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agooding's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Violence
Moderate: Pregnancy, Transphobia, and Vomit
Minor: Deadnaming
picaresquedreamer's review
Boring, most characters were kinda irritating
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Transphobia, Violence, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Religious bigotry
musicalpopcorn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This was quite the story. I’m glad I looked up the Twa Sisters beforehand otherwise I think I would have had a massive shock about 3/4 of the way in. The book definitely takes a sharp turn.
I wasn’t all that interested in it to begin with. I didn’t find the story grabbed me, but once it took a darker turn, I definitely felt more inclined to see how it ended.
Interesting idea, so-so execution.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, and Body horror
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Violence, Confinement, Deadnaming, Pregnancy, Grief, Transphobia, Murder, and Misogyny
careinthelibrary's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.0
I was sure I'd like this trans-affirming early middle ages feminist retelling of one of Child's murder ballads and I did 😌
Didn't expect so much to feel like an honouring of <i>Hild</i> by Nicola Griffith, one of my all-time favourite historical fiction epics. Although <i>Hild</i> takes place in this book's future, it feels like they are referencing the same texts, worldviews, problems, and imaginings of the land. Even the references to the patterns that connect us all to the land felt very Griffith and very <i>Hild</i>! Love it.
Didn't expect so much to feel like an honouring of <i>Hild</i> by Nicola Griffith, one of my all-time favourite historical fiction epics. Although <i>Hild</i> takes place in this book's future, it feels like they are referencing the same texts, worldviews, problems, and imaginings of the land. Even the references to the patterns that connect us all to the land felt very Griffith and very <i>Hild</i>! Love it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Transphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Religious bigotry, and Sexism
Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexual content, Dysphoria, Death of parent, Grief, Ableism, Violence, War, and Toxic relationship
ginalucia's review
challenging
dark
emotional
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? Yes
5.0
This book blew me away.
It took a while for me to grasp each character as an individual, but I think that's the point because they, fairly quickly, start to become completely different beings, all going in multiple directions but barging into one another.
I love the way the book handles the trans character. Showing us the internal and external struggle but moving it forward in a gentle and pleasing way. It's part of the story, but it doesn't overshadow or undershadow it.
So unexpected, emotional, gripping, and thoughtful. A tense but enjoyable ride.
For more reviews and book recommendations, check out my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/ginaluciayt
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Transphobia, and Violence
Moderate: Pregnancy and War
charlottereadshistory's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
After reading probably too many Roman and Greek retellings over the last few years I was excited to read what I knew was an Ancient British/Saxon story based on the Twa sisters ballad.
I really enjoyed the storytelling that built up the complexities and relationships of the three siblings, and thought that the portrayal of Keyne, the middle sibling whose struggle to gain acceptance of their trans identity was sensitive and developed.
The addition of magic and that fantasy element didn't seem contrived or forced. Holland really built well trodden ideas in myth and folklore about the power of nature and the importance of being attuned to the land in this book - all important tenets of Paganism, which was the main religion at the time, despite the spread of Christianity.
I got a YA vibe from this book which I didn't mind at all - the characters definitely had fairly modern sensibilities and this isn't a book to read if you want a full understanding of life at the time with a bibliography of source matter at the back. However I really enjoyed the setting, and the ending was actually very dark and dramatic, which was a surprise.
I really enjoyed the storytelling that built up the complexities and relationships of the three siblings, and thought that the portrayal of Keyne, the middle sibling whose struggle to gain acceptance of their trans identity was sensitive and developed.
The addition of magic and that fantasy element didn't seem contrived or forced. Holland really built well trodden ideas in myth and folklore about the power of nature and the importance of being attuned to the land in this book - all important tenets of Paganism, which was the main religion at the time, despite the spread of Christianity.
I got a YA vibe from this book which I didn't mind at all - the characters definitely had fairly modern sensibilities and this isn't a book to read if you want a full understanding of life at the time with a bibliography of source matter at the back. However I really enjoyed the setting, and the ending was actually very dark and dramatic, which was a surprise.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief and Violence
Minor: Transphobia
caelfind's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Transphobia, Death, and War
confusible's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
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? Yes
3.5
I liked this but I’d maybe give it a 3.5 out of 5. I love historical fiction and I haven’t read anything proto-Arthurian, so the subject matter intrigued me. The 3 daughters of a royal family navigating life as both Christianity and the Saxons are invading their surroundings. Ultimately I enjoyed parts of it, especially Keyne’s storyline and her adventures with Mori (I could read a whole book about Mori). I was intrigued by Riva initially but she grew boring while Sinne was annoying at first and I grew to love her later. The world building was great, particularly the use of magic and the description of the magic as tied to the land and a pattern that someone connected to the land can see and pull power from. I did struggle to keep track of which sister was narrating because their voices weren’t very distinct. I also wanted to know more about some side characters, like Os, Cador, and Arlyn. The book moved very slow for me at first but really picked up in the last third and then I couldn’t put it down and I thought Holland brought it all together well at the end. I enjoyed the themes of sisterhood, the power of nature, and the importance of staying true to your identity even if it takes others time to recognize it. One tip for the publisher is that a pronunciation guide for books like this would be very helpful, at least for American audiences, I think struggling with the names was part of why it took me so long to get into it.
One thing to add is that I really liked the way Sinne was turned into a harp, it was gruesome but it had to be and I think it fit with the story so well, we needed to hear a bit more from her
Content Warnings
Minor: Body horror and Violence
aliciae08's review
adventurous
challenging
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I read Sistersong as a book club read, and it took me a little bit to get into it as it’s very different from most of the books I have read this year.
