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A review by amandagstevens
Make Me No Grave: A Weird West Novel by Hayley Stone
2.0
Despite my personal rating of this book, I can see it garnering a strong base of fans: namely those who enjoyed the Netflix show Godless and did not notice (or were unbothered by) its philosophical anachronisms. In fact, if you enjoyed that show, you ought to snatch this book up immediately, because you'll love it. The irreparable break between my enjoyment and this intriguing "Weird Western" is the same break that happened when I watched Godless. I couldn't stop cringing at how far outside history everyone was behaving. So if, like me, you expect characters in a Western not to think and act like citizens of the 21st century, then I suggest you pass on this book.
If that had been my only point of contention, I'd have given the book three stars for being "good but not my thing." The fantasy element of "flesh magic," downplayed as it is (this is a Western first and a fantasy second), really intrigued me. I wanted to like Almena Guillory; or more accurately, I wanted to understand her better in order to like her. But I can't round up my 2.5 star rating for three reasons.
One, the writing jarred me entirely out of the story. That sounds as if Ms. Stone isn't a good writer. She is. Her wordsmithing is excellent. The problem is unfettered wordsmithing, specifically similes. Oh. My. Word. So many similes. If I had a nickel for every like and as in this book, I could buy my entire Amazon wishlist. Individually they're great, but in every paragraph they're maddening. And yes, they are in every paragraph. I was exhausted with them well before the halfway point in the book and just wanted Marshal Richardson to stop painting pictures with his every thought.
Which brings me to the second reason I can't round this up to 3 stars. Marshal Apostle Richardson at no time convinces me he's male. I would not be shocked to discover this book was originally supposed to be about the blossoming relationship between a female marshal and a female outlaw, but the publisher decided to go a bit more mainstream and asked the author to make her marshal a guy. . . . without making any actual changes to the character.
The third reason: wobbly character motivations. I loved the contrast between the two protagonists' driving principles, but then said principles seem to fizzle without explanation and I looked back to realize a lot of things they'd been doing lately didn't make complete sense. I tried to stay in the story anyway until Apostle, and after that I was pretty much done with him.
Another review states this feels like an early draft rather than a fully crafted, finished work, and I agree. Slaying some (most) of the similes, hammering out more consistency and logic in character motivations, and reworking Apostle so he rings true as a man of the West--any or all of these probably would have caused me to up this rating at least a whole star despite the fact I'm not into postmodern Westerns like this and Godless. I wanted to love a fantasy/Western mashup because I love the genres individually, and maybe there are some out there I'll love when I discover them, but this one isn't for me.
If that had been my only point of contention, I'd have given the book three stars for being "good but not my thing." The fantasy element of "flesh magic," downplayed as it is (this is a Western first and a fantasy second), really intrigued me. I wanted to like Almena Guillory; or more accurately, I wanted to understand her better in order to like her. But I can't round up my 2.5 star rating for three reasons.
One, the writing jarred me entirely out of the story. That sounds as if Ms. Stone isn't a good writer. She is. Her wordsmithing is excellent. The problem is unfettered wordsmithing, specifically similes. Oh. My. Word. So many similes. If I had a nickel for every like and as in this book, I could buy my entire Amazon wishlist. Individually they're great, but in every paragraph they're maddening. And yes, they are in every paragraph. I was exhausted with them well before the halfway point in the book and just wanted Marshal Richardson to stop painting pictures with his every thought.
Which brings me to the second reason I can't round this up to 3 stars. Marshal Apostle Richardson at no time convinces me he's male. I would not be shocked to discover this book was originally supposed to be about the blossoming relationship between a female marshal and a female outlaw, but the publisher decided to go a bit more mainstream and asked the author to make her marshal a guy. . . . without making any actual changes to the character.
The third reason: wobbly character motivations. I loved the contrast between the two protagonists' driving principles, but then said principles seem to fizzle without explanation and I looked back to realize a lot of things they'd been doing lately didn't make complete sense. I tried to stay in the story anyway until Apostle
Spoiler
agrees to help Almena rob a bank. . . what? Why? This came out of nowhereAnother review states this feels like an early draft rather than a fully crafted, finished work, and I agree. Slaying some (most) of the similes, hammering out more consistency and logic in character motivations, and reworking Apostle so he rings true as a man of the West--any or all of these probably would have caused me to up this rating at least a whole star despite the fact I'm not into postmodern Westerns like this and Godless. I wanted to love a fantasy/Western mashup because I love the genres individually, and maybe there are some out there I'll love when I discover them, but this one isn't for me.