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readundancies's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
"A room is a sort of narrative when an intelligence moves through it, makes use of it or is constrained by it. Otherwise it is in abeyance. And an intelligence has its own designs."
This is probably one of the most unique and original interpretations of what a haunted house story can be, and I absolutely loved it. It really emphasizes what it means to haunt, going beyond ghosts and spirits and instead focusing on the architecture and building itself and forcing consciousness in the form of an eerily almost?-sentient AI to live within it's veins. Rose/House is both structure and substance and alive in spite of it's immortal yet inanimate stagnancy and the way the house feeds off those that enter its doors - it's manipulations, it's subversions, it's amusement - is toxic and overt and yet you just can't avoid it.
It's brilliant.
I wanted a longer story despite knowing this was a novella going in. And I actually appreciate that the story itself works so well within the format and structure of a novella. But I still wanted more.
The ending was always going to be ambiguous, without any true or meaningful answers to the questions that one, as a reader, may develop as the tale goes on. And the cyclical nature of the writing and how it all comes back to a full and vicious circle? It was exactly what I wanted because I love me some impactful repetition that loops the beginning of a tale to it's end with indomitable writing.
Arkady Martine knocked it out of the park with this one, and this is definitely sitting on my favourites list of reads for this year.
This is probably one of the most unique and original interpretations of what a haunted house story can be, and I absolutely loved it. It really emphasizes what it means to haunt, going beyond ghosts and spirits and instead focusing on the architecture and building itself and forcing consciousness in the form of an eerily almost?-sentient AI to live within it's veins. Rose/House is both structure and substance and alive in spite of it's immortal yet inanimate stagnancy and the way the house feeds off those that enter its doors - it's manipulations, it's subversions, it's amusement - is toxic and overt and yet you just can't avoid it.
It's brilliant.
I wanted a longer story despite knowing this was a novella going in. And I actually appreciate that the story itself works so well within the format and structure of a novella. But I still wanted more.
The ending was always going to be ambiguous, without any true or meaningful answers to the questions that one, as a reader, may develop as the tale goes on. And the cyclical nature of the writing and how it all comes back to a full and vicious circle? It was exactly what I wanted because I love me some impactful repetition that loops the beginning of a tale to it's end with indomitable writing.
Arkady Martine knocked it out of the park with this one, and this is definitely sitting on my favourites list of reads for this year.
emilyelisee's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
gwenhwyfar's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
pearlc's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
I did not like this book and I should've DNF'd.
The tricky thing with novellas is making sure the story fits the length. I felt that this book managed to be both too long and too short. The story it was trying to tell was muddled by too many people in too short a span of words. A tightly focused short story or an expanded full length novel would have better served what Martine was attempting to do. As it stands there are too many points of view and thus too many story threads for what we were given.
The tricky thing with novellas is making sure the story fits the length. I felt that this book managed to be both too long and too short. The story it was trying to tell was muddled by too many people in too short a span of words. A tightly focused short story or an expanded full length novel would have better served what Martine was attempting to do. As it stands there are too many points of view and thus too many story threads for what we were given.
readingthething's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-paced
2.0
Just not my kind of story. Didn't connect with the characters, and am not a fan of detective stories anyway.
wordsareworlds's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
I enjoy a book with interesting descriptions, that brings mystery and obsession and drama to things that I've never given all that much thought to. But this book reads like Martine wanted to see how many obscure words and over wrought phrases she could fit in the shortest number of pages, with the least amount of actual characterization. The best parts by far are the evocative descriptions of architecture and the effect it can have on mood.
This novella has 4 PoVs, and Martine jumps between them on "cliffhanger" moments, which after the first few became tiring rather than tension-building or intriguing. And since she never set up the depth of character or stakes that would make me care in the first place....it was just annoying. One of the PoVs has the habit of lampshading everything going on as noir tropes and then moving on, without those thoughts affecting his actions in any way. In fact, nothing the characters do makes sense, and then the novella ends with some classic horror outcomes without having earned a single one.
While A Memory Called Empire is an absolute gem of a book, there is almost no part of Rose/House that reflects the way Martine shone there. So glad I was able to get this in audio from my library rather than paying the frankly obscene price Subterranean Press charges for it.
This novella has 4 PoVs, and Martine jumps between them on "cliffhanger" moments, which after the first few became tiring rather than tension-building or intriguing. And since she never set up the depth of character or stakes that would make me care in the first place....it was just annoying. One of the PoVs has the habit of lampshading everything going on as noir tropes and then moving on, without those thoughts affecting his actions in any way. In fact, nothing the characters do makes sense, and then the novella ends with some classic horror outcomes without having earned a single one.
While A Memory Called Empire is an absolute gem of a book, there is almost no part of Rose/House that reflects the way Martine shone there. So glad I was able to get this in audio from my library rather than paying the frankly obscene price Subterranean Press charges for it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
anna_hepworth's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I found the beginning a little slow and hard to get going, but once I got used to the rhythm, I was hooked. I love a good locked room (locked house) mystery, and this was an incredible locked room mystery.
I wasn't all that interested in either of the architect characters (the deceased Basit Derniau, and the disgruntled Selene Gisil), but I was fascinated by the main police character (Maritza Smith). Smith gets to play fast and loose with identity and humanity in order to investigate the case, and it is never quite clear how real this is to them.
The worldbuilding - the AI, the despair of the architectural world when Derniau locks everything inside Rose House with only Gisil permitted (limited) access, the many ways that the existence of AI permeates the story, the way that Martine both brings the desert in and surrounds the story with it is delightful.
Rose House was designed for illusion, and that is used to great effect in the story. There are dreamlike sequences where neither the character nor the reader has a sense of Truth, and I think that was important in making this a great book, rather than just a good book.
I wasn't all that interested in either of the architect characters (the deceased Basit Derniau, and the disgruntled Selene Gisil), but I was fascinated by the main police character (Maritza Smith). Smith gets to play fast and loose with identity and humanity in order to investigate the case, and it is never quite clear how real this is to them.
The worldbuilding - the AI, the despair of the architectural world when Derniau locks everything inside Rose House with only Gisil permitted (limited) access, the many ways that the existence of AI permeates the story, the way that Martine both brings the desert in and surrounds the story with it is delightful.
Rose House was designed for illusion, and that is used to great effect in the story. There are dreamlike sequences where neither the character nor the reader has a sense of Truth, and I think that was important in making this a great book, rather than just a good book.
tadasborne's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
breading_books's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-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