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tallyhotel's review
4.0
Just finished the book. I'm super excited for the next installment! Having spoken to the author at Gem City last week, I did have a bit of insight to her thoughts on this book, looking back from 2 books down the road.
I would agree to having a bit of trouble following the timeline/characters in the first part of the book. However, by the middle, I was completely enthralled. I was glad to see it all come together.
[I'll share aisles with you anytime, anycon! :)]
I would agree to having a bit of trouble following the timeline/characters in the first part of the book. However, by the middle, I was completely enthralled. I was glad to see it all come together.
[I'll share aisles with you anytime, anycon! :)]
annkmcd's review
4.0
I found The Banished Craft a timely read. Themes of gender based oppression are reminiscent of Atwood's Handmaid's Tale. Bell does an exquisite job of creating characters that you'd want to know and understand. Cor's drive to educate herself despite obstacle is tempered by her vulnerability, combining to make her a relatable and believable protagonist. The distinct regions in Teirrah are also well developed. Bell gives you no choice but to empathize with the position of Seastate; and Marshstate can't be easily dismissed as backward. Comparisons are easily drawn to divisions in our own culture and I'm grateful for the effort the author undertakes to cultivate an understanding and acceptance of each regional lens. On to The Fettered Flame
maureensbooks89's review
5.0
'The Banished Craft' is from the beginning a very interesting and wonderfully put together read. When I started reading I was a little afraid this book would be difficult to understand, but it wasn’t difficult at all. The writing immediately pulled me into it and its very original. Its written through different point of views which gave us inside to all the different characters and their worlds. It’s a book that could have failed just as easily, but due to E.D.E. Bell’s excellent writing this book was really awesome and really deserves to receive more notice.
A character I really liked was Cor. I loved how she kept fighting in a world where she wasn’t really appreciated, to find out the truth about her parents death. But most of all I loved the dragons. I really love dragons, and reading about them was so much fun.
Although this book moves between the different characters and their worlds a lot, I never lost interest or got confused. At times I did wish I could fast forward to another chapter because I just wanted to know more about another character, but that’s part of the charm of this book.
This is definitely a book you need to read for yourself to fully get the ‘magic’ of it. And I would really recommend this book to other fantasy lovers. It’s fun, different and exciting. Definitely a book worth reading.
A character I really liked was Cor. I loved how she kept fighting in a world where she wasn’t really appreciated, to find out the truth about her parents death. But most of all I loved the dragons. I really love dragons, and reading about them was so much fun.
Although this book moves between the different characters and their worlds a lot, I never lost interest or got confused. At times I did wish I could fast forward to another chapter because I just wanted to know more about another character, but that’s part of the charm of this book.
This is definitely a book you need to read for yourself to fully get the ‘magic’ of it. And I would really recommend this book to other fantasy lovers. It’s fun, different and exciting. Definitely a book worth reading.
debbiechristina's review
3.0
*I was provided with a ebook of this book by the publisher via NetGalley, but my review is all my own opinion and thoughts*
*3.5 stars
Overall I enjoyed reading this. At the beginning it was a bit confusion because there is a lot of switching going on between character’s points of views. But after a while I got used to it. I do feel like this first book is setting up for the rest of the series. I am interested to see what is going to happen in the second book, which I will be picking up, just not right away. I would recommend reading this.
*3.5 stars
Overall I enjoyed reading this. At the beginning it was a bit confusion because there is a lot of switching going on between character’s points of views. But after a while I got used to it. I do feel like this first book is setting up for the rest of the series. I am interested to see what is going to happen in the second book, which I will be picking up, just not right away. I would recommend reading this.
mscoutj's review
5.0
A terrific tale, well-told. There is something for every lover of fantasy: dragons, sorcery, travels, war, and scholarly study. There's even some sci-fi elements. But there is more to it than just a simple story. There is a fair bit to chew on regarding social structures and the very nature of society. Bell weaves it all together skillfully and leaves the reader wanting more. Looking very forward to installment #2. The Banished Craft won't be available until August, but you should definitely add it to your TBR list immediately.
edebell's review
5.0
I wrote this book, and I am very excited about it. It's got dragons and wizards - and it's a little quirky. I hope you'll check it out!
see_sadie_read's review
2.0
OMG, I finally finished this, which was in doubt on more than one occasion. I just could not get into it and every page was a slog. I mean, I can read a book this length in a day. But I've been reading this one forever and a day...ok, three weeks, but for me, that's an eternity. I would pick it up, read a chapter (sometimes less), put it down, go off and read something else (usually an entire other book) and then come back to this one for a chapter (sometimes less). It was in this arduous manner I finally chipped away at it enough to finally finish. And do you know what? It ended about where I expected it to start with nary a conclusion in sight.
