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raven168's review
4.0
When I try to think of one word to describe this book, the first one to come to mind is fascinating. The world built in this book is horrible, crazy and often times sick. But I couldn't help but be drawn in to find out how things were going to play out. 3.5 stars
The book has two parts to it and the blurb only covers the first. Which also is more than half the book anyway. Salinda has been in this prison for ten years tending to the grapes used to make dragon wine which many don't even know, but the humans needs it to survive. Before losing her mentor Mez, he bestowed upon her the cadre which he had been given as was given to that person and so on. She's still learning to control it when she is given Brill as a helper. He's young and determined which is all well and good but the inspector has need of him. And not in a good way. This book had some serious sexual brutality in it and the first time it came up shocked the hell out of me. I was not expecting anything like that in the least. But I suppose it's used to show just how horrible humans have become. The inspector is pretty much just a sick, evil man. After Brill returns to Salina tortured, she decides to help him escape to her friend Danton and his rebel army and agrees to follow him the next day. But things don't go as planned at all and she finds herself at the inspector's mercy. Set up by him to be burned as a witch she is rescued by Nils. The last of his race to be alive (apparently at least) he rescues her only to gain knowledge of the dragons.
Part two is about completely different characters, who will obviously be meeting up with the first ones eventually.
The story takes place on some planet who knows where that used to have two moons. One of the moons was cracking and for a while it was being held together by a powerful group of people. Then something happened and the moon completely broke apart. Remaining around the planet the pieces formed what the inhabitants called shatterwing. Amongst them is a group who is able to harness power in crystals and the skywatchers detect and destroy pieces as they fall if they were to cause harm to people. Garan is one of them and after a long night he is informed that he's to go to the city and rescue Laidan. Her master had been poisoned and she taken by the usurper prince. Despite his mixed feelings about his task and her he vows to bring her home alive. But things go wrong from the start, made worse when he finds her. When her master, Thurdon, died, he gave her a gift. A power that she was wholey unprepared for. It, coupled with the loss of her beloved master, put her into a near catatonic state where she couldn't move or think clearly. Thankfully when the danger was at it's most she was able to find herself again (more or less) and they were able to flee. They encounter one horrible thing after another until the end when it probably becomes the worst one yet. Leaving me thinking simply "Oh no."
I was a little surprised how much I liked this book, what with all the terrible stuff being done to people and all, but I really look forward to reading the next book.
Copy provided by publisher via Netgalley.
The book has two parts to it and the blurb only covers the first. Which also is more than half the book anyway. Salinda has been in this prison for ten years tending to the grapes used to make dragon wine which many don't even know, but the humans needs it to survive. Before losing her mentor Mez, he bestowed upon her the cadre which he had been given as was given to that person and so on. She's still learning to control it when she is given Brill as a helper. He's young and determined which is all well and good but the inspector has need of him. And not in a good way. This book had some serious sexual brutality in it and the first time it came up shocked the hell out of me. I was not expecting anything like that in the least. But I suppose it's used to show just how horrible humans have become. The inspector is pretty much just a sick, evil man. After Brill returns to Salina tortured, she decides to help him escape to her friend Danton and his rebel army and agrees to follow him the next day. But things don't go as planned at all and she finds herself at the inspector's mercy. Set up by him to be burned as a witch she is rescued by Nils. The last of his race to be alive (apparently at least) he rescues her only to gain knowledge of the dragons.
Part two is about completely different characters, who will obviously be meeting up with the first ones eventually.
The story takes place on some planet who knows where that used to have two moons. One of the moons was cracking and for a while it was being held together by a powerful group of people. Then something happened and the moon completely broke apart. Remaining around the planet the pieces formed what the inhabitants called shatterwing. Amongst them is a group who is able to harness power in crystals and the skywatchers detect and destroy pieces as they fall if they were to cause harm to people. Garan is one of them and after a long night he is informed that he's to go to the city and rescue Laidan. Her master had been poisoned and she taken by the usurper prince. Despite his mixed feelings about his task and her he vows to bring her home alive. But things go wrong from the start, made worse when he finds her. When her master, Thurdon, died, he gave her a gift. A power that she was wholey unprepared for. It, coupled with the loss of her beloved master, put her into a near catatonic state where she couldn't move or think clearly. Thankfully when the danger was at it's most she was able to find herself again (more or less) and they were able to flee. They encounter one horrible thing after another until the end when it probably becomes the worst one yet. Leaving me thinking simply "Oh no."
