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4.27 AVERAGE
4.27 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Amazing! Love the world and the characters, although I wish I had read it so I could keep the characters straighter in my head. Beyond that, beautifully written and read. Highly recommend for fans of fantasy/sci fi.
adventurous
challenging
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My biggest complaints with this book are as follows:
•I was promised “lesbian necromancers in space” and there was not nearly enough lesbian
•I spent so much time looking up characters because there were so many and they would be referred to as any of the following 1. first name 2. last name 3. house number 4. title/rank (warden, prince, etc) and I mean like within 3 sentences they would be called 3 different things 🤪
That being said I’m definitely reading more of this series because I have no clue where it’s going
•I was promised “lesbian necromancers in space” and there was not nearly enough lesbian
•I spent so much time looking up characters because there were so many and they would be referred to as any of the following 1. first name 2. last name 3. house number 4. title/rank (warden, prince, etc) and I mean like within 3 sentences they would be called 3 different things 🤪
That being said I’m definitely reading more of this series because I have no clue where it’s going
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
You know that I divide a good portion of my reviews of fantasy genre books and their sub-genres into three parts: character development, plot, and world-building, and I discuss each separately. Before I start and address each one for this book as well, I want to mention that one of the strengths of this book is that almost all of these aspects are well-developed and strong, although there were some errors regarding character development and world-building that I will further on.
Let's start with world-building because I think it's the most commendable part of the book and the most important reason why I consider this book to be good for fantasy/science fiction readers. It feels like the story takes place a long time after our present time, where technology and civilization have disappeared, and the people who remain each have a way to communicate with the dead, whether through spirit, body, or bones. Some technologies remain as very ancient technologies, some are new, and some align with the fantasy aspect of the story. In general, we have nine houses that each live on a planet, and there are other planets that are later addressed in the story. One of the things that made the book very interesting for me was that it contained both fantasy and science fiction elements simultaneously. However, there's a slight problem. It's somewhat related to the character development, which seems to have affected its world-building as well, and that is that the secondary characters are not developed as well as the main characters. Alongside this, we know that there are nine houses that run the political system of this book; there’s even a list at the beginning of the book showing what each faction is responsible for, but we see this much less in the book. Aside from the ninth house, we learn very little about the others throughout the book—we don’t understand what they do, what their talents are, and things like that. Houses like the eighth house, the sixth, or even the third are somewhat shown, but the others seem to be copies of each other.
And I think this comes from character development. In the book, the more secondary characters are introduced, the more similar they become to each other, and it seems less time has been spent on them—they haven’t fully taken shape yet. The main characters, especially Gideon herself, are very well-formed; they have distinct moral characteristics, their way of speaking and behaving is clearly different from others, which is really beautiful, but it seems that the further we get from the important characters in the book, the less this continues. Now, I don’t know if this was because I was listening to the book or if it’s just how it is overall, but this caused me to be confused for a good part of the book about who was who;I was mixing up genders, ages, and definitely getting names wrong. The last part is really not my fault; the author has intentionally named characters in a way that says, 'Look, see these names and feel sorry that you don’t have good literacy.' Because rest assured, the author has a personal issue with us. And maybe those of you who have read it or are reading it might say to yourselves that given the point of view, gender is really not something you could to mix up in this book. Gideon’s description of male characters doesn’t go beyond 'Yeah, that guy existed too. He was annoying.' But female characters are described from head to toe, along with numerous praises about how beautiful and magnificent they look. In response to that, I’ll say Gideon had crushes on three different people at once and disliked ten others. What could I do? But the characters from the ninth house were really good. Along with the characters from the sixth house—Camilla and her necromancer were my favorites. Gideon was an incredible main character with the best possible sense of humor, and Harrowhawk was also very smart.
In summary, putting aside my confusion for a good duration of the book and ignoring the similarities between other characters, overall it was very good in terms of character development.
Now we come to the story itself. We can attribute it as the most messed-up part of the book (respectfully) because damn, what happened? Why did it happen? Huh?
We start off slowly so we can get acquainted with the characters and the world of the story, but gradually the story picks up a faster pace until those last chapters where one doesn’t know where they got hit from. The plot twist is very well hidden but hints are given all throughout; when the pace of the story picks up, it’s becomes so much more exciting. Just be aware that the author has minimal attachment to the characters; people either die like autumn leaves or go through cruel agonies. Or both. Absolutely no one is safe.
