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lyrrael's review
4.0
I've been babbling about this since I read it -- I really enjoyed this. Keeping in mind that I don't read much epic fantasy to begin with, this is like epic fantasy for fantasy veterans in that it breaks a lot of the expected tropes in half. It's political and working itself up to something more dire, but philosophical and thinking about the connotations and consequences of a world whose gods have died but where their power hasn't quite faded. It was good. I think Malazan fans would like it. The second book just came out in the US today (yesterday?) and I may have to pick it up in the near future.
biteintobooks's review
2.0
Thanks to the author for providing me with a copy of this book through a Goodreads Giveaway.
Let this be clear: This is not a bad book. And I still hate to write reviews with a 1-star or 2-star rating. This book just wasn't for me. It's getting a lot of good reviews on Goodreads. This book was much better than other books that I DNF, that's why I gave it 2-stars this time. Writing this review feels so bad, especially because I won the book in a Goodreads Giveaway, but like I said; This book isn't for me.
A longer review can be found at Bite Into Books
Not a bad book, but just not a book for me. I've read a lot of positive reviews on Goodreads for this book and I know that it's not a bad book. I wasn't involved enough, I didn't get the story all that much and I didn't feel like reading another 200 pages in this book. Sad.. But true.
Let this be clear: This is not a bad book. And I still hate to write reviews with a 1-star or 2-star rating. This book just wasn't for me. It's getting a lot of good reviews on Goodreads. This book was much better than other books that I DNF, that's why I gave it 2-stars this time. Writing this review feels so bad, especially because I won the book in a Goodreads Giveaway, but like I said; This book isn't for me.
A longer review can be found at Bite Into Books
Not a bad book, but just not a book for me. I've read a lot of positive reviews on Goodreads for this book and I know that it's not a bad book. I wasn't involved enough, I didn't get the story all that much and I didn't feel like reading another 200 pages in this book. Sad.. But true.
momma_nilsen's review
3.0
This is very much a case of I don't know how to rate this book so I'll just give it three stars. There are some really great things about it, yet some not-so great things about it as well. Personally I would say this sits at about a 3.5 rating simply because I liked it more than a 3 star read but not sure it deserves a 4.
The Good Stuff
The world is remarkable. Seriously.
I am one of those fantasy readers that has read more than most but not enough to be a true professor of the genre. I am slowly working my way through what I need to work through. However, that being said, I have yet to encounter a world built so richly and so detailed that I would put it on the same level as [b:The Eye of the World|228665|The Eye of the World (Wheel of Time, #1)|Robert Jordan|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1337818095s/228665.jpg|2008238] - and lord knows I love me some Wheel of Time. I have read many reviews and this seems to be a general consensus amongst the crowd. World building...utterly excellent, wildly creative, and downright cool. I mean, its about a landscape that is littered with the dead bodies of fallen God's who passed in a giant battle 15,000 years before the novel takes place. That's cool man!
I also didn't hate the characters. Personally, I have seen other readers of this novel not enjoy the characters as much and to be fair I could see why. I really only liked 2 out of the 3 main narrators but found this novel completely lacking in tropes, stereotypes, and cliches. Female characters are portrayed as strong, independent, and in control. I found the characters deep and refreshing.
The Not-So Good
If the strengths of this novel are in it's world building and sheer creativity than the weakness is definitely in the execution. I won't go as far as to say the writing isn't good, because I think for me it might rely on personal taste. For instance, I am not a huge fan of the alternating POVs; it really depends on how you do it, if you can pace the novel correctly, and keep my attention. In this case it failed. I felt the pace of the novel was really slow and it was hard to keep track of who was who, where in time they were, and what the point was. This had not two but three alternating points of view and it would sometimes offer flashbacks in certain chapters. It was too much for me and I lost focus more times than I care to admit in this review.
The other glaring negative about this book is that there is no plot. At first I totally got what was going on. The prologue killed me and when you find out you were kinda like....whoa....take me further please! But then as I progressed I felt lost and kinda moronic that I didn't know what direction the novel was going. I tried reading the summary blurb on the jacket and it in essence summarized the first 40 pages....mmmmmmmmk. I guess in retrospect I can see a trajectory that the novel took but I might go out on a limb here and say this was written in a stream of consciousness type of style. It also suffers greatly from a bad case of info dumping which normally I don't hate, but this time around it was a big distraction. I'm hoping as this little series continues there may be a more directed path, but just know this one really didn't have that. Again, this may be why I didn't care for the writing style, but there may be folks out there who enjoy stuff like this. I don't know...
So despite pointing out some negatives of this novel I really did enjoy it...albeit with a grain of salt. I want to move into this universe and live inside a God and meet people who are thousands of years old. Is that so hard to ask?
The Good Stuff
The world is remarkable. Seriously.
I am one of those fantasy readers that has read more than most but not enough to be a true professor of the genre. I am slowly working my way through what I need to work through. However, that being said, I have yet to encounter a world built so richly and so detailed that I would put it on the same level as [b:The Eye of the World|228665|The Eye of the World (Wheel of Time, #1)|Robert Jordan|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1337818095s/228665.jpg|2008238] - and lord knows I love me some Wheel of Time. I have read many reviews and this seems to be a general consensus amongst the crowd. World building...utterly excellent, wildly creative, and downright cool. I mean, its about a landscape that is littered with the dead bodies of fallen God's who passed in a giant battle 15,000 years before the novel takes place. That's cool man!
I also didn't hate the characters. Personally, I have seen other readers of this novel not enjoy the characters as much and to be fair I could see why. I really only liked 2 out of the 3 main narrators but found this novel completely lacking in tropes, stereotypes, and cliches. Female characters are portrayed as strong, independent, and in control. I found the characters deep and refreshing.
The Not-So Good
If the strengths of this novel are in it's world building and sheer creativity than the weakness is definitely in the execution. I won't go as far as to say the writing isn't good, because I think for me it might rely on personal taste. For instance, I am not a huge fan of the alternating POVs; it really depends on how you do it, if you can pace the novel correctly, and keep my attention. In this case it failed. I felt the pace of the novel was really slow and it was hard to keep track of who was who, where in time they were, and what the point was. This had not two but three alternating points of view and it would sometimes offer flashbacks in certain chapters. It was too much for me and I lost focus more times than I care to admit in this review.
The other glaring negative about this book is that there is no plot. At first I totally got what was going on. The prologue killed me and when you find out
Spoiler
that the ate the poor guys bodySo despite pointing out some negatives of this novel I really did enjoy it...albeit with a grain of salt. I want to move into this universe and live inside a God and meet people who are thousands of years old. Is that so hard to ask?
tonimadeleine's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
vaderbird's review
4.0
5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
conprimo's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
cupiscent's review
Love the diversity, love the power-and-responsibility themes (how do the mice play when the cats are all dead, shades of Max Gladstone) but I just couldn't get into the narrative style, so setting aside.
thiefofcamorr's review
Katharine is a judge for the Aurealis Awards. This entry is the personal opinion of Katharine herself, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any judging panel, the judging coordinator or the Aurealis Awards management team.
To be safe, I won't be recording my thoughts (if I choose to) here until after the AA are over.
To be safe, I won't be recording my thoughts (if I choose to) here until after the AA are over.