I was a little surprised how much I liked this book, what with all the terrible stuff being done to people and all, but I really look forward to reading the next book.
Copy provided by publisher via Netgalley.
dtaylorbooks's review
3.0
This was a NetGalley find that I was on the border on when it came to requesting it but did it anyway. It intrigued me just enough to hit that button.
Well. I’ll start by saying I liked the concept of SHATTERWING and I liked the world that Hanson started to develop here, rather barren, Mad Max without the leather, people reduced to baser instincts, all while watching a moon continue to fragment and destroy them. There’s a lot to work with here and it’s what really got me through the book. I liked the concept of creating this drink called dragon wine that had healing properties, on which humanity hinged itself. I liked the notion that Salinda is the last bastion of knowledge in the world, carrying a secret she must keep or risk her life all the while being a slave toiling in a vineyard. She’s a great character with a pretty level head thanks to a ton of training and she really knocks Brill into place, who’s a spoiled little brat that doesn’t know what he’s gotten himself into. But there was a really big cloud blocking out the shine with this book.
It appears that the only way the stock character villains can subjugate people and put them in their place is by rampant sexual assault i.e. rape by a myriad of means, sodomy, fondling of someone in a catatonic state. It was disturbing and the more I read it the more it seemed like it was rape for rape’s sake. Look. I’m all for putting characters through the wringer. It’s when an author does that that their true personalities start to shine through. But every major character whose POV I read from was raped in this book. All three of them, two female and one male. And all for . . . rape? There are other means of torture and humiliation and dehumanization but all there is in this world is sexual assault and it really hurt the book for me. I know the author was trying to show how brutal of a world this place was but really, fade to black a little bit or get more creative with your torture techniques. This was excessive.
Another thing that really bugged me was how fainting damsels the women were. Yeah, sure, they had smart mouths and they were able to survive in the world up until this point but they suffered the most and required rescuing of the male order from every scenario. Held down by men and rescued by them. It’s a rather odd position to be in when reading a book where the two female protagonists are supposedly stand on their own as strong women. However they were rather shrinking and faint when the crap started to get stuck in the fan blades.
What the blurb doesn’t touch on in Part 2 of SHATTERWING and I think that’s doing it a disservice. The female protagonist’s name in Part 2 escapes me at the moment but I liked her as much as Salinda (minus the rape) and they’re two similar characters that I could get on board with. Not to mention it’s the other half to this story and once you’re in to Part 2 it starts to wrap around itself and a bigger picture starts to form. To mention one part and not the other is lacking, I think.
The underground guy who emerges after over 1,000 years of stasis is interesting too. Again, his name escapes me too and it’s a part of the story only touched on but it made the world a bit bigger and a bit fuller beyond the rape wasteland that surrounds people in this world.
I like this world with its moons and Shatterwing slowly dying and the dragons. Of course the dragons! And the magic and the blooming history. But the sexual assault. My god. Once would have been sufficient to paint the world in a solid picture. But three times and it’s just rape porn and I’m really hesitant now to read further in the series because I don’t want to read more rapes. Show me gore and war and fighting and even various degrees of torture but it’s only just rape here, and abject women shaming (severe Madonna/whore issues in this book from an in-world societal standpoint) and it just kills it for me. I just don’t want to read that.
2 1/2
Well. I’ll start by saying I liked the concept of SHATTERWING and I liked the world that Hanson started to develop here, rather barren, Mad Max without the leather, people reduced to baser instincts, all while watching a moon continue to fragment and destroy them. There’s a lot to work with here and it’s what really got me through the book. I liked the concept of creating this drink called dragon wine that had healing properties, on which humanity hinged itself. I liked the notion that Salinda is the last bastion of knowledge in the world, carrying a secret she must keep or risk her life all the while being a slave toiling in a vineyard. She’s a great character with a pretty level head thanks to a ton of training and she really knocks Brill into place, who’s a spoiled little brat that doesn’t know what he’s gotten himself into. But there was a really big cloud blocking out the shine with this book.
It appears that the only way the stock character villains can subjugate people and put them in their place is by rampant sexual assault i.e. rape by a myriad of means, sodomy, fondling of someone in a catatonic state. It was disturbing and the more I read it the more it seemed like it was rape for rape’s sake. Look. I’m all for putting characters through the wringer. It’s when an author does that that their true personalities start to shine through. But every major character whose POV I read from was raped in this book. All three of them, two female and one male. And all for . . . rape? There are other means of torture and humiliation and dehumanization but all there is in this world is sexual assault and it really hurt the book for me. I know the author was trying to show how brutal of a world this place was but really, fade to black a little bit or get more creative with your torture techniques. This was excessive.
