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zmull's review
4.0
Lifelode is Jo Walton's take on the pastoral novel albeit with a science fictional bent. The story takes place at Applekirk, a English-type manor house on a world where time runs faster or slower depending on how far East or West you travel. The peace of Applekirk is disturbed by the return of a former lord of the manor after relatively different amounts of time. The plot proceeds from there. Jo Walton is always wonderful and Lifelode is no exception.
evelikesbooks's review
4.0
Up until the very end I'd have given this book three stars. It's a very quiet, domestic book, which I often like but here found it a bit boring. It picks up toward the end.
I like the way Jo Walton doesn't do much explication in many of her books. People are living their lives and the reader just has to catch up. I was halfway through before I realized that priests aren't allowed to wear clothes in this world.
I like the way Jo Walton doesn't do much explication in many of her books. People are living their lives and the reader just has to catch up. I was halfway through before I realized that priests aren't allowed to wear clothes in this world.
ofearna's review
3.0
Great book. Most people I know would HATE it because of the non-linear time and such, but it was great.
One of the only times I've noted an author commenting on the great cover art -- though if you look st Stefan Martiniere's full painting, it does not fit AT ALL.
One of the only times I've noted an author commenting on the great cover art -- though if you look st Stefan Martiniere's full painting, it does not fit AT ALL.
tellingetienne's review
3.0
3.5 stars. What an odd little novel. I didn't dislike it, but it certainly left me wanting a little more. The timeline was a little odd and the kind of disjointed timeline was a little hard to get used to, I felt like I knew what was going to happen right before it happened and it made it a little hard to react properly.
chirson's review
4.0
I'd wanted to read this novel for so long. It sounded just up my alley but there was no ebook, and it was obviously out of print. So I jumped at the chance once it finally had its e-release, and spent a week savouring the experience.
This is a cozy fantasy and a polyamorous story about negotiating boundaries and relationships, and also a story about grief, loss and parenthood. It does a nifty thing with tenses that took me a few chapters to get used to, and there is this thing in it that a central character sees future and past shadows of people and I found that haunting and poignant in the extreme, and it almost made me cry when I was reading in bed late at night.
Walton is both consistent in her themes and reflections and always, always surprising. I find it difficult to put into words what it is about her writing that I dig so much - an interest in the inner life that's as intense as (or more than) the plot? The way she writes love of work, love of place, love of life, passion? I'm not sure, but there's just something about it. Her characters often feel real in a way that few other writers' creations do. I feel empathy for them much more than in most literary works I read.
Lifelode, with its history of publication, feels like a labour of love, and that's great, though it also feels a little unfinished - like it could have been continued, or like the frame doesn't get as much space as it might have needed.
Still, what a joy. I recommend it highly.
This is a cozy fantasy and a polyamorous story about negotiating boundaries and relationships, and also a story about grief, loss and parenthood. It does a nifty thing with tenses that took me a few chapters to get used to, and there is this thing in it that a central character sees future and past shadows of people and I found that haunting and poignant in the extreme, and it almost made me cry when I was reading in bed late at night.
Walton is both consistent in her themes and reflections and always, always surprising. I find it difficult to put into words what it is about her writing that I dig so much - an interest in the inner life that's as intense as (or more than) the plot? The way she writes love of work, love of place, love of life, passion? I'm not sure, but there's just something about it. Her characters often feel real in a way that few other writers' creations do. I feel empathy for them much more than in most literary works I read.
Lifelode, with its history of publication, feels like a labour of love, and that's great, though it also feels a little unfinished - like it could have been continued, or like the frame doesn't get as much space as it might have needed.
Still, what a joy. I recommend it highly.
changeablelandscape's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
At long last, a Jo Walton book that I wholeheartedly enjoyed! I appreciated the focus on the domestic, and I thought it worked reasonably well -- there is still what looks like a Things Happening plot, but I would argue that despite the magic and the armies, nothing really does happen in this book, not in a world-meaningful way. (That's a compliment, I think it's lovely to write a fantasy novel without fantasy novel stakes! This is not a fantasy of agency; everyone, even the characters most caught up in the plot, really just want to get on with their lives, and the world functions well enough as it is -- the only reason Hanethe and Jankin change the world is because they don't have another choice, and it isn't clear to anyone (including the reader) what that change was, or whether or not it'll have any meaningful impact on the rest of the characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
avalinda's review against another edition
4.0
Loved the setting and premise - it was so refreshing to read about a pastoral society where folk magic holds a lot of power and gods have their own realm bordering that of humans. That combined with a time-dilation sort of phenomenon, where time runs faster in the East and slower in the West, made the worldbuilding really memorable. My main pet peeve, maybe just with the edition I got, was with the editing/formatting - I kept seeing small typos here and there, mid-sentence past/present tense switches, and easy-to-miss chapter numbers that came just one line after the end of the previous chapter. Distracting but thankfully, due to the strength of the story, not a dealbreaker. Really hope to see more stories set in this universe, particularly from perspectives east/west of Applekirk since there were enough mentions of their society for me to be intrigued.
P.S. The cover art is amazing.
P.S. The cover art is amazing.
linneahedvig's review
4.0
I love what Jo Walton does with magic in this (secretly sci-fi) fantasy story. This feels similar in tone to Record of a Spaceborn Few in that it’s more about life in a place than it is about any particular event. I love that and I love the intricacies of character and relationship that are able to be played out in these kinds of stories (but, I will admit, I’m reluctant to read them if they’re not SFF). There’s also a lot of food description, which is great for a Christmas read!
roseparis's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
kirilaw's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No