Reviews

Oh dear, where to begin. This book is an utter magical wonderful trainwreck from start to finish. Is it science-fiction, fantasy, pirate adventure, children’s story, romance, or courtroom drama? Who knows. Belayev appears to want to put everything into this book… BUT as a writer and storyteller he has, unfortunately, zero grace or skill. I really wanted to like it, but it becomes a chore to get through and its 250 pages begin to slog across the page to a totally perplexing series of mostly unrelated stage-pieces and scenes that have no connection or coherence to one another. Belayev himself fails to follow the logic he himself lays out within his own story. There is a screenwriting trope that if a gun is introduced in the first act it MUST go off by act three. Belayev misses this trope entirely. Characters act without any motivation, things just occur or happen without cause, and the story tailspins into a total jumbled disaster. Still, there are some wonderful ideas here, just executed without any mastery. That being said Ichthyander, the ‘sea-devil’ titular amphibian is one of the most endearing characters I’ve ever come across. Ultimately, it’s too clunky to be a proper novel, and too long and heavy to be a children’s book. It has echoes of the Princess Bride without any of the irony. I just can’t recommend it despite wanting to love it more than I do. 2.5/5

paul281f's review

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No

4.0

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