Another thing that really bugged me was how fainting damsels the women were. Yeah, sure, they had smart mouths and they were able to survive in the world up until this point but they suffered the most and required rescuing of the male order from every scenario. Held down by men and rescued by them. It’s a rather odd position to be in when reading a book where the two female protagonists are supposedly stand on their own as strong women. However they were rather shrinking and faint when the crap started to get stuck in the fan blades.
What the blurb doesn’t touch on in Part 2 of SHATTERWING and I think that’s doing it a disservice. The female protagonist’s name in Part 2 escapes me at the moment but I liked her as much as Salinda (minus the rape) and they’re two similar characters that I could get on board with. Not to mention it’s the other half to this story and once you’re in to Part 2 it starts to wrap around itself and a bigger picture starts to form. To mention one part and not the other is lacking, I think.
The underground guy who emerges after over 1,000 years of stasis is interesting too. Again, his name escapes me too and it’s a part of the story only touched on but it made the world a bit bigger and a bit fuller beyond the rape wasteland that surrounds people in this world.
I like this world with its moons and Shatterwing slowly dying and the dragons. Of course the dragons! And the magic and the blooming history. But the sexual assault. My god. Once would have been sufficient to paint the world in a solid picture. But three times and it’s just rape porn and I’m really hesitant now to read further in the series because I don’t want to read more rapes. Show me gore and war and fighting and even various degrees of torture but it’s only just rape here, and abject women shaming (severe Madonna/whore issues in this book from an in-world societal standpoint) and it just kills it for me. I just don’t want to read that.
2 1/2
tsana's review
4.0
Shatterwing by Donna Maree Hanson is the first book in the Dragon Wine series. It's a secondary world fantasy with dragons (as you may gather from the series title) and more astronomy that we usually see in a fantasy book. I've previously reviewed a couple of Donna's books, Rayessa and the Space Pirates, and Bespelled. What strikes me most about Donna as a writer is how flexible she can be. These three books have very little in common stylistically or even thematically, yet she pulls them off.
The blurb is a bit deceptive in that it only covers about half the book. And I mean that in the most literal sense; part two breaks from the first set of characters to follow a new group of characters. It could almost have been published as two separate books and the structure really highlights how this is only the first book in the series. Having said that, the first section ended in a fairly conclusive way that didn't leave me so desperate to get back to those characters that I couldn't pay attention to the new characters. If anything, I'd argue that the first part was a bit more conclusive than the second, which ended on a minor cliffhanger.
But enough about structure. The most obvious thing to note about the content of this book that's not necessarily obvious is that it's dark fantasy. Dark as in brutal or "grimdark". There is rape and there is violence. Most of the worst rape happens off the page, but there's enough on the page that if you don't want to read about rape (or molestation or brutal beatings), then probably give this series a miss. The characters can be more or less divided into main characters and other "good guys" and "horrible men that don't think women are real people". And, I suppose, miscellaneous bystanders who are afraid of witchcraft.
I really enjoyed the story but there were times when the brutality got a bit much for me. Mainly this was towards the end of part one where Salinda, our first main character, is being brutally tortured. It's not that it's not relevant to the plot, but it wasn't fun to read (nor, I think, should it have been). Then, in part two, I was probably a bit over-invested in a new main character, Laidan, not being raped and it was a nail-biter for a while there. (I won't spoil which way it went.)
Anyway, the main thrust of Shatterwing is setting up the world and the overarching plot for the series. The worldbuilding is quite nice, with two moons in the sky, one of which broke up hundreds of years ago (called the "Shatterwing" because it's shattered and looks like a wing). There's some historical background that remains mysterious for the time being and I look forward to learning more about that in subsequent books. There's also the matter of the dragon wine, which has magical properties, and which is apparently the main thing keeping the human population alive. How did this come to be? I'm not sure, but I'm looking forward to finding out.
Shatterwing is not for everyone and I wouldn't recommend it to people who wish to avoid reading about violence. However, I would recommend it to fans of dark and grim fantasy. The world may have dragons that eat people, but the real monsters here are other people.
4 / 5 stars
You can read more of my reviews on my blog.
