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jjjreads's review against another edition
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality, War, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Classism, Confinement, Xenophobia, and Bullying
Moderate: Death, Alcoholism, Bullying, Dementia, Alcohol, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Infidelity
Minor: Animal death, Vomit, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Death, Excrement, Abandonment, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
vigil's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
i think this book, despite it’s size is a very breezy read. not because the topics are lighthearted, unless you consider an old man bringing down an empire because he was unjustly thrown in prison lighthearted, but because of the strong narrative voice, and the author’s strong focus on what they wanted out of the book.
the narrator is an older man somewhere in his seventies, who is thrown into prison for suspicions of essentially witchcraft. because the main trait of chant (the protagonist’s name and occupation) is that he’s a yabbering asshole who couldn’t keep his mouth shut if he tried, several charges are added to his sentence that essentially damn him. and it’s up to his experience as a chant, a teller and collector of stories, to free himself.
the lgbt tag on the book belongs to his apprentice ylfing, a seventeen year old gay chant in training. ylfing….. didn’t have much of a solid personality in this one. i describe him as an all american boy but he’s not technically american. he’s boy crazy though. we know that. he deserved much better than the shitty relationship he had here. hopefully the sequel fleshes him out more, but i think he’s served his purpose in the story, even if he was a bit bland.
throughout the story multiple tales are told that enhance the world-building, and draw parallels between characters. the last option is usually done by chant, in order to manipulate whoever is in front of him, but other characters get their moments in the limelight too. i really didn’t mind this gimmick for i’d say, 98% of the book. the stories were engaging and meant to influence the characters, which further influenced the plot. but that was also why i found the final tale ylfing told so grating. padding out a 400+ page book is unnecessary, only dragged out the plot in an annoying way. i skipped after the first two pages of the tale, because it was so boring.
that’s really my only detraction of the book, that and the blackwitches, which felt cheap and unexplained.
the fantastical element in the book is subtle, aside from the aforementioned blackwitches and fictional setting, and largely only exists in some of the tales told by chant or ylfing. keyword: some.
if you like character driven political dramas with a soft fantasy backdrop, i’d say go for it. it wasn’t life-changing or anything but it was a good way to spend a few afternoons.
the narrator is an older man somewhere in his seventies, who is thrown into prison for suspicions of essentially witchcraft. because the main trait of chant (the protagonist’s name and occupation) is that he’s a yabbering asshole who couldn’t keep his mouth shut if he tried, several charges are added to his sentence that essentially damn him. and it’s up to his experience as a chant, a teller and collector of stories, to free himself.
the lgbt tag on the book belongs to his apprentice ylfing, a seventeen year old gay chant in training. ylfing….. didn’t have much of a solid personality in this one. i describe him as an all american boy but he’s not technically american. he’s boy crazy though. we know that. he deserved much better than the shitty relationship he had here. hopefully the sequel fleshes him out more, but i think he’s served his purpose in the story, even if he was a bit bland.
throughout the story multiple tales are told that enhance the world-building, and draw parallels between characters. the last option is usually done by chant, in order to manipulate whoever is in front of him, but other characters get their moments in the limelight too. i really didn’t mind this gimmick for i’d say, 98% of the book. the stories were engaging and meant to influence the characters, which further influenced the plot. but that was also why i found the final tale ylfing told so grating. padding out a 400+ page book is unnecessary, only dragged out the plot in an annoying way. i skipped after the first two pages of the tale, because it was so boring.
that’s really my only detraction of the book, that and the blackwitches, which felt cheap and unexplained.
the fantastical element in the book is subtle, aside from the aforementioned blackwitches and fictional setting, and largely only exists in some of the tales told by chant or ylfing. keyword: some.
if you like character driven political dramas with a soft fantasy backdrop, i’d say go for it. it wasn’t life-changing or anything but it was a good way to spend a few afternoons.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Kidnapping, Violence, War, and Blood
bluejayreads's review
emotional
slow-paced
- 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
5.0
I’ve had to think about this review for a bit, because it’s hard to find the words for this book. By all rights, I shouldn’t have liked this book very much. I don’t think that I actually did like this book very much. And yet I can’t stop thinking about it, and for some godforsaken reason I want to read more.
This book is very slow and mostly about politics, two things I normally dislike in books. Interesting things happen, but for the majority of the book Chant is locked in one prison cell or another and only hears about them second- or third-hand. Chant himself is often an asshole but he’s convinced he’s not at all, and that’s something I strongly dislike in a character. Most of the book is Chant telling stories and spinning lies and trying to manipulate people – admittedly to save his own neck, but he’s still a pretty horrible person.
The author themself described the book on Twitter as “a book about the power of stories, trashbag garbage bards trying to keep their wretched head firmly attached to their necks, and the fall of a corrupt government,” and someone else called it the “story of a Terrible Gremlin Man (plus his Anxious Gay Apprentice and his Very Tired Lawyer).” I don’t often quote other people’s thoughts in my reviews, but those are kinda accurate. Everyone in this book is an asshole, except Chant’s apprentice (who is a flighty disaster) and one of his lawyer’s wives (who is very very sweet but only shows up in person at the end of the book). And somehow in attempting to save his own skin, Chant destabilizes the entire government. It’s entirely absurd and Chant is in way, way over his head but he keeps telling stories and trying to weasel his way out of prison and only ever making things so much worse.
And yet. And yet. Somehow, I don’t know how, I was engrossed. I can’t even say that I particularly enjoyed it because I’m not sure that I actually did, but this is the kind of book that sinks its teeth into you and doesn’t let go even after you’re done. The world is stunningly well-evoked and somehow entirely relevant. The story itself (the word “plot” doesn’t seem to fit because it doesn’t have a plot so much as Chant is desperately trying to spin a plot out of it) is multilayered and complex, with a large cast of powerful players machinating against each other and everyone else (it only got confusing a couple times), and even minor characters were complex and fully-realized in their own right.
I am so angry at this book because it has no right to be as good as it is. The audiobook is nearly 15 hours long and it doesn’t deserve that many hours of my time but I finished it and I’m still mulling over it three days later and I have no fucking clue why I want more but I do. I should not have liked it, I’m not sure I did “like” it, but this story has its claws deep in my brain and I belong to it now and I can’t even put my finger on why. It has no right to be this good without at least having the courtesy to tell me why it’s so good. I don’t know what magic went into this book but it fucking worked. Book two is just going to happen to me, I don’t think I even get a choice about it at this point.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Blood
Moderate: Death, Murder, and Violence
Minor: Alcoholism, Gore, Pregnancy, and Excrement
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