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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
DNFed at 46%. This was boring, confusing, and poorly edited.
Boring: The book hit its peak for me when Cahan and Venn first met to when Venn sacrificed themselves to save Cahan’s life. Everything else though? A frustrating slogfest of Cahan leaving his farm to coming back to his farm to leaving his farm to coming back to his farm to avoiding his destiny by staying on his farm to leaving his farm to almost dying and being forced to use his cowl because he’s a dumbass to miraculouslybeingbroughtbacktohisfarmtoleavinghisfarmagain,AGAIN,forarandomkidddddLIKE . . ! This is at 46% of the book. FORTY-SIX PERCENT. 46/100!!
I could not believe my eyes when I realized I was almost halfway through the book and practically nothing interesting/significant had happened (besides Kirven abusing her child and descriptions of nonbinary children being mass murdered, but that's a whole other can of worms). And no, the massive info dumps were not fun.
Confusing: The author understood all the Lovecraftian tentacle animals, the power system and the differences between Skua-Rais, Cowl-Rais, regular Rais, etc. Unfortunately, I did not.
Poorly Edited: This book was riddled with comma splices, every page was practically infested with them, was being grammatically incorrect a stylistic choice or something?? And the dialogue formatting was awful. AWFUL. Reading dialogue should be easy, damn it. But no. Instead I got:
Example:
“Character One speaking.” Character Two reacts to Character One speaking. “Character one is still speaking.” Character Two does something.
“Character One is still speaking.” Character Two reacts. Description description action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action. “Character One speaks again.”
Real examples from the book:
Example One: (Chapter 23)
“'Oh,’ she shouted as they tramped along a path in the scrub. ‘You mean that only those who are not killed by these swarden ever get to tell about them.’ He did not answer. He did not think her words needed an answer. ‘I supposed many of the creatures of the forest are like that, are they not?’ He stopped, and the monk almost walked into him. He turned to find her looking up at him, a smile on her face.
"'Do you always talk so much?' he said.”
Example Two: (Chapter 25)
“'It is different for all plants?’ She looked at him.
“'Yes, and I do not know how long it takes for all of them, only the most common. To study the forest is a lifetime’s work.’ She nodded, looking at the broken stalk. ‘Why don’t you lead for a while, Udinny?’
“'Me?’ said Udinny.
“'You see the path, do you not?’ She nodded. ‘Well, follow it until you find a place that looks like we should camp there.’ The glow of the forest was brightening while the light from above was dying.”
(There were definitely more egregious examples but I just don’t care at this point.)
It'd make more sense if I read this as an audiobook, but reading it with my two eyeballs was such a pain in the ass. Someone needed to tell the editor that having paragraphs of pure dialogue is legal and perfectly acceptable.
Boring: The book hit its peak for me when Cahan and Venn first met to when Venn sacrificed themselves to save Cahan’s life. Everything else though? A frustrating slogfest of Cahan leaving his farm to coming back to his farm to leaving his farm to coming back to his farm to avoiding his destiny by staying on his farm to leaving his farm to almost dying and being forced to use his cowl because he’s a dumbass to miraculouslybeingbroughtbacktohisfarmtoleavinghisfarmagain,AGAIN,forarandomkidddddLIKE . . ! This is at 46% of the book. FORTY-SIX PERCENT. 46/100!!
I could not believe my eyes when I realized I was almost halfway through the book and practically nothing interesting/significant had happened (besides Kirven abusing her child and descriptions of nonbinary children being mass murdered, but that's a whole other can of worms). And no, the massive info dumps were not fun.
Confusing: The author understood all the Lovecraftian tentacle animals, the power system and the differences between Skua-Rais, Cowl-Rais, regular Rais, etc. Unfortunately, I did not.
Poorly Edited: This book was riddled with comma splices, every page was practically infested with them, was being grammatically incorrect a stylistic choice or something?? And the dialogue formatting was awful. AWFUL. Reading dialogue should be easy, damn it. But no. Instead I got:
Example:
“Character One speaking.” Character Two reacts to Character One speaking. “Character one is still speaking.” Character Two does something.
“Character One is still speaking.” Character Two reacts. Description description action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action. “Character One speaks again.”
Real examples from the book:
Example One: (Chapter 23)
“'Oh,’ she shouted as they tramped along a path in the scrub. ‘You mean that only those who are not killed by these swarden ever get to tell about them.’ He did not answer. He did not think her words needed an answer. ‘I supposed many of the creatures of the forest are like that, are they not?’ He stopped, and the monk almost walked into him. He turned to find her looking up at him, a smile on her face.
"'Do you always talk so much?' he said.”
Example Two: (Chapter 25)
“'It is different for all plants?’ She looked at him.
“'Yes, and I do not know how long it takes for all of them, only the most common. To study the forest is a lifetime’s work.’ She nodded, looking at the broken stalk. ‘Why don’t you lead for a while, Udinny?’
“'Me?’ said Udinny.
“'You see the path, do you not?’ She nodded. ‘Well, follow it until you find a place that looks like we should camp there.’ The glow of the forest was brightening while the light from above was dying.”
(There were definitely more egregious examples but I just don’t care at this point.)
It'd make more sense if I read this as an audiobook, but reading it with my two eyeballs was such a pain in the ass. Someone needed to tell the editor that having paragraphs of pure dialogue is legal and perfectly acceptable.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
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
adventurous
dark
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
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
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
God's of the Wyrdwood by R.J. Barker is a hard to review book, but I can easily say - I loved it!
It's a slow burn epic fantasy, which enthralled me with its mysteries right from the start. The main character is an outcast, living a solitary life on the edge of society. His POV and voice were really intriguing and captivating, so even though the story takes a good while to really take off, it never felt too slow to me.
Another absolute strong suit of this is the world building! I adored the fantastical creatures, the intimidating forest, the unexpected use people found for nature and the sheer imagination there.
The magic is mysterious enough to still feel mysterious, but also clear enough to not but feel like an emergency solution to every problem.
It felt like I walked off the page right into the forest and village, and coming back to the real world was jarring!
As always I appreciate the inclusive cast, trions for example, who are neither man nor woman, and are using They / Them pronouns. It's also very normal to have a first wife or second husband or whoever / whatever you choose. I love how this isn't made a big deal, it is just the normal setup for this society.
The characters were varied and plausible, and I'll really miss spending time with some of them!
We have two main POV characters, Cahan as our "hero" and Kirven as his opponent in a way - Kirven.
While Cahan tries to avoid bloodshed and violence, he clearly has a very dark past and is not innocent himself.
Kirven in the other hand revels in causing pain, and ruthlessly doing what needs to be done to keep keep her power. Yet both get enough page time, so you can understand their motivations and goals. I always love it when "the bad guys" aren't just bad for the sake of it, but you somehow manage to care for them, while hoping they won't win...
Her child Venn is a trion and meant to be extremely powerful. Yet they refuse to kill to actually activate said power. They are very naive and yet stronger than it seems, and I really enjoyed this counter balance to Cahans world weary way.
Udinny, a monk, is yet another character type, and is very outgoing, optimistic and never shutting up.
I loved the relationship that slowly grew between Cahan, Venn and Udinny, which had a strong found family feel, even though they all just met.
Barker manages to write fantasy that has the magic and fantasy we so much love from the genre, and yet it feels fresh and different. I need more!
It's a slow burn epic fantasy, which enthralled me with its mysteries right from the start. The main character is an outcast, living a solitary life on the edge of society. His POV and voice were really intriguing and captivating, so even though the story takes a good while to really take off, it never felt too slow to me.
Another absolute strong suit of this is the world building! I adored the fantastical creatures, the intimidating forest, the unexpected use people found for nature and the sheer imagination there.
The magic is mysterious enough to still feel mysterious, but also clear enough to not but feel like an emergency solution to every problem.
It felt like I walked off the page right into the forest and village, and coming back to the real world was jarring!
As always I appreciate the inclusive cast, trions for example, who are neither man nor woman, and are using They / Them pronouns. It's also very normal to have a first wife or second husband or whoever / whatever you choose. I love how this isn't made a big deal, it is just the normal setup for this society.
The characters were varied and plausible, and I'll really miss spending time with some of them!
We have two main POV characters, Cahan as our "hero" and Kirven as his opponent in a way - Kirven.
While Cahan tries to avoid bloodshed and violence, he clearly has a very dark past and is not innocent himself.
Kirven in the other hand revels in causing pain, and ruthlessly doing what needs to be done to keep keep her power. Yet both get enough page time, so you can understand their motivations and goals. I always love it when "the bad guys" aren't just bad for the sake of it, but you somehow manage to care for them, while hoping they won't win...
Her child Venn is a trion and meant to be extremely powerful. Yet they refuse to kill to actually activate said power. They are very naive and yet stronger than it seems, and I really enjoyed this counter balance to Cahans world weary way.
Udinny, a monk, is yet another character type, and is very outgoing, optimistic and never shutting up.
I loved the relationship that slowly grew between Cahan, Venn and Udinny, which had a strong found family feel, even though they all just met.
Barker manages to write fantasy that has the magic and fantasy we so much love from the genre, and yet it feels fresh and different. I need more!
Loved this book and was sad when it ended.
Reimagined ecology with layers of phantastical plants and animals.
Nuanced magic system that’s believable and evolves.
It’s humanity on an entirely reimagined world.
Can’t wait to read the next one.
Reimagined ecology with layers of phantastical plants and animals.
Nuanced magic system that’s believable and evolves.
It’s humanity on an entirely reimagined world.
Can’t wait to read the next one.