And it's not even that it's a bad book. The writing is pretty good and the characters seem interesting enough. Unfortunately, there are about four billion of them, most of whom don't seem relevant (though I suspect they will be in future books). And all these characters populate about a million unrelated plots. Though I expect they'll connect up at some point, just not in this book. I can kind of see the shape it will be taking, but that's not enough to be a satisfying rad.
It this over abundance of characters and plot lines that did me in. I was just never able to sink into it and float away with the story. Just about the time I settled into a narrative, it jumped to another, and just about the time I got comfortable there, the book was off again. This is stylistic and if it doesn't bother you then you may like the book. This drives me batty and I wanted to scream...or DNF the book.
There is a pleasant circularity to the two worlds that I appreciated and again, the writing is pretty good. But This one was definitely not for me. I had hoped to read the sequel, but I barely made it through this one.
And it's not even that it's a bad book. The writing is pretty good and the characters seem interesting enough. Unfortunately, there are about four billion of them, most of whom don't seem relevant (though I suspect they will be in future books). And all these characters populate about a million unrelated plots. Though I expect they'll connect up at some point, just not in this book. I can kind of see the shape it will be taking, but that's not enough to be a satisfying rad.
It this over abundance of characters and plot lines that did me in. I was just never able to sink into it and float away with the story. Just about the time I settled into a narrative, it jumped to another, and just about the time I got comfortable there, the book was off again. This is stylistic and if it doesn't bother you then you may like the book. This drives me batty and I wanted to scream...or DNF the book.
There is a pleasant circularity to the two worlds that I appreciated and again, the writing is pretty good. But This one was definitely not for me. I had hoped to read the sequel, but I barely made it through this one.
frogggirl2's review
4.0
There are parts of this book that are excellent and parts that are mediocre. There are a lot of different viewpoints, many of them are irrelevant or boring, some of them are just not as fun as others. This book talks a lot about sexism; particularly Cor and Francie's stories and although these stories are very much against sexism, the relentless grossness of the male characters and the society at large is grating. The parts of this I liked are mostly the dragon society (especially the plot line involving Jwala/Atesh), the Seastate revolt and the overarching issue of the book involving the cataclysm of worlds. Overall, an interesting book if a little heavy handed in moralizing about equal rights and veganism.
kittyg's review
4.0
*This was one of my #SPFBO entries for 2018*
This book is definitely one I really enjoyed and I am very happy to have read, in fact, it's my favourite of the SPFBO entries I have so far read. This story has a lot of what I like in Fantasy...Dragons, female leads who are epic, people fighting back, Dragons, wit and charm, charisma, Dragons and more...
I found that although it's a little slow to get going, it didn't take long for me to get hooked into the story and I quickly found myself enjoying the atmosphere, the story and the characters.
This world is kind of a split one where the world that once had dragons and humans has been divided and they consider the other race long extinct. They do not know much about how it happened or what it means, but they each have words for it in their own worlds, and the characters all feel that something is not quite right in their world.
In the human world women are lesser and they are treated by men as inferior as they cannot read and are clearly less knowledgeable. I'm happy to say quite a few of our human female characters are not at all as the men think and they are quite resourceful in a world that is against them.
The human world is split into four regions, Marshstate, Cavestate, Seastate and Farmstate and they all govern together through a candidate elected by all who go to vote. However, their system has flaws and many of these are exposed in the story.
The characters include:
- Jwala and Atesh - A dragon couple who work for the Emperor as a guard (Jwala) and a scientist (Atesh). They are both big personalities although I found I liked Jwala a little more in her approach, and Atesh took a little bit to grow on me. Their story starts when the Emperor asks Atesh to work for her on a secret weapon and threatens Jwala if he doesn't cooperate...
- Donna and Zee are the Emperor (Zee) and the General (Donna) of the Dragon world. Zee is the ruler of all of Dragonkind, but she is scheming and scary and she isn't quite as beloved as she may think. Meanwhile, Donna is a brute and everyone knows it. She's reckless and devoted and she is not someone you would want to cross...
- Ssarh and Jelt - They are an artist and a young friend (Dragons) who have an idea to become the most well-known and remembered artists of their time. They have come up with a daring plan to challenge their society and if they do it right it could lead to some big power shake-ups!
- Cor - She is probably the main character in the human world and she is a woman who is trying her best to find out about her parents and her past. She has relocated to the University area where she is hoping to uncover more about a mysterious tattoo she has, and also uncover the reason for her parent's murder, but she faces many difficulties as women are forbidden from the Library.
- Francie and Greg - They are the wife of the President and the President himself (of the human world). We actually follow mostly from Francie's PoV and I was very happy about this as Greg is a bit of a rubbish guy at times. Francie on the other hand seems like she really cares for the people of her world and she often speaks her mind and tries to help behind the scenes when she can.