The blurb is a bit deceptive in that it only covers about half the book. And I mean that in the most literal sense; part two breaks from the first set of characters to follow a new group of characters. It could almost have been published as two separate books and the structure really highlights how this is only the first book in the series. Having said that, the first section ended in a fairly conclusive way that didn't leave me so desperate to get back to those characters that I couldn't pay attention to the new characters. If anything, I'd argue that the first part was a bit more conclusive than the second, which ended on a minor cliffhanger.
But enough about structure. The most obvious thing to note about the content of this book that's not necessarily obvious is that it's dark fantasy. Dark as in brutal or "grimdark". There is rape and there is violence. Most of the worst rape happens off the page, but there's enough on the page that if you don't want to read about rape (or molestation or brutal beatings), then probably give this series a miss. The characters can be more or less divided into main characters and other "good guys" and "horrible men that don't think women are real people". And, I suppose, miscellaneous bystanders who are afraid of witchcraft.
I really enjoyed the story but there were times when the brutality got a bit much for me. Mainly this was towards the end of part one where Salinda, our first main character, is being brutally tortured. It's not that it's not relevant to the plot, but it wasn't fun to read (nor, I think, should it have been). Then, in part two, I was probably a bit over-invested in a new main character, Laidan, not being raped and it was a nail-biter for a while there. (I won't spoil which way it went.)
Anyway, the main thrust of Shatterwing is setting up the world and the overarching plot for the series. The worldbuilding is quite nice, with two moons in the sky, one of which broke up hundreds of years ago (called the "Shatterwing" because it's shattered and looks like a wing). There's some historical background that remains mysterious for the time being and I look forward to learning more about that in subsequent books. There's also the matter of the dragon wine, which has magical properties, and which is apparently the main thing keeping the human population alive. How did this come to be? I'm not sure, but I'm looking forward to finding out.
Shatterwing is not for everyone and I wouldn't recommend it to people who wish to avoid reading about violence. However, I would recommend it to fans of dark and grim fantasy. The world may have dragons that eat people, but the real monsters here are other people.
4 / 5 stars
You can read more of my reviews on my blog.
daveversace's review
4.0
Shatterwing is the first half of Donna Maree Hanson’s Dragon Wine series (digital release from Momentum Publishing) and to be very clear, it is very much the first half of a single story. While both its main threads are brought to intriguing points of climax, neither is resolved in this volume. That will presumably have to wait for Skywatcher (Book 2, due out on the 9th of October). Severing the story is an interesting publication choice, but not one that I’ll go into here; I’ll save that for a review of Skywatcher.
Let’s get the important bits out of the way first – Shatterwing is brutal. If you need trigger warnings for torture and sexual abuse, consider yourself warned. I hesitate to use the expression “grimdark”, mostly because I’m yet to see a satisfactory definition of the supposed subgenre, but it is grim and it is dark. The setting alone is post-apocalyptic – one of the moons has shattered and left the world of Margra a devastated meteor-blasted wasteland. Wild dragons prey on incautious survivors. A brutal dictatorship controls the only commodity that matters any longer – dragon wine, which has restorative properties and might be the only thing keeping humanity alive. Violent rebels use terrorist tactics to wrest control away from the governors. And political prisoners are kept in slaves camps to tend the dragon wine vineyards.
Salinda is a vintner is a prison camp ruled by the Inspector and a sadistic cadre of guards. Salinda avoids the most savage treatment meted out to the prisoners partly by virtue of being a skilled wine maker, but mostly by pretending to be diseased so that her guards won’t rape her. Brill, a new prisoner assigned to her as an apprentice, is tortured by the Inspector for information on a rebel faction. The first part of the story concerns their fight for survival within the camp and the revelation that both are guarding powerful secrets.
A second narrative thread concerns an explorer from an underground city who has been in life suspension for hundreds of years, emerging to explore a world in complete ecological collapse. A third concerns a trade delegation from an order of astronomers that goes badly awry. Both storylines are interesting but are more set up than resolved in this volume.
Rape, along with every other conceivable form of torture and maltreatment, is a constant threat throughout this book. To be clear – protagonist characters in this book are raped, tortured and threatened with abuse and death. It is rough going – while there are moments of optimism and even some sly humour, the characters of Shatterwing suffer terribly. Strange powers and secret knowledge do not protect them from horrific abuses at the hands of their captors.
