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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I was looking forward to reading a fantasy book based on African lore and written by a black female author, who are vastly underrepresented in the fantasy genre. The book's central premise of a manmade ecological disaster consuming the world felt topical. But this book was quite the disappointment.
Hairston's prose is strong in figurative language and has a poetic flow to it. Yet it doesn't lend itself to a fantasy setting. Her descriptions will richly describe melodies or bees or honey, but she rarely delves into descriptions of the landscapes or the world or its objects, which makes the reader disoriented and feel out of place. If asked to draw a picture of any of her settings, I'd be at a loss to do so.
Likewise this lack of description of pertinent information expands to explaining the magic and nuances of the world. The climate destruction is the encroaching Poison desert caused by Nightmare Gates from the priest Hezram who uses the blood of people who can Smokewalk. None of this is ever properly explained. The dangers of Poison desert are mentioned in passing, but the reader doesn't truly feel the threat. Dream Gates and Nightmare Gates are vaguely discussed, but I could not tell you what they are or the function they provide. Smokewalking and its realm are even more vague and the rules of it nearly nonexistent. It just appears in and out whenever it is convenient for the characters.
The characters themselves I could not strongly ascribe personalities to. Djola's journey endures year long timeskips and much of the struggles and losses he experiences happens "off screen." Awa is more likeable as a character, but her underlying motivations rarely make sense and for the most part she just exists. I will give credit that Hairston does a great job at writing from animal perspectives.
Hairston can write, and she has a rich imagination. Her writing style just didn't seem to fit in conveying a fantasy story. I'm not sure if it would fit in a better medium. This was definitely one of the few books I honestly considered abandoning several different times.
Hairston's prose is strong in figurative language and has a poetic flow to it. Yet it doesn't lend itself to a fantasy setting. Her descriptions will richly describe melodies or bees or honey, but she rarely delves into descriptions of the landscapes or the world or its objects, which makes the reader disoriented and feel out of place. If asked to draw a picture of any of her settings, I'd be at a loss to do so.
Likewise this lack of description of pertinent information expands to explaining the magic and nuances of the world.
The characters themselves I could not strongly ascribe personalities to. Djola's journey endures year long timeskips and much of the struggles and losses he experiences happens "off screen." Awa is more likeable as a character, but her underlying motivations rarely make sense and for the most part she just exists. I will give credit that Hairston does a great job at writing from animal perspectives.
Hairston can write, and she has a rich imagination. Her writing style just didn't seem to fit in conveying a fantasy story. I'm not sure if it would fit in a better medium. This was definitely one of the few books I honestly considered abandoning several different times.
I tired to get into this book, but it felt choppy and I felt like I didn't know what was going on most of the time
adventurous
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
"Every day we test our truth and if we discover a better truth, we change. Trust that."
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
inspiring
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
slow-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:
Complicated
challenging
hopeful
slow-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:
Yes
This was a thoroughly challenging book. I enjoyed it but the pacing was a tad slow for me and I kept moving to other books and then eventually coming back to this one to chew it up bit by slow bit. Awa and Djola were fantastic characters and I loved following their stories. The setting was original and the ever present danger of the poison sands kept you hoping that a solution to this worlds problems could be found. The inclusion of the shadowlands meant that there was always the opportunity for something magical to happen at every turn. I loved a lot of things about this book and would have given it a higher rating if it hadn't dragged for large portions of the pages.
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
slow-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
This is a climate fantasy written in a distant, lyrically way that I think fans of literary fiction and Lord of the Rings would enjoy. The story focuses on two protagonists, one a young girl who is able to interact with different planes of existence who has lost her family and is taken in by this group of people whose goal is to live with the land and believe that the balance between society and the land has been disrupted and that has what has cause the failed crops and this dangerous storm that has arrived. In her arc you get some of the mentor trope, there is found family but there is also loss and heart ache. One of my critiques of the story is that there are some time jumps that occur at moments I wish we could have spent more time in. The other protagonist is a man who has sway in the political courts and is trying to instill essentially a Green New Deal but then events occur that make him an exile with pirates as he searches for a cure to save the world. Its a slow burn tale and I can see why not everyone would like it but I personally loved the themes in this story and how we got to cover such a long span of years in one standalone fantasy novel.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes