Reviews with content warning for Suicide - The Raven Tower

The narration of this book is so interesting. It’s told entirely from the perspective of a god as they either relay stories that they’ve heard or events that they have directly observed. Additionally, they are explaining these events to one of the characters in the book.

Very unique and quite interesting. A very enjoyable read

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csevet's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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laurareads87's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Having previously read and loved Leckie's science fiction, I was happy to pick up her fantasy novel The Raven Tower and thoroughly enjoyed it. The Raven Tower contains so much of what I've really loved in Leckie's other work -- skillful and innovative multi-POV storytelling, compelling worldbuilding that feels unlike anything I've ever read before, and power politics on a grand scale. The religious/political intrigue really worked for me. I feel like Leckie's done something quite interesting here with time scale -- with the story spanning a few different time periods, I feel like Leckie's really effectively incorporated the divergences in experiences of time between the human character and the god characters (who vary in lifespan but who are far far more long-lived than humans). I will note that much of this book is told in second person, which isn't my favourite (and I know some readers really don't enjoy) but in this book, for me, it worked: it is a choice that has a clear reason behind it in the context of the book itself which makes complete sense to me. Definitely recommend.

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lipstickitotheman's review

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mysterious tense medium-paced

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

The final quarter of the book was incredible. Dare I say brilliant writing? The setup was done perfectly in the first 3/4 for it, but I found that space often quite boring. The world setup is cool as hell, and I really loved that part. Eolo is cool, I liked him. I confess to cheering a little when Myriad returned in the last pages, and when TSAPOTH our POV character said their last line--tear it down!

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venatrix's review against another edition

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mysterious relaxing slow-paced

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

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beforeviolets's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging medium-paced

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

What a bizarre book.

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.

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