Reviews

The Unbalancing by R.B. Lemberg

slinkmalink's review against another edition

adventurous sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I enjoyed reading most of this but I think it came down to okay for me.
I liked the way they talked about the connecting of the deepnames but the magic system as a whole wasn't quite established enough for me (maybe it is more in the first book but I haven't read that). I did however like all the bird imagery - still on the fence about the replacement of 'fuck' as a swear word with 'pluck'.

I just didn't feel the ending was that satisfying as well? For all the buildup it just felt a little underwhelming for me.

I also felt like I wasn't made to care enough about Veruma for how much it kept coming back to her.
I thought the diversity in terms of gender/relationships was cool obviously, esp the canonically aspec characters were cool for me. I thought the exploration of gender was really interesting, and there are so many non-binary characters which is great (Disclaimer: I'm not nb so coming at it from an outside pov, while I liked the little tokens I was a bit confused about to what extent there became set ways of presenting yourself in terms of gender? But I mean they established that their society is super accepting and none of the characters seemed to feel pressured to work things out to maybe I just see too much disk horse and again outside pov so if it works for NB people great and I rescind my questioning).
(Again outside pov but) it seemed to me a good portrayal of an autistic main character and it was good to have that in it and also to see Renra having to make conscious choices about how to respect Lilun's needs even when it didn't come naturally to her.
Overall the vibes were there for me but the execution not quite.

laurenbastian's review against another edition

tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I really wanted to love this book but I found it terribly slow despite a breakneck timeline of events. I had difficulty connecting to Ranra, and felt that she and the most of the other side characters were somewhat vague in her characterization. Perhaps if the book were longer I would have grown to like the characters, but the story takes place in so little time, it was difficult to care much about the character or understand whether they actually developed over the course of the story or not. 

I did really love the creativity of the world building and magic system. The fantasy elements really worked here, and my favorite parts were of Lilún learning the origin of their people and culture. I probably won't read the second one, but I appreciated the read.

geo81's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

gealach's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

wisechild14's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective fast-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

alandd's review against another edition

3.0

I loved the idea in general. A utopian society where any type of inclination, identity, or condition is seen as part of the person, but not as everything that matters about this person. There are interesting characters that attract attention from the beginning, such as Lilún and Semberí, and I really liked the ending, a realistic bet that works quite well.

Full review: https://tintanocturna.blogspot.com/2023/06/resena-review-unbalancing.html

sarah_grey's review against another edition

3.0

The world is very cool and so is the magic. The falling in love aspect after only a few days is not my favorite.

ajpalj's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

jugglingpup's review against another edition

5.0

To see a full review check it out here.

This was woah.

eowyns_helmet's review against another edition

2.0

DNF