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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
This book took me far too long to read in proportion to my enjoyment of it.
I always thought that for me, a good dystopian novel should always start with the illusion of contentment for the protagonist followed by the slow building of paranoia. This book starts with an "itch" and a sense of not-belonging and I suppose it has led me to view with fresh eyes some of the others I have read in the past.
This is a wonderfully lyrical book with an ebb-and-flow in the action which fits happily with that of one of the book's other prominent characters; the sea around the Island plays a subtle but powerful part in the happenings on the Island and to its inhabitants.
I always thought that for me, a good dystopian novel should always start with the illusion of contentment for the protagonist followed by the slow building of paranoia. This book starts with an "itch" and a sense of not-belonging and I suppose it has led me to view with fresh eyes some of the others I have read in the past.
This is a wonderfully lyrical book with an ebb-and-flow in the action which fits happily with that of one of the book's other prominent characters; the sea around the Island plays a subtle but powerful part in the happenings on the Island and to its inhabitants.
Something that always terrifies me about authoritarian dystopia stories is the loneliness. Punishment for crossing authority varies based on the iteration of the dystopia, but loneliness of outsiders trying not to look like outsiders is always there, at least to start.
In The Weaver, Itaranta has created an island world overseen by the Council, which has outlawed dreams. Those who dream seek to hide their condition, if possible, though night-maeres have physical manifestations, and most unmarried people live and sleep in shared spaces. Those found to have the dream plague are sent to the House of the Tainted and never seen again by non-dreamers. Within pages, Eliana encounters a young woman bleeding on the stones outside her home, the House of Webs, whose tongue was cut out of her mouth by two anonymous attackers. Valeria, the victim, mysteriously has an invisible tattoo of Eliana's name on her hand. The two women isolated from the rest of the island by their bodies - Eliana by her plague and Valeria by being literally robbed of speech - become close as they unravel the mysteries of the island and seek to break the silence around the dream plague.
I thought the world was beautiful and scary, though the characters were alright and maybe not totally complex. I can't decide if 3 stars is fair - I was on solid 4 star territory until the ending, which was a little confusing. So maybe 3.5 stars.
As an aside, I read an article in The Guardian recently about how dystopias exist alongside utopias in The Real World all the time. I thought about what it might have been like to be forced into silence about something that made you an outsider, specifically, what it might be like to be gay or lesbian in a time when silence enforced by a Church or government may have kept you from finding a community.
In The Weaver, Itaranta has created an island world overseen by the Council, which has outlawed dreams. Those who dream seek to hide their condition, if possible, though night-maeres have physical manifestations, and most unmarried people live and sleep in shared spaces. Those found to have the dream plague are sent to the House of the Tainted and never seen again by non-dreamers. Within pages, Eliana encounters a young woman bleeding on the stones outside her home, the House of Webs, whose tongue was cut out of her mouth by two anonymous attackers. Valeria, the victim, mysteriously has an invisible tattoo of Eliana's name on her hand. The two women isolated from the rest of the island by their bodies - Eliana by her plague and Valeria by being literally robbed of speech - become close as they unravel the mysteries of the island and seek to break the silence around the dream plague.
I thought the world was beautiful and scary, though the characters were alright and maybe not totally complex. I can't decide if 3 stars is fair - I was on solid 4 star territory until the ending, which was a little confusing. So maybe 3.5 stars.
As an aside, I read an article in The Guardian recently about how dystopias exist alongside utopias in The Real World all the time. I thought about what it might have been like to be forced into silence about something that made you an outsider, specifically, what it might be like to be gay or lesbian in a time when silence enforced by a Church or government may have kept you from finding a community.
A wonderful strange dream like book that keeps you guessing until the very end!
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
3.5 stars
I'm so happy that I gave this book a chance!
It's a Finnish fantasy/dystopian novel about an island slowly sinking into the sea, and features a beautifully understated romance between two girls, each carrying their own secrets and burdens.
I don't want to say too much about the plot and the characters at this point because I don't want to give away too much information - it's best if you go and discover it by yourself!
