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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It took serious mental energy to concentrate on this book but it was worth it. Full of dark elegance.
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
***THE VERSION OF THIS THAT I READ WAS AN ARC***
/Beastie Boys yell/ YEAAAAAH!!
ETA 06/23: Full review post-publication.
How deliciously fucking weird this book is.
I am a proponent of explaining nothing and simply getting on with things, and it's like Mueller heard me and did precisely that. The world Charm and her boneghosts live in is an oddly close, precarious one, which only emphasizes how thoroughly it starts to shake itself apart by the latter half of the book.
The reader's knowledge, instead of being artificially expanded by the infodumps all too common to any genre, is just as limited, convoluted, and comprised of confusing half-truths and false memories as the boneghosts' are, which satisfyingly turns the driving force of the plot from "who did this?" to "what was even done?".
To that end, I'm put slightly in mind of Caitlin Starling's Yellow Jessamine, except Mueller's boneghosts manage to come out much better, on the whole, than Starling's Delphinium.
Finally, the conflicts of this book are comprised of a light dash of imperial politics and a refreshingly heavy dose of the resolutely interpersonal dramas of those caught up in the former, especially since Charm and her boneghosts, who are all living in the uneasy, half-acceptable space afforded to sex workers (even in fantasy), have no real way of shifting the eventual consequences of the empire-level maneuvering happening around them.
/Beastie Boys yell/ YEAAAAAH!!
ETA 06/23: Full review post-publication.
How deliciously fucking weird this book is.
I am a proponent of explaining nothing and simply getting on with things, and it's like Mueller heard me and did precisely that. The world Charm and her boneghosts live in is an oddly close, precarious one, which only emphasizes how thoroughly it starts to shake itself apart by the latter half of the book.
The reader's knowledge, instead of being artificially expanded by the infodumps all too common to any genre, is just as limited, convoluted, and comprised of confusing half-truths and false memories as the boneghosts' are, which satisfyingly turns the driving force of the plot from "who did this?" to "what was even done?".
To that end, I'm put slightly in mind of Caitlin Starling's Yellow Jessamine, except Mueller's boneghosts manage to come out much better, on the whole, than Starling's Delphinium.
Finally, the conflicts of this book are comprised of a light dash of imperial politics and a refreshingly heavy dose of the resolutely interpersonal dramas of those caught up in the former, especially since Charm and her boneghosts, who are all living in the uneasy, half-acceptable space afforded to sex workers (even in fantasy), have no real way of shifting the eventual consequences of the empire-level maneuvering happening around them.
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I just could not get into this, I procrastinated picking it up every time I wanted to read, and I don't wanna waste my time