Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
the first half was far weaker than the second half. second half was good, but not fantastic; writing a rotating cast of characters takes a lot of skill, and in the first half especially we didn't understand how they related to each other. in the second half, once we understood, it was far better.
the prose, especially in the first half, also got in its own way a *lot*. like, once we actually got narrative up and going--which took a hell of a long time tbqh--the prose fell to the wayside (as it largely does in good genre fiction imho) but the first half was a literary fiction Pretentious Prose Fest™️.
there's a lot of cool elements here and i'm probably being generous with my rating in how much i loved Soq, and how decent the ending turned out to be, but i'm not sure those elements were executed with much finesse.
the prose, especially in the first half, also got in its own way a *lot*. like, once we actually got narrative up and going--which took a hell of a long time tbqh--the prose fell to the wayside (as it largely does in good genre fiction imho) but the first half was a literary fiction Pretentious Prose Fest™️.
there's a lot of cool elements here and i'm probably being generous with my rating in how much i loved Soq, and how decent the ending turned out to be, but i'm not sure those elements were executed with much finesse.
DNF...this was a hard pass for me. Usually I try to read about 50 pages before I make a call on the book, but considering I cannot figure out what’s going on and am not enjoying it in the slightest, I think I’ll do myself a favor and let this one go. I read a lot of reviews that say it picks up around halfway through the book, but I just don’t think I can force myself to get there where I have a TBR list the length of the Great Wall of China.
It’s just not capturing my interest. It also seems like it’s pulling from indigenous cultures, which has me side-eyeing it, although it’s not my place to speak on that.
If someone whose taste I trust convinced me it was worth a read, I might be convinced to retry it with a physical copy.
If someone whose taste I trust convinced me it was worth a read, I might be convinced to retry it with a physical copy.
Giving up, 20% in. This is just not interesting or compelling to me at all. Reminds me of the world of Altered Carbon.
I came to this novel with high expectations, but it turned out to just not be the book for me. I loved the imaginative worldbuilding and the way in which it was conveyed (the use of language and metaphor was at times really lovely), but the central mysteries of the story didn't grab me and I found the character arcs unsatisfying (the really satisfactory moment takes place in the middle of the book and in comparison, the ending felt flat).
I think I would have liked it more with only one or two povs, but more consistently mined for insight and emotion.
I think I would have liked it more with only one or two povs, but more consistently mined for insight and emotion.
Honestly, this was one of the most beautiful stories I’ve ever read. It was just the right amount of “literary” without being too inaccessible, and there were passages that almost made me cry. The scope of the story is magnificent and the writing and art of story-telling are just absolutely outstanding. And Qaanaaq is one of the best examples of “place as a character” that I’ve read in a long time.
I only have a couple of quibbles about this story, which are subjective, so I didn’t let it reduce my score down from a 5/5.
The characters’ intros were very strong, but as the story progressed, I felt like their individual personalities started to blend together. I never really grew attached to any of the characters, and for me this is what keeps this novel from being one of my favorites. I think, if I had to come up with a reason for why each of the MCs felt flat, it was that who they are as people was muted or warped to emphasize only the parts of them that related to the overall plot. I never really felt like I got to know who Kaev, Ankit, etc were independent of their role. And, for me, this kept them from being three dimensional.
In relation to this, there were times where I didn’t understand a character’s motivation, or the motivation felt flat or forced in order to keep the story going (eg,). Also, there were a couple of times in which a character’s emotional state veered from one extreme to another in the space of a couple of sentences, which was jarring to read and ripped me from the story. The author handles the story well, but he’s not the most skilled author at managing the minutiae of humanness, in my opinion.
My other issue was that the rising action and outcome felt driven by deus ex machina. And, even outside of this, all of the coincidences that brought the characters together, well…an argument could be made that the author set it up in a way that explained away any perceived coincidences, but how the story resolved felt too perfect. I love a happy ending, but this one felt almost contrived.
My last “quibble” isn’t really a quibble, but more of a YMMV: at times, the story and how it relates to the problems we’re seeing in the world today was a BIT heavy-handed. I honestly didn’t mind this, as it lended itself to my confirmation bias and fits with my world view, but I can see how someone else might find it a bit cloyingly preaching?
Still, as far as stories go, this one at a 50,000 foot view was beautiful and a story that this world needs. It was beautiful, and powerful, and skillfully done. I do think that everyone should give it a chance.
I only have a couple of quibbles about this story, which are subjective, so I didn’t let it reduce my score down from a 5/5.
The characters’ intros were very strong, but as the story progressed, I felt like their individual personalities started to blend together. I never really grew attached to any of the characters, and for me this is what keeps this novel from being one of my favorites. I think, if I had to come up with a reason for why each of the MCs felt flat, it was that who they are as people was muted or warped to emphasize only the parts of them that related to the overall plot. I never really felt like I got to know who Kaev, Ankit, etc were independent of their role. And, for me, this kept them from being three dimensional.
In relation to this, there were times where I didn’t understand a character’s motivation, or the motivation felt flat or forced in order to keep the story going (eg,
Spoiler
Ankit’s decision to be bonded, which seemed to only happen when she saw how powerful her mother was? That felt weak to me.My other issue was that the rising action and outcome felt driven by deus ex machina. And, even outside of this, all of the coincidences that brought the characters together, well…an argument could be made that the author set it up in a way that explained away any perceived coincidences, but how the story resolved felt too perfect. I love a happy ending, but this one felt almost contrived.
My last “quibble” isn’t really a quibble, but more of a YMMV: at times, the story and how it relates to the problems we’re seeing in the world today was a BIT heavy-handed. I honestly didn’t mind this, as it lended itself to my confirmation bias and fits with my world view, but I can see how someone else might find it a bit cloyingly preaching?
Still, as far as stories go, this one at a 50,000 foot view was beautiful and a story that this world needs. It was beautiful, and powerful, and skillfully done. I do think that everyone should give it a chance.
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No