A review by micheala
The Four Profound Weaves by R.B. Lemberg

dark emotional hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This is an interesting take on a coming of age novel in that both the main characters are in their mid-60s and are only now finally figuring out how to be who they are. 

Seeing the nameless man's journey was more impactful for me then Uiziya's as I never really connected to her motivation. 

R.B. Lemberg has previously published poetry in this universe and I feel that that can clearly be felt in the prose style. It was more flowery and metaphorical than I typically enjoy. 

The world is really interesting, but it's also definitely on the weird side of fantasy. As much as I really appreciated the desert setting and clearly non-Western based cultures, the magic system was hard for me to wrap my head around. I'm not sure if I would have had an easier time if I had read the short stories set in this universe before hand, or this is just a system that my brain is going to struggle to get anyways. 

If you're interested in queer stories by queer authors, you don't mind your fantasy being on the weird end of the scale, and/or you enjoy novellas, I would recommend this. 

On that note, however, there are two big trigger warnings that I think are important to know before heading into this, particularly if you are not cis:
The nameless man gets dead-named and misgendered on several occasions by different people in the latter half of the book
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