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felicitybennett's review against another edition
2.0
My thoughts on this book are conflicted. On the positive side the world and story has almost a dream-like quality about it, almost as if the book was based off of a dream itself that the writer had. Half way through the book the story really picks up and I couldn't put it down since I was dying to know what happened next. I think it would have a been good commentary on religion and sexuality if I had less confusion about the world and plot.
The cons are that the world building was half-formed and confusing. I never fully grasped the world that it was set in. Another problem was pacing, it felt like the book was a lot longer than 250 pages especially the beginning. Lastly the sexualization of children/young teens was disgusting and could have easily been implied without showing. I feel like it was meant to be social commentary of some kind but the way it was written just confused the message.
The cons are that the world building was half-formed and confusing. I never fully grasped the world that it was set in. Another problem was pacing, it felt like the book was a lot longer than 250 pages especially the beginning. Lastly the sexualization of children/young teens was disgusting and could have easily been implied without showing. I feel like it was meant to be social commentary of some kind but the way it was written just confused the message.
nwhyte's review against another edition
http://nhw.livejournal.com/1005344.html[return][return]I can't remember who recommended this to me or how; for a first novel, published when the author was only 20, it's pretty impressive, a portrayal of a viciously political city with interlocking dynamics of sex, species and death. It isn't as good, though, as Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel books which have a very similar setting, and although it ends with a massive cliff-hanger I am not in a huge rush to track down the sequel.
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