Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

A Flame in the North by Lilith Saintcrow

2 reviews

vigil's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I think the writing style and limited autonomy of the protagonist (due to her status as glorified hostage, misogyny, and the reality as
human mortal among inhumans or other immortals)
but i found it to be a very intelligent portrayal. often times author's can fall into the trap of making a woman to anachronistically modern, or a helpless waif who has never thought to move against a man or the patriarchy in her life. solveig reads honestly as a woman who works to have her voice and feelings heard, but believably still of her time.

i really do love a travel fantasy story so this book really just hit all the marks for me. I do think there is a small issue of repetitiveness in sol's inner monologue, but i'm not going to detract that from the star rating. mostly because i fully believe it's getting a worse rep than it deserves. don't let the archaic prose style intimidate you, this book is excellent and rather readable once you grow use to the style. 

very interested in what comes next for this series. i definitely recommend it for those who enjoy both folklore / mythology inspired fantasy (bear and the nightingale, spinning silver, and possibly circe come to mind) and who enjoy poetic complex prose. 

also, sol and arn have a vibe right??? i’m not crazy am i?? but also sol x eol and sol x aeredh have hints through the book… i’m happy with anything so long as arn and sol aren’t pushed aside, romance or not.
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maregred's review against another edition

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

3.0

While the synopsis checks all of my interest boxes, I unfortunately couldn’t get into this book. The pacing was uneven and the text was dense. There was no real urgency to the story, even during the battle scenes or when the main character, Solveig, discovered something important.

Though written in the style of older epic fantasies, the inner dialogue was meandering and repetitive. There was too much telling instead of showing.
For example, in the middle of a battle, Sol would go on a tangent about songs. Or when relaying an important conversation, Sol would then tangentially think about different types of drinks. There was also the mystery of how her trunk traveled, and readers are constantly reminded how curious she is.

I did like the Lord of the Rings and Norse mythology influences. I also liked a lot of the characters, especially Aeredh and Arneior. The magic system is interesting but the reader is left just as clueless as Solveig. 

While I’m not sure if I’ll continue the series, this made a for a good winter read.

I received this copy from Orbit Books and NetGalley for an honest review. 
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