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3.23 AVERAGE
3.23 AVERAGE
This story spent way too much time explaining things to me and way too little time encouraging me to care.
4.5 - 5 stars
I liked this novella so much I wish it had been a longer book (something I rarely say). The world-building was compelling, the details about the gems were fascinating, and Lin and Sima are willing to do anything to save their kingdom from the invaders that have taken the crown. Wow. I can hardly wait for Cloudbound now, because I like Wilde's writing so much.
I liked this novella so much I wish it had been a longer book (something I rarely say). The world-building was compelling, the details about the gems were fascinating, and Lin and Sima are willing to do anything to save their kingdom from the invaders that have taken the crown. Wow. I can hardly wait for Cloudbound now, because I like Wilde's writing so much.
This was a good story, for all that it was. There was no setting or context for the story. If this had been a full novel or a series, it may have been great. Even as a short story from a side world it could have been better. By itself it was just hollow.
This underwhelming novella doesn't really do enough to distance itself from the tropes it employs. A fantasy kingdom, where gems are the source of magic, reels from a sudden combination of palace coup & foreign invasion. The sole survivors of the palace coup are the inconsequential and mostly useless youngest daughter of the king -- only good for marrying off -- and her confidante/advisor/childhood friend and are almost immediately captured by the invaders. Will they find some source of leverage in this desperate situation? They are cast-offs that nobody believed in...but they believe in themselves and find unexpected strengths blah blah blah.
It could be a pretty good setup: How will those two find some kind of leverage with all that stacked against them? The good: Wilde keeps things as mostly a psychological struggle of wills between the captured and the captors. This isn't some swashbuckling, action-adventure of daring escapes and fights. It's a battle of will and wits.
But everything feels curious flat, making it hard to care. (It doesn't help that there are all these twee interstitial sections that read like a faux tour guide from 200 years in the future that are weirdly dissonant from the dire straights being faced.) A prime example: there's the briefest hint that maybe Princess and her Bestie have some sapphic attraction...which kinda comes from nowhere (they've known one another their whole lives, after all, and it hasn't come up before) and disappears almost as quickly.
It could be a pretty good setup: How will those two find some kind of leverage with all that stacked against them? The good: Wilde keeps things as mostly a psychological struggle of wills between the captured and the captors. This isn't some swashbuckling, action-adventure of daring escapes and fights. It's a battle of will and wits.
But everything feels curious flat, making it hard to care. (It doesn't help that there are all these twee interstitial sections that read like a faux tour guide from 200 years in the future that are weirdly dissonant from the dire straights being faced.) A prime example: there's the briefest hint that maybe Princess and her Bestie have some sapphic attraction...which kinda comes from nowhere (they've known one another their whole lives, after all, and it hasn't come up before) and disappears almost as quickly.
Some cool worldbuilding, but I think this could have benefited from being a full length novel instead of a novella.
Lush storytelling with beautiful imagery but the story felt incomplete. This felt more like the first two chapters of a much bigger novel.
The story was interesting and a different take on high fantasy, but the audio narration was horrible - the editing left much to be desired. 2 stars for poor audio. Story itself is a 3.5 star.
Somehow I did NOT know this was a short story when I started reading it and was very disappointed about that. The perils of ebooks. I really enjoyed the world, and the characters, and the magic system, but deducted stars because I am very tired of 'madness' as the drive for very bad actions in fantasy (and, like... every other genre tbh). I am a simple crazy person and would like to read a book where people kill other people because some or all of the people in this equation are dicks, not because 'oooh they were driven to/had a proclivity for madness oooh a mad person will just do whatever.'
Excellent teen-friendly fantasy with a new type of magic and wonderfully well-rounded characters especially for such a short book.