The atmosphere that Itäranta paints is dreamy and at times eerie. The writing is beautiful and there are some truly stunning quotes, the prose is rich and full of vivid imagery.
However, there is also a downside to this. I have to admit that I struggled quite a bit at the beginning – the author doesn't do much explaining at start and you have to put together little pieces of information about world building and the characters as you read on. Everything in this book feels dreamlike, but that is not always good. To me, it was hard to get a good sense of the world and the characters because of the vagueness of the writing, so it took me about 120 pages before I could actually enjoy the story and have a better idea about what's going on.
Other than that, I LOVED the imagery that the book left in my mind – all the sea green hues, scent of brine and sea, salty breeze, empty halls, gauzy webs floating in the wind, the drowned streets of a doomed city… and best of all, the quiet, sweet relationship that blooms between our narrator and a mute girl that one day appears at the temple.
I adore the world that the author created and the dreamy feeling that persists throughout the novel.
So all in all, it was a beautiful, lyrical read but I had some issues with the sometimes too flowery prose and it took me really long to get into the story.
Would I recommend it? Well, that depends.
READ IF:
• you like to get lost in dreamy fantasy worlds,
• you don't mind a slow read,
• you're looking for something fresh and original
• you like a slow burn, understated romance
DON'T READ IF:
• you are looking for a fast paced adventure – this one is quite the opposite,
• you dislike purple prose,
• you need the world building and the characters to be well defined and have a strong sense of what is going on
I'm so happy that I gave this book a chance!
It's a Finnish fantasy/dystopian novel about an island slowly sinking into the sea, and features a beautifully understated romance between two girls, each carrying their own secrets and burdens.
I don't want to say too much about the plot and the characters at this point because I don't want to give away too much information - it's best if you go and discover it by yourself!
The atmosphere that Itäranta paints is dreamy and at times eerie. The writing is beautiful and there are some truly stunning quotes, the prose is rich and full of vivid imagery.
However, there is also a downside to this. I have to admit that I struggled quite a bit at the beginning – the author doesn't do much explaining at start and you have to put together little pieces of information about world building and the characters as you read on. Everything in this book feels dreamlike, but that is not always good. To me, it was hard to get a good sense of the world and the characters because of the vagueness of the writing, so it took me about 120 pages before I could actually enjoy the story and have a better idea about what's going on.
Other than that, I LOVED the imagery that the book left in my mind – all the sea green hues, scent of brine and sea, salty breeze, empty halls, gauzy webs floating in the wind, the drowned streets of a doomed city… and best of all, the quiet, sweet relationship that blooms between our narrator and a mute girl that one day appears at the temple.
I adore the world that the author created and the dreamy feeling that persists throughout the novel.
So all in all, it was a beautiful, lyrical read but I had some issues with the sometimes too flowery prose and it took me really long to get into the story.
Would I recommend it? Well, that depends.
READ IF:
• you like to get lost in dreamy fantasy worlds,
• you don't mind a slow read,
• you're looking for something fresh and original
• you like a slow burn, understated romance
DON'T READ IF:
• you are looking for a fast paced adventure – this one is quite the opposite,
• you dislike purple prose,
• you need the world building and the characters to be well defined and have a strong sense of what is going on
I wanted to love this book, so much. And there were a lot of things in it that I loved - the descriptions of the island, the exquisite language, the main character. But then there were things that I did not love - the overall plot, the ending, how it felt like the story is stuck in place. It took me a long time to get into the story, for it to get going at all, and once it finally did, it felt like it ended all too abruptly with very little explanation. Mostly I was left with the feeling that I did not get even a third of what happened, so much time was used on build-up and what happened to everyone in the end was left unexplained. I did like the sudden environmental route it took for a chapter or so, but in general it feels like the overall theme was lost somewhere between the beautiful words and that the author was trying a bit too hard. I could not help but compare this to 'The Memory of Water' and must say I liked that one a lot better. It was more coherent. This is not a bad book, but it's not living up to the potential and expectations. Points for the absolutely gorgeous cover.