I think, at least for me, the best part of the story was the plot, and I can't think of any general issues like in the previous two sections that I would want to mention. However, I still feel that this book provided less information about the overall story compared to the upcoming books because it had more of the introductory feel of the first volumes. That is, rather than finding answers to questions, the most important answer is given, and along with that, new questions arise that effectively encourage one to look forward to the next volumes.
To summarize, when I started it, I didn't expect to enjoy the book so much that I would want to recommend it to someone. Even halfway through the book, no, even up to seventy percent of the way through, I wasn't sure if the book was to my taste. That final thirty percent seemed to put everything in its place and made the book enjoyable for me.
And now I'm reading book two. Dear Gods. What is this series? *holding head in hands*
Since we all have a sickness here, go ahead and read this book for now while I figure out what's what in the next book. I'll be back with a review of it in no time.
Let's start with world-building because I think it's the most commendable part of the book and the most important reason why I consider this book to be good for fantasy/science fiction readers. It feels like the story takes place a long time after our present time, where technology and civilization have disappeared, and the people who remain each have a way to communicate with the dead, whether through spirit, body, or bones. Some technologies remain as very ancient technologies, some are new, and some align with the fantasy aspect of the story. In general, we have nine houses that each live on a planet, and there are other planets that are later addressed in the story. One of the things that made the book very interesting for me was that it contained both fantasy and science fiction elements simultaneously. However, there's a slight problem. It's somewhat related to the character development, which seems to have affected its world-building as well, and that is that the secondary characters are not developed as well as the main characters. Alongside this, we know that there are nine houses that run the political system of this book; there’s even a list at the beginning of the book showing what each faction is responsible for, but we see this much less in the book. Aside from the ninth house, we learn very little about the others throughout the book—we don’t understand what they do, what their talents are, and things like that. Houses like the eighth house, the sixth, or even the third are somewhat shown, but the others seem to be copies of each other.
And I think this comes from character development. In the book, the more secondary characters are introduced, the more similar they become to each other, and it seems less time has been spent on them—they haven’t fully taken shape yet. The main characters, especially Gideon herself, are very well-formed; they have distinct moral characteristics, their way of speaking and behaving is clearly different from others, which is really beautiful, but it seems that the further we get from the important characters in the book, the less this continues. Now, I don’t know if this was because I was listening to the book or if it’s just how it is overall, but this caused me to be confused for a good part of the book about who was who;I was mixing up genders, ages, and definitely getting names wrong. The last part is really not my fault; the author has intentionally named characters in a way that says, 'Look, see these names and feel sorry that you don’t have good literacy.' Because rest assured, the author has a personal issue with us. And maybe those of you who have read it or are reading it might say to yourselves that given the point of view, gender is really not something you could to mix up in this book. Gideon’s description of male characters doesn’t go beyond 'Yeah, that guy existed too. He was annoying.' But female characters are described from head to toe, along with numerous praises about how beautiful and magnificent they look. In response to that, I’ll say Gideon had crushes on three different people at once and disliked ten others. What could I do? But the characters from the ninth house were really good. Along with the characters from the sixth house—Camilla and her necromancer were my favorites. Gideon was an incredible main character with the best possible sense of humor, and Harrowhawk was also very smart.
In summary, putting aside my confusion for a good duration of the book and ignoring the similarities between other characters, overall it was very good in terms of character development.
Now we come to the story itself. We can attribute it as the most messed-up part of the book (respectfully) because damn, what happened? Why did it happen? Huh?
We start off slowly so we can get acquainted with the characters and the world of the story, but gradually the story picks up a faster pace until those last chapters where one doesn’t know where they got hit from. The plot twist is very well hidden but hints are given all throughout; when the pace of the story picks up, it’s becomes so much more exciting. Just be aware that the author has minimal attachment to the characters; people either die like autumn leaves or go through cruel agonies. Or both. Absolutely no one is safe.
I think, at least for me, the best part of the story was the plot, and I can't think of any general issues like in the previous two sections that I would want to mention. However, I still feel that this book provided less information about the overall story compared to the upcoming books because it had more of the introductory feel of the first volumes. That is, rather than finding answers to questions, the most important answer is given, and along with that, new questions arise that effectively encourage one to look forward to the next volumes.
To summarize, when I started it, I didn't expect to enjoy the book so much that I would want to recommend it to someone. Even halfway through the book, no, even up to seventy percent of the way through, I wasn't sure if the book was to my taste. That final thirty percent seemed to put everything in its place and made the book enjoyable for me.
And now I'm reading book two. Dear Gods. What is this series? *holding head in hands*
Since we all have a sickness here, go ahead and read this book for now while I figure out what's what in the next book. I'll be back with a review of it in no time.
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-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:
No