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quirkykayleetam's review
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This is an extremely cool book for an extremely niche audience. Do you love Shakespeare, specifically Hamlet? Do you love creative forms of storytelling? Do you love fantasy books that involve epic world building? If you said yes to ALL those questions, then you will love this book. If not, stay away. Why? Because The Raven Tower is a retelling of Hamlet set in a fantasy world and told through both first and second person point of view SIMULTANEOUSLY in which "you" are a transgender version of Horatio being watched over by a god who is also a rock. I loved it! It got me out of a three week reading slump and falls into the category of books written by people whose favorite Shakespearean character is obviously also Horatio, but it is not for everyone.
This is a slow-build of a book as the storyteller reveals the world building and their place in it gradually until everything slots into place at the very last second. It envisions Ophelia as an incredibly implacable badass who both Hamlet and Horatio are at least a little bit in love with and in awe of while turning Rosencrantz and Guildenstern into interchangeable cronies devoid of any and all of the humor from the original play. Unlike The King of Infinite Space, the novel does not reword or rework any of Hamlet's original soliloquies or speeches, instead commenting on the scope of the play and how personal the action is to its characters. While it may not have added anything profoundly new to conversations about Hamlet (which it is hard to do these days), I nevertheless found it engaging and engrossing. Both the novel's last line and its meditation on the connection between living and caring will stick with me for a very long time.
This is a slow-build of a book as the storyteller reveals the world building and their place in it gradually until everything slots into place at the very last second. It envisions Ophelia as an incredibly implacable badass who both Hamlet and Horatio are at least a little bit in love with and in awe of while turning Rosencrantz and Guildenstern into interchangeable cronies devoid of any and all of the humor from the original play. Unlike The King of Infinite Space, the novel does not reword or rework any of Hamlet's original soliloquies or speeches, instead commenting on the scope of the play and how personal the action is to its characters. While it may not have added anything profoundly new to conversations about Hamlet (which it is hard to do these days), I nevertheless found it engaging and engrossing. Both the novel's last line and its meditation on the connection between living and caring will stick with me for a very long time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Confinement, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Transphobia
beforeviolets's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
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
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