You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A future where after a series of pandemics they develop math equations into magic? Great world building! Androgynous trolls who don't have a concept of gender and characters who are all into each other? Fantastic cast! Though the plot itself was not the best, the rest of it more than made up! Want a dozen more books in this universe!
This is a case of a blurb and cover giving me the wrong expectations. It's not so much a romantic fantasy of manners where a girl goes off to fulfill her magic learning dreams, but more of a "cozy" fantasy that's fairly low stakes and heavy on the relationships more than the central mystery plot.
I picked it up because I was intrigued by Anna's story and the flighty, frilly prose style that set it up to be an amusing side-eye at gender politics and down-with-the-patriarchy stuff.
Unfortunately it lost its shine for me with half-troll Tsira's side of the story, where it mostly focused on two characters awkwardly lusting after each other. The coarse language felt so jarring, and anatomical references... I'm not a prude about swearing and such, but it just didn't fit. Most of the book is centered around Tsira and her "Pink" (aka human) potential lover and the gender/sexuality topic. It's clever (humans believe gender and sex are the same while trolls believe gender is determined by what you do without being linked to biology) but it's not what I expected at all. I wanted more of Onna's side of things with her mathematical magic and OTT teacher.
Very easy to read, but perhaps the marketing didn't match the overall tone of the book. I didn't expect it to be in the same vein as Legends and Lattees (which was not really my thing either). I would try more by the author because their world building is stellar and I'd have the right expectation next time.
I picked it up because I was intrigued by Anna's story and the flighty, frilly prose style that set it up to be an amusing side-eye at gender politics and down-with-the-patriarchy stuff.
Unfortunately it lost its shine for me with half-troll Tsira's side of the story, where it mostly focused on two characters awkwardly lusting after each other. The coarse language felt so jarring, and anatomical references... I'm not a prude about swearing and such, but it just didn't fit. Most of the book is centered around Tsira and her "Pink" (aka human) potential lover and the gender/sexuality topic. It's clever (humans believe gender and sex are the same while trolls believe gender is determined by what you do without being linked to biology) but it's not what I expected at all. I wanted more of Onna's side of things with her mathematical magic and OTT teacher.
Very easy to read, but perhaps the marketing didn't match the overall tone of the book. I didn't expect it to be in the same vein as Legends and Lattees (which was not really my thing either). I would try more by the author because their world building is stellar and I'd have the right expectation next time.
2.5 I enjoyed the characters, but the magic system, society, and plot were undeveloped. It felt like the author ran out of time and just finished it really quickly to meet a deadline.
It took me a while to get into this book, bouncing back & forth between two disparate stories—the one revolving around Tsira & Jeckran, & the other around Onna—but once I became invested in the characters & it became apparent that the two story lines were on a collision course, I found it delightful.
The author put a lot of thought into the reig/vahn social structure of the troll society, & it struck me both authentic & refreshing. She also struck the right balance between explaining the social structure & oversharing all the additional facts about this society that she likely created during her writing the book. It was fascinating to see a man (Jeckran) be willing to submit himself to a woman so willingly, not because it was his culture to do so, necessarily, but because growing up proximity to Troll culture had normalized it for him.
Onna is a lovable character, strong yet humble—in spite of having a healthy dose of self-worth. The way the author conceives magick—through a series of parameters which reduces it to a process of spiritual/mystical mathematics—was as refreshing, if perhaps not as well fully formed as the descriptions of Troll culture. I was rooting for her, from the start.
I’d definitely give other books by this author a chances.
The author put a lot of thought into the reig/vahn social structure of the troll society, & it struck me both authentic & refreshing. She also struck the right balance between explaining the social structure & oversharing all the additional facts about this society that she likely created during her writing the book. It was fascinating to see a man (Jeckran) be willing to submit himself to a woman so willingly, not because it was his culture to do so, necessarily, but because growing up proximity to Troll culture had normalized it for him.
Onna is a lovable character, strong yet humble—in spite of having a healthy dose of self-worth. The way the author conceives magick—through a series of parameters which reduces it to a process of spiritual/mystical mathematics—was as refreshing, if perhaps not as well fully formed as the descriptions of Troll culture. I was rooting for her, from the start.
I’d definitely give other books by this author a chances.
I’ve been searching for a fantasy mystery for a bit and this book magically found me at the right time. I’ll be thinking about these characters and what they might be doing for a long time to come. Fantastic story.
It was weird.
I remember one of my college professors apologetically saying, "I realize all the books we read this year were a bit weird sexually, but that's what I like." He would have been interested in this book as it goes even beyond what we read in his class.
If you have ever wondered what it would be like for Boromir to get it on with a female cave troll, this book is for you.
If you have ever wondered what it would be like if a mathematically inclined Fanny Price were to be rejected from Hogwarts, this book is for you.
If you love it when an author opens the thesaurus and dumps all the peppery picant pyrotechnic pompous polysyllabic palabras on your literary page, this book is for you.
If you like a protagonist with a flat affect who says, "f*ck" every third word, this book is for you.
It wasn't for me. It had one brief moment of insight and wide swaths of pedantic events. I didn't find the characters engaging, and for me the writing was stylistically off-putting. Mostly I didn't take away anything from this text. I am left wondering about the genesis of this book. Did someone say to the author, "Hey, I bet you can't write a novel that is a mash up of Harry Potter, Hentai, and Hercule Poirot"? I really am just flumoxed.
I am unlikely to seek out another book by this author.
I remember one of my college professors apologetically saying, "I realize all the books we read this year were a bit weird sexually, but that's what I like." He would have been interested in this book as it goes even beyond what we read in his class.
If you have ever wondered what it would be like for Boromir to get it on with a female cave troll, this book is for you.
If you have ever wondered what it would be like if a mathematically inclined Fanny Price were to be rejected from Hogwarts, this book is for you.
If you love it when an author opens the thesaurus and dumps all the peppery picant pyrotechnic pompous polysyllabic palabras on your literary page, this book is for you.
If you like a protagonist with a flat affect who says, "f*ck" every third word, this book is for you.
It wasn't for me. It had one brief moment of insight and wide swaths of pedantic events. I didn't find the characters engaging, and for me the writing was stylistically off-putting. Mostly I didn't take away anything from this text. I am left wondering about the genesis of this book. Did someone say to the author, "Hey, I bet you can't write a novel that is a mash up of Harry Potter, Hentai, and Hercule Poirot"? I really am just flumoxed.
I am unlikely to seek out another book by this author.
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes