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being_b's review
3.0
themosquitoqueer's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
11corvus11's review
tinynavajo's review against another edition
3.0
This was a most interesting book. Extremely quick tImeline with very little description of what’s going on besides what was needed, a world where virtues and vices are split between twins, it’s a world all its own. It’s a world where you’re thrown in right away and you struggle to keep your head above the story. I enjoyed it, but I almost wish it was a series, but I have a feeling if it was a series I wouldn’t read it past the first book.
parchmints's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
tanac's review
The world built was interesting! But a lot of gaps, and the plot just sort of meanders from one incident to the next. It was presented originally as maybe far-future post some kind of change that made everyone believe in the central conceit, but then it takes a hard dive into magical realism (not my thing) and the protagonist decides that instead of a sensible solution to his problem he will do some other thing entirely, and fell into the TSTL camp.
kimskim's review
2.0
fatou_reads's review
3.0
mugsandpugs's review against another edition
4.0
“Touch my brother again and lose your fingers,” I snarl, even before the whisper has a chance to goad me. I may love or hate him depending on the time of day, and even though we never see eye to eye, blood is thicker than virtue, thicker than vice. I would die for Kasim. I would kill for him, too.
I have such mixed feelings about this book! It’s a great big weird fascinating colorful... Mess. Obviously I ENJOYED it. The high rating speaks for itself. But what the heck WAS it?!
I liked it due to its very sensory writing-- I could feel and envision everything the author described and the fact that it hits my personal buttons with 1. queer characters (I’m so here for a world with four genders, and I like the lesson Auben learns by the end) 2. strong sibling relationships 3. grand statements of unconditional love and loyalty/a very “screw the law; it’s us against the world” mentality. It has an off-color, raunchy, sometimes gross sense of humor that resonated strongly with me. There's so much quippy dialogue that made me laugh out loud.
But everything was so choppy and inconsistent!
First off, the gimmick. In this world, almost everyone is a twin, and every set of twins splits the seven vices and virtues between them-- literally. It's branded on their skin; it's inescapable fate. When physically separated too far from their twin-- their other half, two parts of a whole-- the twins suffer severe pain and risk insanity or death. Our main character, Auben, is the "lesser" twin between he and his brother Kasim, in that he has six vices while Kasim only has one; a rarity in a 3/4 dominated society.
This sounds like a very YA sort of premise. It sounds like a trope I might see in fanfiction. Obviously, that's fine. I might have a hard time taking it seriously, but I think a skillful author could elevate the concept.
Part of me likes that we're just unapologetically flung into this world without any explanations. The author trusts us to be smart enough to figure out what's going on, and I LOVE her matter-of-fact bluntness, like, “This is MY world, punks! DEAL WITH IT.” Heck, yeah! Buuuut... That does sometimes come as a double-edged sword, to this book's detriment. It DEFINITELY delivers on the "show, don't tell" aspect of writing, in that you're submerged in a fantasy world rich with culture and history. Everything from the food to the slang to the wildlife and geography and religion and fashion is there and viewed through the eyes of someone who's lived with it for all his life, and it's fantastic. BUT. Sometimes, we the audience NEED a little "tell" in all the "show," so that we know what in the HECK is going on. I felt like I needed a map and a glossary just to follow along.
I never knew what was going to happen next, which, YES is a good thing (you don't want a predictable novel!), but it was also due to the fact that the rules are never explained. Stuff just HAPPENS with little rhyme or reason. Fantasy worlds need rules, too. The imagination is there in spades, but it's completely untethered to anything. It lacks focus and needs guidance.
Auben as a protagonist is so declarative, yet his actions seldom match his thoughts. He's dating Nkosazana. He hates her sister Ruda on one page; then makes a complete 180 in a few paragraphs and wants them both; then he's “in love” with Ruda for no apparent reason; then, because his brother likes her, he's no longer interested. Then later he decides he loves Nkosazana, absolutely apropos of nothing.
He loves the way Nkosazana is always primping on her appearance-- no, he hates it and it's annoying! He thinks Icy Blue (the demon possessing him) is evil and dangerous and needs to be exterminated, and then he's thinking about how cool and useful its powers are. One moment he's disgusted with the vile things Icy Blue eats; the next he's sucking human blood off a cloth and enjoying it. He hates his cousins; then he's tender towards them and wishes they had a better relationship. He thinks about how he and his brother will inevitably fall apart as they grow older, but when somebody else says something similar, he becomes frosty and thinks about how much better he is than her. Make up your MIND, child!!!
I don't have a problem with this EXACTLY, because Auben is a teenager and also a jerk. I could totally buy that he's an unreliable narrator who says one thing and does another. BUT, it's not framed that way. He's never called out on this fickleness. It comes across more as poor writing than deliberate character choice.
I don't know how much pre-planning went into creating this. A lot of what happens feels so random. At the 70% mark, things REALLY get wild, and it didn't feel properly foreshadowed at all. Sure there were twists and turns and double-crossing and red-herrings, and yes it caught me off guard, but that's like randomly saying "OH BY THE WAY, THE CHARACTERS WERE SQUIRRELLS ALL ALONG." Yes, it's unexpected... but that doesn't make it good writing. A good twist is something you can reread the story and see the threads that were there the whole time.
I can see why this garnered such a mixed response, is what I'm saying. I enjoyed the madness, but I see why other people didn't.
Also, I now want to be a sassy acrobat-librarian that lives in bookshelves and gives patrons a hard time. That is all.
linwearcamenel's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5