This book was good but not a favorite for me. I found it was a little hard to follow in the beginning (it's a very different world) and the first half was slow, but the second half was much better. The story is one of fantasy; Eliana, is a young weaver living in the prestigious House of Webs. She comes across a bleeding young woman while on nightly patrol and this starts her down a road of questions that challenge everything she has ever known about life on the island. Why does this mystery girl have a secret tattoo of Eliana's name on her palm? Who hurt her so badly? What is the real story of the island? It's a story of expected roles and rules, becoming who you were meant to be, overcoming obstacles, right and wrong, love and hate, deceit, and above all; courage. It is a book of deeper meaning. Taking a long hard look at humanity; what we tend to do and repeat throughout history.
I have this problem now where I have to clarify every book I read in terms of reading medium and location lest that compromise my review. For about two weeks, this was my kindle book I read while giving my toddler a bath (read as my toddler trying to give me a bath and dumping water on my head, but I digress). Which is not strictly the ideal reading situation for things like narrative immersion.
In some ways, this book held up extremely well. The relationships were lovely in a heartbreaking way and the supporting characters, in particular, had an emotional heft to them that I appreciated. I loved that the romance wasn't forced, but evolved naturally. (Which, incidentally, contrasts with what I feel like a heterosexual relationship would have been like under the circumstances.) The world-building felt simultaneously cluttered and shallow; there was a fair amount of description, but it also felt like surface painting laid over a mist. And while tropes are not a bad thing, this book did occasionally feel like it lifted plot points out of The Toast's excellent "How To Tell If You Are In A High Fantasy Novel". The pacing also felt off, but this is where I start to doubt my own experiences because 20 minute toddler baths will do that to your sense of narrative progression.
Anyway, it was a sweet story that could have done more, but did pretty well nonetheless.
In some ways, this book held up extremely well. The relationships were lovely in a heartbreaking way and the supporting characters, in particular, had an emotional heft to them that I appreciated. I loved that the romance wasn't forced, but evolved naturally. (Which, incidentally, contrasts with what I feel like a heterosexual relationship would have been like under the circumstances.) The world-building felt simultaneously cluttered and shallow; there was a fair amount of description, but it also felt like surface painting laid over a mist. And while tropes are not a bad thing, this book did occasionally feel like it lifted plot points out of The Toast's excellent "How To Tell If You Are In A High Fantasy Novel". The pacing also felt off, but this is where I start to doubt my own experiences because 20 minute toddler baths will do that to your sense of narrative progression.
Anyway, it was a sweet story that could have done more, but did pretty well nonetheless.
I enjoyed Itäranta's prose. I was intrigued by the world I was presented with and kept reading to find out more. The first half of the book was so promising, but many of the interesting facets turned out to be meaningless for the plot. This was quite frustrating as I was initially hooked by some of these twists and turns.
A really beautifully written book with an intriguing story, and an immersive setting that just didn't go as far as I wanted it to into the world it built up.
Emmi Itäranta has mastered the craft of writing brilliant, jaw-droppingly beautiful language that flows like water. In addition she possesses an imagination that takes the reader to a new, but still recognisable fantasy world. The end result is a text that is at the same time both ethereal and immensely powerful.
The City of Woven Streets is Itäranta's second novel and follows the footsteps of The Memory of Water, which featured similar themes of overpowering regime, natural disasters, environmental issues and identity. The story is set on an island affected by floods where dreams and dreaming are considered a curse. I was hooked from the very beginning, but instead of speeding through the novel, I paced myself because the language demands your full attention. I savoured this book and, although it isn't flawless, it's definitely one that I'd highly recommend you to pick up!
The City of Woven Streets is Itäranta's second novel and follows the footsteps of The Memory of Water, which featured similar themes of overpowering regime, natural disasters, environmental issues and identity. The story is set on an island affected by floods where dreams and dreaming are considered a curse. I was hooked from the very beginning, but instead of speeding through the novel, I paced myself because the language demands your full attention. I savoured this book and, although it isn't flawless, it's definitely one that I'd highly recommend you to pick up!