue to issue at a breathtaking speed that made it far too hard to enjoy the story at any given time. Characters came to realisations far quicker than they should’ve. Betrayals, travel, love stories, all happened far faster than they should’ve. But literally all of that could’ve been fixed with a novel or a series of books. Which this wasn’t. I don’t think even with better writing that could’ve been fixed for a novella though. Which lead me to giving this a 5 star rating.
To begin with what I enjoyed though, I really enjoyed the structure of this story and the characters. While Aaliyah had frankly shit taste in women, her fallacies and faults, as well as the fallacies and faults of all the characters, truly felt like a central part of the story. No one in this was perfect, and yet they were still all delightful to read about. The relationship with Odessa and Aaliyah was weird as shit, between the psuedo-incest (I say psuedo because they’re adopted, not because it’s not incest), and over-dependance Odessa had fostered Aaliyah. It truly felt toxic and purposefully so on the part of the author. In fact, much of this story is driven by the imperfect relationships between people and how they’ve failed each other, and Dunbar writes these relationships incredibly well. Dunbar’s dialogue, distinctness of characters, an ability to explore them is, by far, the strongest part of this story, and helps the story along fantastically. However, I would’ve liked more exploration of the characters outside of Aaliyah and their motivations. But, once more, that would’ve required more words.
To give critique of it though that’s not about it’s length, I felt as if the magic system and worldbuilding was lackluster. While interesting, it felt, in many ways, hollow, as if it were only a facade for the characters and the story they were trying to tell. I would’ve liked more exploration of the world, though I’m not sure more could’ve been given without breaking the speed of this book even more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest
laurareads87's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
fast-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
3.5
I liked a lot about Stone and Steel the development of lead character Aaliyah was excellent, the setting was compelling, and Dunbar writes dialogue and interaction wonderfully: I feel like even though this story is short (92 pages!) the descriptions of small gestures, brief glances, and quick nods between characters really brought their personalities and dynamics to life. I found the pacing consistent & the plot held my interest throughout. I do wish, though, that more of Odessa's backstory was included - I wanted her to feel more complex in her motivations than just 'she loved + wanted power for herself.' There are a lot of compelling ideas and characters here and I would definitely pick up another book set in this universe. I am looking forward to reading more of Dunbar's work.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Incest, Gore, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Torture
booksthatburn's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
STONE AND STEEL is the rare book that I feel perfectly neutral about. It's a story of sisterhood, romance, power, corruption, and betrayal as a returning general finds out that her queen sits on a golden throne of broken promises while her people starve.
The story was clunky in some places because it felt like it was trying to fit a lot of detail into a low page count, some parts of the emotional core were really well conveyed and genuinely moving, others were rushed and didn't have time to properly build. It's like it was trying to be more book than it had room to be, and so the whole story suffers for it. I almost didn't finish it, but pushed through because it would feel a bit silly to not finishing something that was going to take me under an hour to read. In the end I'm totally neutral about it. It's not bad enough to warn anyone away from, but it also didn't compel me as a whole and I don't know if any circumstances could prompt me to recommend it.
I enjoyed the beginning a lot, the framing is compelling and the setup is pretty good. It's canonically diverse in gender, sexuality, and race, putting explicit representation on the page and making the story better in the process. I like the main character and I really got to know and like a lot of the secondary characters, moreso than I would have expected for this large of a cast in this short of a book. One specific downside is that the ending feels rushed, and on the way to the finale it piles on a few more characters and one big reveal, but I hadn't had time to anticipate or wonder it so it felt like the answer to a question I hadn't yet asked. These problems would likely be easily solvable in a longer version of this same story, and that is something I'd be interested in reading.
The story was clunky in some places because it felt like it was trying to fit a lot of detail into a low page count, some parts of the emotional core were really well conveyed and genuinely moving, others were rushed and didn't have time to properly build. It's like it was trying to be more book than it had room to be, and so the whole story suffers for it. I almost didn't finish it, but pushed through because it would feel a bit silly to not finishing something that was going to take me under an hour to read. In the end I'm totally neutral about it. It's not bad enough to warn anyone away from, but it also didn't compel me as a whole and I don't know if any circumstances could prompt me to recommend it.
I enjoyed the beginning a lot, the framing is compelling and the setup is pretty good. It's canonically diverse in gender, sexuality, and race, putting explicit representation on the page and making the story better in the process. I like the main character and I really got to know and like a lot of the secondary characters, moreso than I would have expected for this large of a cast in this short of a book. One specific downside is that the ending feels rushed, and on the way to the finale it piles on a few more characters and one big reveal, but I hadn't had time to anticipate or wonder it so it felt like the answer to a question I hadn't yet asked. These problems would likely be easily solvable in a longer version of this same story, and that is something I'd be interested in reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest, Blood, Gore, Violence, Torture, and Death
Moderate: Cursing, Sexism, Confinement, Drug abuse, and Drug use
Minor: Domestic abuse and Death of parent
typedtruths's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
➸ Trigger warnings for
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Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest
katieconrad's review
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Sexual content and Incest
eslsilver's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest, Violence, and Blood
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