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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
"As long as sweet water fell from the sky every afternoon and mist rolled in on night wind, everybody promised to change -tomorrow or next week. Then crops failed and rivers turned to dust. Good citizens now feared change would make no difference or was in fact impossible. Who could fight the wind?"
The land is drying up, crops will not grow, and poisoned tornados are destroying cities. Djola is Master of Poisons and second to the Arkhysian emperor Azizi. Determined to find a spell to cure his adopted land and save his family Djola sets sail.
Awa is a young sprite who has been sold to the Green Elders by her family. She is a smoke-walker who can travel to other lands in a dream like state. "Awa discovered under water river forests undulating to the melodies of golden behemoths who sported white speckled fins. She swam beside creatures twice the size of elephants against the currents..."
I have written and rewritten my review.
This book has beautiful writing. Every line is magical and flows wonderfully, but maybe to a fault.
Master of Poisons takes place in an African inspired world which is refreshing in a fantasy. It has a diverse cast of characters and an intriguing magic system. It discusses climate change and searches for a magical solution.
The pacing was slow at times.
The writing is descriptive but I would have liked more from the characters and the world. This is a beautiful story, but for me not very immersive.
The land is drying up, crops will not grow, and poisoned tornados are destroying cities. Djola is Master of Poisons and second to the Arkhysian emperor Azizi. Determined to find a spell to cure his adopted land and save his family Djola sets sail.
Awa is a young sprite who has been sold to the Green Elders by her family. She is a smoke-walker who can travel to other lands in a dream like state. "Awa discovered under water river forests undulating to the melodies of golden behemoths who sported white speckled fins. She swam beside creatures twice the size of elephants against the currents..."
I have written and rewritten my review.
This book has beautiful writing. Every line is magical and flows wonderfully, but maybe to a fault.
Master of Poisons takes place in an African inspired world which is refreshing in a fantasy. It has a diverse cast of characters and an intriguing magic system. It discusses climate change and searches for a magical solution.
The pacing was slow at times.
The writing is descriptive but I would have liked more from the characters and the world. This is a beautiful story, but for me not very immersive.
adventurous
challenging
Thank you so much to Tor for providing me with an early e-copy of this novel through Netgalley. Master of Poisons is out now.
Unfortunately, this one really did not work for me. While I enjoyed Hairston's writing style and her brilliant imagination, the pacing and the level of detail in this epic fantasy story really left me quite confused. In terms of pacing, the climactic moments of the novel did not really feel different tonally or in terms of pacing, which often left me thinking I had missed something. Given the short length of the chapters, major moments (even at the very end of the novel in the final climax) felt incredibly rushed to the point that I could not follow the action and characters would seemingly enter and leave the scene without cause or reason. This was further exacerbated by the level of detail provided which, while impressive in terms of imaginative world-building, was not easy to wade through to find the bare bones of the plot of this novel. All in all, I was incredibly confused during my entire reading experience, hence my low rating. I would potentially be interested in rereading this novel to see if I understand more of what was going on, but on this first reading, I felt completely out of the loop.
Unfortunately, this one really did not work for me. While I enjoyed Hairston's writing style and her brilliant imagination, the pacing and the level of detail in this epic fantasy story really left me quite confused. In terms of pacing, the climactic moments of the novel did not really feel different tonally or in terms of pacing, which often left me thinking I had missed something. Given the short length of the chapters, major moments (even at the very end of the novel in the final climax) felt incredibly rushed to the point that I could not follow the action and characters would seemingly enter and leave the scene without cause or reason. This was further exacerbated by the level of detail provided which, while impressive in terms of imaginative world-building, was not easy to wade through to find the bare bones of the plot of this novel. All in all, I was incredibly confused during my entire reading experience, hence my low rating. I would potentially be interested in rereading this novel to see if I understand more of what was going on, but on this first reading, I felt completely out of the loop.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is so good! The looming environmental threat of the poison desert and the reactions by those in power (mostly choosing to ignore it and being unwilling to make sacrifices to avert disaster) feel resonant with a lot of contemporary issues (climate change, obviously, but also the way that the US government has been responding to COVID-19 so far). The questions raised about whether and how it is possible to change empire from the inside also feel very relevant.
I really enjoyed following the characters’ journeys—Djola pursues a possibly futile quest to find a miracle cure for the poison desert after being exiled, and Awa faces a series of increasingly harrowing trials starting with being sold off by her family but finds new family along the way. Through these two protagonists, the reader gets to meet so many fun and fascinating characters—pirates, spies, griots, warriors, several animals including an elephant, a dog, and a horse who all have a lot of personality.
The worldbuilding is incredible. I thought that the dynamics between people of different regions were interesting and well fleshed out. The magic system feels consistent even as it retains mystery, and the Smokeland sequences all feel expansive and surreal in the best way.
The book is also very queer, which appeals to me. There are some lovely gay relationships and multiple nonbinary characters (known in this world as “vesons,” with vie/vie/vie’s pronouns), all of whom are human; I appreciated that this book doesn’t do what a lot of SFF these days seems to do where the only nonbinary characters are fantastical beings of another species or aliens or something (not that I don’t like those characters as well! But it’s nice when that’s not the only representation).
This book comes out on September 8 and is available for preorder—highly recommend!