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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
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:
Yes
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
this is more of a 3.5. i was confused then intrigued then i felt like the book wrapped up really quickly in a way that didn’t make me feel like it was totally resolved?
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Picked this up from the library. What if you could embody your various emotional states/desires (Pain, Desire, Shame, Justice, etc) as literal bodies independent of you, along with your past self kept as an independent personality of your and locked away in your own mind, and you used them to help staff the bordello you run as the Emperor’s prisoner/concubine, and what if the Emperor died, asked you to help choose his successor by figuring out which one of his horrible sons killed him, and promised you your freedom if you did it? There’s a lot going on here, and I will freely admit it took me a while to get fully in the loop with what was going on. Very gothic and atmospheric, lots of casual war crimes, but it actually dives into the idea of selfhood via the various personality embodiments, and eventually figuring out whodunit is a hell of a ride. I will trigger warn for heavily implied sexual and physical assault (though never described on the page) and suicidal ideation/successful carrying out of suicide. Mueller mentions in the afterword that this was ten years in the making, and you can tell with how intricate it gets. Definitely worth a read.
Definitely not for everyone. I spent the first time quarter of the book trying to wrap my mind around the world, but over time I did become invested. Really fascinating concept exploring how we deal with trauma. The ending paid off for some of the struggle of getting into to it. Also, despite reading a ton of romance novels, I enjoy a book without a romance plot here and there :)
DNF @ 56%.
This might be the furthest into a book that I've ever gotten and decided to DNF. I just can't with this book. I have tried and tried, but I cannot seem to care about any of these fucking characters. The only halfway interesting character is Captain Oram, and he's a side character. And The Lady? She drives me up the wall.
This book had so much potential; a brothel-owning necromancer, bone ghosts, murder! But it is so incredibly boring! And confusing. I read a lot of fantasy; it's my favorite genre. I am accustomed to being dropped into a world with little to no idea of what's going on and then figuring it out as I read along. But 56% in and I'm still very confused about what's what. I've seen a lot of people say this is like The Goblin Emperor, and let me tell you, they're all dirty liars.
This might be the furthest into a book that I've ever gotten and decided to DNF. I just can't with this book. I have tried and tried, but I cannot seem to care about any of these fucking characters. The only halfway interesting character is Captain Oram, and he's a side character. And The Lady? She drives me up the wall.
This book had so much potential; a brothel-owning necromancer, bone ghosts, murder! But it is so incredibly boring! And confusing. I read a lot of fantasy; it's my favorite genre. I am accustomed to being dropped into a world with little to no idea of what's going on and then figuring it out as I read along. But 56% in and I'm still very confused about what's what. I've seen a lot of people say this is like The Goblin Emperor, and let me tell you, they're all dirty liars.
Very good...
A highly entertaining story centred by strong female characters. With a good mix of drama, comedy and action. A good place to lose yourself...
A highly entertaining story centred by strong female characters. With a good mix of drama, comedy and action. A good place to lose yourself...
a very interesting way to show DID and it served to keep the narrative interesting till about the 80% mark but then i think the plot wrapped up just a hair too patly.