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lipstickitotheman's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Suicide, and War
Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Slavery, Transphobia, and Xenophobia
venatrix's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Transphobia
beforeviolets's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
This book essentially follows two plotlines: one from the perspective of a god/rock, and the other one being a Hamlet retelling, focusing on Horatio (Eolo in this book) but told in second person from the POV of the god/rock.
The magic/godly system of this world was so interesting and unique and provided another level to the already pre-existing theme in Hamlet of control and self-agency and the idea of stealing another being's power.
Especially with Hamlet being one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, I was really intrigued to read this. At first, I was confused why Hamlet was being used as a template for this book's story, as early on, a lot of the themes that I find prevalent in Hamlet weren't really showing themselves. But as the story went on, I realized that instead of focusing so much on the court's perspective on sanity and normalcy, this book turned that focus towards <i>our</i> perspective on sanity and normalcy, which is absolutely blowing my mind in retrospect! It played with our understanding of this world and its rules by using an unreliable narrator, the same way Hamlet would normally be an unreliable narrator to the audience. It is made clear very early on in the book that our narrator had to be particular with words and that it would often be unreliable, but the ways that it plays out isn't really visible until the end, which I loved.
I also think this book highlighted the political aspects of Hamlet a lot more than I expected, which was exciting and enlightening because that is something that I tend to dismiss due to my own lack of interest, but it also sometimes made me feel a little lost and a little dumb. And though reflecting back on my reading experience I loved the effect the outline of this story left me with, it felt a bit unfruitful for a lot of the earlier part of the book, while it was still laying the foundations for the later payoff.
Overall, it was one of the most unique reading experiences I've ever had the privilege to experience and I'll definitely be looking out for more work by this author in the future.
Graphic: Murder, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Animal death
Minor: Vomit
v171's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Cursing, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Slavery, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
bluejayreads's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This book was incredibly unique and surprisingly engaging. For starters, it's told mostly in second person. The narrator is unnamed (although it's slowly revealed through the story who they actually are) and Eolo's part of the story is told in second person, as if it was told to him. The story alternates between Eolo's story and the narrator's story. While Eolo works through the main plot - a usurper to the throne of the Lease, plus a plot to majorly screw up Iraden in pursuit of personal power - the narrator's parts fill in the world and how the system of gods works.
The interesting part about the narration being mostly second person is you don't get a whole lot of characterization. Eolo is clever and the reasonable voice to Mawat's hot-headedness (and also a trans man, although that's just a part of who he is as opposed to anything relevant to the plot). Eolo tends to be withdrawn and not speak up, while Mawat plunges ahead and sometimes acts rashly. They're really good foils for each other, and I enjoyed seeing Eolo step up and assert himself a little bit more as everything goes to hell in a handbasket.
Moderate: Confinement, Gore, and Death
Minor: Suicide
Suicide is mentioned/discussed (not in a mental illness context, but in the context of providing a consenting human sacrifice to a god), but no suicide is actually committed.booksthatburn's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The story was interesting but mostly fine, but, for me at least, the real strength in this book is in how it slowly revealed what the story actually was, like a tide slowly going out. Most of the pieces were technically in place early on, but the way their importance is revealed creates a slow-burning mystery with a pretty dramatic finale. The world-building is great, the interpersonal relationships are complex in a good way without being too much to keep track of. It felt calm and meditative to read, prompting a lot of interesting thoughts about the nature of language and communication in a practical way (which I quite enjoyed).
This was good but disconcerting for me personally, especially in the early part of the book. A large portion of it is written in second person, and the character addressed in this manner is male, which caused some trouble since my pronouns are they/them (not he/him). After I adjusted to it and felt less like I was being personally being addressed with incorrect pronouns it was fine, but that took at least fifty pages. The narrative decision to use a mix of first and second person results in a book that is narrated from a single point of view while following two main characters. Overall I think I like it, it works very well for this story. Both main characters are very different and I like them a lot. The tropes that were put together to create the characters are ones I've seen before, some of them many times, but something about the way they come together to make them (especially the non-human ones) feel fresh, As much as I like the POV character, I think Myriad is the one I'd most like to meet (followed closely by Eolo).
Moderate: Violence and Death
Minor: Transphobia, Child death, and Suicide
CW for brief transphobia, discussion of infanticide, discussion of suicide, anti-twin prejudice in a fictional culture, massacre, parental death, major character death.