- Bonso - A man who was abandoned by the system and who has had to make his own way through life so he decides to speak out about the woes of the world. He's rather too good at it and he causes more than a stir...
The story for this one was really strong once I got into it. It feels a bit like it's a play on some of the other stories I've read, and at the same time it's very entertaining in itself. I found that once I got into who was who (as there are a lot of characters we follow at different times) I really enjoyed the concepts that the story dealt with and the way that many of the characters came across.
I will say I had a few very minor niggles and some of that is due to poor character choices which annoyed me, or occasional overly-simple explanations. However, these were luckily few and far between and in general I really liked the book.
I would certainly recommend this and I gave it a solid 4.25*s which equates to 8.5*s for SPFBO purposes. Definitely my favourite so far :)
This book is definitely one I really enjoyed and I am very happy to have read, in fact, it's my favourite of the SPFBO entries I have so far read. This story has a lot of what I like in Fantasy...Dragons, female leads who are epic, people fighting back, Dragons, wit and charm, charisma, Dragons and more...
I found that although it's a little slow to get going, it didn't take long for me to get hooked into the story and I quickly found myself enjoying the atmosphere, the story and the characters.
This world is kind of a split one where the world that once had dragons and humans has been divided and they consider the other race long extinct. They do not know much about how it happened or what it means, but they each have words for it in their own worlds, and the characters all feel that something is not quite right in their world.
In the human world women are lesser and they are treated by men as inferior as they cannot read and are clearly less knowledgeable. I'm happy to say quite a few of our human female characters are not at all as the men think and they are quite resourceful in a world that is against them.
The human world is split into four regions, Marshstate, Cavestate, Seastate and Farmstate and they all govern together through a candidate elected by all who go to vote. However, their system has flaws and many of these are exposed in the story.
The characters include:
- Jwala and Atesh - A dragon couple who work for the Emperor as a guard (Jwala) and a scientist (Atesh). They are both big personalities although I found I liked Jwala a little more in her approach, and Atesh took a little bit to grow on me. Their story starts when the Emperor asks Atesh to work for her on a secret weapon and threatens Jwala if he doesn't cooperate...
- Donna and Zee are the Emperor (Zee) and the General (Donna) of the Dragon world. Zee is the ruler of all of Dragonkind, but she is scheming and scary and she isn't quite as beloved as she may think. Meanwhile, Donna is a brute and everyone knows it. She's reckless and devoted and she is not someone you would want to cross...
- Ssarh and Jelt - They are an artist and a young friend (Dragons) who have an idea to become the most well-known and remembered artists of their time. They have come up with a daring plan to challenge their society and if they do it right it could lead to some big power shake-ups!
- Cor - She is probably the main character in the human world and she is a woman who is trying her best to find out about her parents and her past. She has relocated to the University area where she is hoping to uncover more about a mysterious tattoo she has, and also uncover the reason for her parent's murder, but she faces many difficulties as women are forbidden from the Library.
- Francie and Greg - They are the wife of the President and the President himself (of the human world). We actually follow mostly from Francie's PoV and I was very happy about this as Greg is a bit of a rubbish guy at times. Francie on the other hand seems like she really cares for the people of her world and she often speaks her mind and tries to help behind the scenes when she can.
- Bonso - A man who was abandoned by the system and who has had to make his own way through life so he decides to speak out about the woes of the world. He's rather too good at it and he causes more than a stir...
The story for this one was really strong once I got into it. It feels a bit like it's a play on some of the other stories I've read, and at the same time it's very entertaining in itself. I found that once I got into who was who (as there are a lot of characters we follow at different times) I really enjoyed the concepts that the story dealt with and the way that many of the characters came across.
I will say I had a few very minor niggles and some of that is due to poor character choices which annoyed me, or occasional overly-simple explanations. However, these were luckily few and far between and in general I really liked the book.
I would certainly recommend this and I gave it a solid 4.25*s which equates to 8.5*s for SPFBO purposes. Definitely my favourite so far :)
debbieslibrary's review
3.0
*I was provided with a ebook of this book by the publisher via NetGalley, but my review is all my own opinion and thoughts*
*3.5 stars
Overall I enjoyed reading this. At the beginning it was a bit confusion because there is a lot of switching going on between character’s points of views. But after a while I got used to it. I do feel like this first book is setting up for the rest of the series. I am interested to see what is going to happen in the second book, which I will be picking up, just not right away. I would recommend reading this.
*3.5 stars
Overall I enjoyed reading this. At the beginning it was a bit confusion because there is a lot of switching going on between character’s points of views. But after a while I got used to it. I do feel like this first book is setting up for the rest of the series. I am interested to see what is going to happen in the second book, which I will be picking up, just not right away. I would recommend reading this.
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