Sistersong is inspired by the Twa Sisters, a traditional murder ballad from as far back as the 17th century (according to Youtube). The ballad itself is gorgeous, and having very little prior knowledge of it, I was excited to get into Sistersong and take on it’s interpretation.
Sistersong follows three siblings and we get alternating chapters through each point of view: Riva, the oldest, Keyne (later called Constantine) and Sinne. The story itself is set on the backdrop of war, growing Christian/Pagan resentments, and their own internal struggles. There’s love and betrayal and an air of mystery, along with gender-queer and trans representation. Despite there being transphobia, this is not a trans trauma story, rather a becoming fully and confidently myself story.
A massive portion of the first two thirds felt extremely slow, with a whole lot of nothing happening. I found myself getting frustrated because some of the inner turmoil presented felt repetitive (particularly around Riva and Keyne). I also think that because of the length of the set up, I was able to work out who was doing what.
I also thought that some of the relationships were unrealistic in their executions. We’re made to think through the book synopsis that these siblings are really close, and even though a past closeness is alluded to, that is not what we see. They don’t know or recognize each other at all until the end.
I also felt that there wasn’t really any closure around certain betrayals. It was kind of “oh these things happened and it’s fine”. We spent so long in the build up that this felt really unsatisfying to me.
It was well-written and there were parts that I found to be gorgeous.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia, Murder, Ableism, Violence, and War
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
maeverose's review against another edition
medium-paced
3.0
TL;DR: Has similar themes to the winternight trilogy (old religion vs christianity, war, evil priest, similar tho different time period and setting). If you liked that, maybe you would like this. Though for me, I loved that and was ultimately bored for most of this book. It just didn’t hook me, and it didn’t help that I only really cared for one pov.
That being Keyne’s. As a genderqueer person I’m always interested in books with trans rep, and even though I don’t believe this is own voices I thought it was done really well. There is misgendering and transphobia from certain characters throughout, but it’s not a trans trauma story, and there are many characters who accept his identity (tho it does take them a minute to catch on), and his transness isn’t his whole character. It is a bit binary though, feeding into stereotypes of what a man should be, but given the time period it makes sense? So idk. Overall decent rep. (Loved chapter 23)
I didn’t care for Riva’s pov because it was primarily focused on the romance, which I didn’t like, and I didn’t like Sinne’s pov because of the jealousy plotline between her and Riva. I did appreciate that the author didn’t go full on ‘I’m gonna steal your man’ with that plotline but it still annoyed me. Especially because this is trying to be a feminist book but the two women’s povs we get are so tied to this one man and their feelings for him and their new dislike of each other because of it.
I’m also both disabled and disfigured (though in different ways than Riva or Os), and I found the rep in this book was neutral overall. Not offensive but not exactly empowering either. Anytime Reva’s scars were mentioned it was often in a negative context, but we were shown through Riva’s pov her struggles with it and how much it hurt when people did say negative things about it, and there were characters who didn’t treat her any differently because of it. Os’s mutism was handled the same I would say. I did like to see Sinne learn to communicate with him, and I thought their friendship was really sweet. I would just like to see a disfigured/disabled character be confident in their body rather than focusing solely on the negatives of it. My scoliosis has negatives; pain and physical limitations, but I also genuinely like how my body looks, and that seems to be a hard concept for some people to grasp.
That being Keyne’s. As a genderqueer person I’m always interested in books with trans rep, and even though I don’t believe this is own voices I thought it was done really well. There is misgendering and transphobia from certain characters throughout, but it’s not a trans trauma story, and there are many characters who accept his identity (tho it does take them a minute to catch on), and his transness isn’t his whole character. It is a bit binary though, feeding into stereotypes of what a man should be, but given the time period it makes sense? So idk. Overall decent rep. (Loved chapter 23)
I didn’t care for Riva’s pov because it was primarily focused on the romance, which I didn’t like, and I didn’t like Sinne’s pov because of the jealousy plotline between her and Riva. I did appreciate that the author didn’t go full on ‘I’m gonna steal your man’ with that plotline but it still annoyed me. Especially because this is trying to be a feminist book but the two women’s povs we get are so tied to this one man and their feelings for him and their new dislike of each other because of it.
I’m also both disabled and disfigured (though in different ways than Riva or Os), and I found the rep in this book was neutral overall. Not offensive but not exactly empowering either. Anytime Reva’s scars were mentioned it was often in a negative context, but we were shown through Riva’s pov her struggles with it and how much it hurt when people did say negative things about it, and there were characters who didn’t treat her any differently because of it. Os’s mutism was handled the same I would say. I did like to see Sinne learn to communicate with him, and I thought their friendship was really sweet. I would just like to see a disfigured/disabled character be confident in their body rather than focusing solely on the negatives of it. My scoliosis has negatives; pain and physical limitations, but I also genuinely like how my body looks, and that seems to be a hard concept for some people to grasp.
As for the story, it didn’t feel like a lot happened even though things were happening. It felt slow to me. It focused more on character development and their thoughts and feelings than it did plot, which normally I like but because I only cared for Keyne and a few side characters it didn’t work for me this time.
The ending… Riva and Cynric’s ending. On one hand I liked that it was so unexpected and atypical for most stories like this, on the other hand… he was never redeemed in any way. And he lied to her, the whole time planning on killing her father and her people, then nearly succeeded at that… so he doesn’t deserve a happy ending at all, and I don’t get why she still loved him through all that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, War, Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Gore, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Religious bigotry, Violence, and Transphobia
Moderate: Animal death, Dysphoria, Lesbophobia, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Vomit, Classism, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Excrement and Rape
The worst of the gore is in chapter 40, but it’s moderate here and there throughout the book.