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3.23 AVERAGE
3.23 AVERAGE
Lin is a young princess, never destined to rule over the kingdom. Sima, her lapidary, was never trained on how to use the powerful gems and their magic for anything beyond what a princess may need. So when a massacre of the royal family leaves Lin as the only hope for her kingdom, both find themselves running into new territory with high-stakes consequences--not just for the two of them, but for an entire people.
There is a lot to the concept and the world that Fran Wilde has created here. The traditions, the history, the people--it hearkens to an epic fantasy story, though this is delivered in a single, novella-length installment. The story is fast-moving, with little time to stop for intentional character development and backstory, with everything coming through via the characters' actions. And that can be a good thing at times, though there are moments in this story where things move so quickly that I felt a few things may have been lost. The story is well-written, and I would say my only complaint is that I would have like to see this developed over the course of more pages (or even multiple books) to really immerse myself as a reader.
There is a lot to the concept and the world that Fran Wilde has created here. The traditions, the history, the people--it hearkens to an epic fantasy story, though this is delivered in a single, novella-length installment. The story is fast-moving, with little time to stop for intentional character development and backstory, with everything coming through via the characters' actions. And that can be a good thing at times, though there are moments in this story where things move so quickly that I felt a few things may have been lost. The story is well-written, and I would say my only complaint is that I would have like to see this developed over the course of more pages (or even multiple books) to really immerse myself as a reader.
Most boring fantasy book I’ve read this year. Someone else said “it spent so long explaining and not enough time convincing me to care” and I agree
adventurous
dark
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book had a really interesting concept for magic, but I didn’t love it for a couple of reasons. I read the audiobook, and I think that was a mistake. There were frequently errors in the audio, where the same sentence would be repeated twice in a row (I swear this happened like a dozen times). There were no chapters, so it was harder to know when we were switching between Lin and Sima quicker. I think if I’d read the ebook or a physical copy, I wouldn’t have had those complaints, and I wouldn’t have kept getting pulled out of the story. I did absolutely love the in-world epigraphs, which are 100% my shit.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Colonisation
Moderate: Body horror, Physical abuse, Slavery, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child death, Vomit, War
The story is lovely and the narrator's voice and delivery give it a lilting beauty, but the audiobook production is terrible. It sounds like the pre-edit version was released, complete with misspoken and repeated lines as the narrator tried different line deliveries.
It was nice to see world building crammed in to such a short story. It was well done, though I found the current-day chapter openings to be jarring. They serve a purpose, I get it, but for me the tone of it took away from the majesty of the scenes in the past. Perhaps that was the point.
It would really be awesome to see more set in this world (and time of rulers!)
It would really be awesome to see more set in this world (and time of rulers!)
Sad and Lovely
A beautiful, poignant little story that vividly encapsulates character and setting in a few spare strokes. This is the first I've read from Fran Wilde, and I definitely liked it enough to seek out more of her books.
A beautiful, poignant little story that vividly encapsulates character and setting in a few spare strokes. This is the first I've read from Fran Wilde, and I definitely liked it enough to seek out more of her books.
Book Riot recommended this fantasy novella for one of the entries in this year's Read Harder challenge. I'm glad I picked it up as it's a very solid fantasy story. Even at only 96 pages, Fran Wilde manages to introduce us to a fully developed world.
Fantastic story and worldbuilding in fewer pages than most manage in a full-length novel. I want more stories set in this world!
I read a short story by Fran Wilde earlier this year (part of the Infinity's End collection) and absolutely lvoed it (easily top5 from that collection) so i wanted to try another thing by her. The Jewel and her Lapidary unfortunately did not live up to my hopes.
part of my rating is totally subjective in that there were a bunch of plot choices/character choices i did not care for and that just brought down the reading experience for me. i especially disliked the ending. it reinforced this uncomfortable slavery aspect present in the rest of the novel. (dont want to say more for spoilers sake).
furthermore, i think there was an awful lot of repetition for such a small book, both plotwise and dialogue wise. i listened to this on audiobook and im not sure if it was a fault with the audiobook editing or simply how the book was written but there would be these repeated phrases every couple of pages. at first i thought maybe these were scene breaks where the last line from the previous scene was being repeated as the first line of the next scene (terrible on its own) but some of the repeated phrases were fragments, not even sentences so by the end i had discarded my theory and was just confused. either way they didnt work, whether as a fault of the writing or the audiobook editing.
just a big miss. i will try something else from Fran Wilde though because i still really love that short story by her that i read and i want to find a longer work to love as much.
part of my rating is totally subjective in that there were a bunch of plot choices/character choices i did not care for and that just brought down the reading experience for me. i especially disliked the ending. it reinforced this uncomfortable slavery aspect present in the rest of the novel. (dont want to say more for spoilers sake).
furthermore, i think there was an awful lot of repetition for such a small book, both plotwise and dialogue wise. i listened to this on audiobook and im not sure if it was a fault with the audiobook editing or simply how the book was written but there would be these repeated phrases every couple of pages. at first i thought maybe these were scene breaks where the last line from the previous scene was being repeated as the first line of the next scene (terrible on its own) but some of the repeated phrases were fragments, not even sentences so by the end i had discarded my theory and was just confused. either way they didnt work, whether as a fault of the writing or the audiobook editing.
just a big miss. i will try something else from Fran Wilde though because i still really love that short story by her that i read and i want to find a longer work to love as much.
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No