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annasirius 's review for:
New Moon
by Ian McDonald
DID NOT FINISH
DNF on page 42. This is clearly written with some skill.
However, from the start I didn't like the tone of the world and the characters. Especially not the affluent ones. They are designed to be unlikeable, but they are also who the inciting incident is focused on: the assassination of the leader of the influential Cortas family. I have not been told why I should care about them. They're not likeable but they're also not interesting. The author simply hasn't given me a reason for caring about what happens.
Furthermore, the POV is strange. In a scene clearly told from the perspective of a small child, I wouldn't expect sentences like 'Anger is his sin.' It's as if the POV sometimes briefly flicks to a different mind before reverting back to the original POV character, without this being signposted in the text.
However, from the start I didn't like the tone of the world and the characters. Especially not the affluent ones. They are designed to be unlikeable, but they are also who the inciting incident is focused on: the assassination of the leader of the influential Cortas family. I have not been told why I should care about them. They're not likeable but they're also not interesting. The author simply hasn't given me a reason for caring about what happens.
Furthermore, the POV is strange. In a scene clearly told from the perspective of a small child, I wouldn't expect sentences like 'Anger is his sin.' It's as if the POV sometimes briefly flicks to a different mind before reverting back to the original POV character, without this being signposted in the text.