Shatterwing is not so much a brutal fantasy as it is a fantasy about surviving brutality. The characters endure horror and loss, but they keep going, hanging on to life with a death grip. The story looks at the different ways that humans respond to horror, whether though grim resolve, pragmatism, denial and a desire for justice or revenge. For all that the brutality was not an enjoyable read, the honesty with which the characters respond to the brutality is a strength of this book.
The world building in Shatterwing is also a strength. I could happily have read an entire novel about the intricacies of combining dragon physiology and wine making, not to mention the various hints that crop up about strange magic powers – or technologies indistinguishable from magic. This first Dragon Wine volume raises a raft of interesting questions that I want to see paid off. Understanding how this broken world works – and how these characters might put it back together – has got me intrigued to read the concluding volume.
I’ll steel myself for what the characters might have to go through to get to the end though.
Let’s get the important bits out of the way first – Shatterwing is brutal. If you need trigger warnings for torture and sexual abuse, consider yourself warned. I hesitate to use the expression “grimdark”, mostly because I’m yet to see a satisfactory definition of the supposed subgenre, but it is grim and it is dark. The setting alone is post-apocalyptic – one of the moons has shattered and left the world of Margra a devastated meteor-blasted wasteland. Wild dragons prey on incautious survivors. A brutal dictatorship controls the only commodity that matters any longer – dragon wine, which has restorative properties and might be the only thing keeping humanity alive. Violent rebels use terrorist tactics to wrest control away from the governors. And political prisoners are kept in slaves camps to tend the dragon wine vineyards.
Salinda is a vintner is a prison camp ruled by the Inspector and a sadistic cadre of guards. Salinda avoids the most savage treatment meted out to the prisoners partly by virtue of being a skilled wine maker, but mostly by pretending to be diseased so that her guards won’t rape her. Brill, a new prisoner assigned to her as an apprentice, is tortured by the Inspector for information on a rebel faction. The first part of the story concerns their fight for survival within the camp and the revelation that both are guarding powerful secrets.
A second narrative thread concerns an explorer from an underground city who has been in life suspension for hundreds of years, emerging to explore a world in complete ecological collapse. A third concerns a trade delegation from an order of astronomers that goes badly awry. Both storylines are interesting but are more set up than resolved in this volume.
Rape, along with every other conceivable form of torture and maltreatment, is a constant threat throughout this book. To be clear – protagonist characters in this book are raped, tortured and threatened with abuse and death. It is rough going – while there are moments of optimism and even some sly humour, the characters of Shatterwing suffer terribly. Strange powers and secret knowledge do not protect them from horrific abuses at the hands of their captors.
Shatterwing is not so much a brutal fantasy as it is a fantasy about surviving brutality. The characters endure horror and loss, but they keep going, hanging on to life with a death grip. The story looks at the different ways that humans respond to horror, whether though grim resolve, pragmatism, denial and a desire for justice or revenge. For all that the brutality was not an enjoyable read, the honesty with which the characters respond to the brutality is a strength of this book.
The world building in Shatterwing is also a strength. I could happily have read an entire novel about the intricacies of combining dragon physiology and wine making, not to mention the various hints that crop up about strange magic powers – or technologies indistinguishable from magic. This first Dragon Wine volume raises a raft of interesting questions that I want to see paid off. Understanding how this broken world works – and how these characters might put it back together – has got me intrigued to read the concluding volume.
I’ll steel myself for what the characters might have to go through to get to the end though.
ajspedding's review
3.0
I'm actually giving this 3.5 stars. I enjoyed it, and it was an easy read, although it took me longer than I liked to connect with the characters.
From the cover, Shatterwing is a book with dragons, but dragons form only part of this story. At its essence, this is a story about a world on the brink and how society (or what’s left of it), deals with an apocalyptic world – not well, I have to say. The white cover and golden wings are a great juxtaposition for a tale that firmly sits on the grim-dark side of things.
Read full review here: http://amandajspedding.com/2015/08/01/review-shatterwing-by-donna-maree-hanson/
From the cover, Shatterwing is a book with dragons, but dragons form only part of this story. At its essence, this is a story about a world on the brink and how society (or what’s left of it), deals with an apocalyptic world – not well, I have to say. The white cover and golden wings are a great juxtaposition for a tale that firmly sits on the grim-dark side of things.
Read full review here: http://amandajspedding.com/2015/08/01/review-shatterwing-by-donna-maree-hanson/
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