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2.97 AVERAGE
2.97 AVERAGE
Audible Original 2019;
I don't remember which month this one went to, but I picked it up in a persnickety month. It and I did not gel well the first time, or the second, but it wasn't so bad that I didn't want to know where it was going, to leave aside this female-dominated world of Ship Captains and scholarly men as second class citizens (or farmers, who were considered even less than the scholars).
It was an interesting story all told, but it wasn't long enough or deep enough. I did almost tear up at one point, but it's not going to be deeply memorable even just among my Audible Originals in the long run.
I don't remember which month this one went to, but I picked it up in a persnickety month. It and I did not gel well the first time, or the second, but it wasn't so bad that I didn't want to know where it was going, to leave aside this female-dominated world of Ship Captains and scholarly men as second class citizens (or farmers, who were considered even less than the scholars).
It was an interesting story all told, but it wasn't long enough or deep enough. I did almost tear up at one point, but it's not going to be deeply memorable even just among my Audible Originals in the long run.
Bela, shipmistress of the Sandcrow, is stuck in the middle of a frozen sea with her crew as they search for a power to help turn the tide in the war.
When suddenly, their ship is attacked and the majority of her crew dies in the process as their ship sinks to the bottom of the sea.
With less provisions then before, Bela has to find a way to complete her objective and survive.
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I honestly didn't really enjoy this story?
The descriptions were nice but the characters and the worldbuilding was meh.
I wasn't rooting for any of the characters.
Livingston tried flipping gender roles when it came to the people of the Fair Isles, but he basically assigned the traits men had to the women and vice versa.
It would be one thing if it was a one and off thing, to do some worldbuilding but it was constantly brought up.
Livingston tried to create a matriarchal society by basically reinforcing the traditional gender roles for men on to women but didn't put much thought it to them other than that.
Maybe, if he looked into matriarchal societies of the past it could've read better.
Other reviews went into more details about that issue.
Bela wasn't likable nor was she a good captain.
Whenever she tried to be inspirational, but kept failing. There was a few instances where she took control of the situation but most of the time she did nothing, or lamented about what was going on.
I didn't really care about her relationship with Oni,
There were quite a few instances where Oni got sexual or Bela had sexual thoughts about Oni during a crisis.
Which was odd because I would've been worried more about a mutiny, especially considering how Bela knew that some of her surviving crew didn't respect her authority.
I wasn't a big fan of the reader because
Okay this book was obviously a tie-in novella for the other book in this series, Seaborn, but this story itself doesn't stand well on it's on. I
t gives background on Bela, but nothing else really.
It doesn't give a detailed look of the world and none of the characters were compelling.
It's just unfortunate because the concept is interesting just wasn't executed well.
I think most of the issues of this story could've been solved if it was longer.
If I was able to connect more with the characters/worldbuilding and become more attached to Bela, but that wasn't the case.
When suddenly, their ship is attacked and the majority of her crew dies in the process as their ship sinks to the bottom of the sea.
With less provisions then before, Bela has to find a way to complete her objective and survive.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I honestly didn't really enjoy this story?
The descriptions were nice but the characters and the worldbuilding was meh.
I wasn't rooting for any of the characters.
Livingston tried flipping gender roles when it came to the people of the Fair Isles, but he basically assigned the traits men had to the women and vice versa.
Spoiler
Throughout the novella, men were constantly degraded.It would be one thing if it was a one and off thing, to do some worldbuilding but it was constantly brought up.
Livingston tried to create a matriarchal society by basically reinforcing the traditional gender roles for men on to women but didn't put much thought it to them other than that.
Maybe, if he looked into matriarchal societies of the past it could've read better.
Other reviews went into more details about that issue.
Bela wasn't likable nor was she a good captain.
Spoiler
Apparently she had been captain for years, knew the laws well enough, and yet was unable to keep her crew in check.Whenever she tried to be inspirational, but kept failing. There was a few instances where she took control of the situation but most of the time she did nothing, or lamented about what was going on.
I didn't really care about her relationship with Oni,
Spoiler
Their relationship seemed to be based in sex.There were quite a few instances where Oni got sexual or Bela had sexual thoughts about Oni during a crisis.
Which was odd because I would've been worried more about a mutiny, especially considering how Bela knew that some of her surviving crew didn't respect her authority.
I wasn't a big fan of the reader because
Spoiler
it felt that he was used to point out the shortcomings of Bela at times.Okay this book was obviously a tie-in novella for the other book in this series, Seaborn, but this story itself doesn't stand well on it's on. I
t gives background on Bela, but nothing else really.
It doesn't give a detailed look of the world and none of the characters were compelling.
It's just unfortunate because the concept is interesting just wasn't executed well.
I think most of the issues of this story could've been solved if it was longer.
If I was able to connect more with the characters/worldbuilding and become more attached to Bela, but that wasn't the case.
Great concept. I'd love for this seed to be fleshed out into a fully detailed novel.
I give this two stars - grudgingly. I hovered over the ONE star button - but the second star I give it for not being longer that it was. Auch.
This is a completely silly story. Of females in the role of male warriors. Problem is that it is written by a man - and he obviously cannot think as anything but a man - so we get an opening of the story - with a naked woman - having just make love to her female helper... sigh!
And on and on it goes with cliches. Women thinking back on the days of the whore houses. COME ON!!!
God is referred to as a she, of course - just to emphasize the total reversal of gender roles. Jeez!
The story itself became meaningless in all this women-as-the-superior-sex stupidity... and our lead female of course hitching it up with the ONE male aboard the ship that our "hero" commands - and looses. Man oh man! - or perhaps I should say Woman oh woman!
Story is boring (sorry Michael Livingston) pointless - and with the reversed gender roles - I only got to the end because of sheer MALE will power Ha!
And well the best thing is that I got the book for free as one of the two freebies in my Audible subscription.
This is a completely silly story. Of females in the role of male warriors. Problem is that it is written by a man - and he obviously cannot think as anything but a man - so we get an opening of the story - with a naked woman - having just make love to her female helper... sigh!
And on and on it goes with cliches. Women thinking back on the days of the whore houses. COME ON!!!
God is referred to as a she, of course - just to emphasize the total reversal of gender roles. Jeez!
The story itself became meaningless in all this women-as-the-superior-sex stupidity... and our lead female of course hitching it up with the ONE male aboard the ship that our "hero" commands - and looses. Man oh man! - or perhaps I should say Woman oh woman!
Story is boring (sorry Michael Livingston) pointless - and with the reversed gender roles - I only got to the end because of sheer MALE will power Ha!
And well the best thing is that I got the book for free as one of the two freebies in my Audible subscription.
My rating for this fluctuates from a 3 to a 4. I dunno. There was part of it where my mind seriously wondered. Survival stories aren't my go to but I liked the end bits in the frozen city. And lesbian pirates is always good. And I thought the gender roll reversal was interesting.
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I chose this for a short audiobook to listen to as a break from the Wheel of Time series. I'm not even sure what I spent the past couple of hours listening to.
adventurous
slow-paced