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A review by miss617
Stone and Steel by Eboni J. Dunbar
3.0
I am really, REALLY struggling with whether to give this 2 or 3 stars. I am settling on 2.5 stars rounded up because yay Black speculative fiction authors. #sorrynotsorry
However, this comes with a caveat. I do not think this was particularly well-written. I know that novellas can tell a complete story in a short amount of time, and have seen it done on numerous occasions. I do not feel like this book accomplished that. I still had too many unanswered questions at the end. There were typos and punctuation errors that just irked me - and I cannot and will not apologize for my frustration on that front.
I wanted to be happy that this was "hella Black," as one review called it, but it just did not work for me. AAVE was too underutilized to feel authentic - the passages that used it could have easily been rewritten to fit the rest of story. And I feel uncomfortable giving that criticism because while I'd love more fantasy set or partially set in the hood, here it just felt like an afterthought.
There were some elements that could have been explored more (further explanation of the element and mage systems, for example) that led to my feeling that this story was incomplete. The reveal of the heroine's origin felt rushed, the supposed gender/lack thereof diversity understated... There were just too many things that should have set this story apart that were not developed enough to make it memorable.
However, this comes with a caveat. I do not think this was particularly well-written. I know that novellas can tell a complete story in a short amount of time, and have seen it done on numerous occasions. I do not feel like this book accomplished that. I still had too many unanswered questions at the end. There were typos and punctuation errors that just irked me - and I cannot and will not apologize for my frustration on that front.
I wanted to be happy that this was "hella Black," as one review called it, but it just did not work for me. AAVE was too underutilized to feel authentic - the passages that used it could have easily been rewritten to fit the rest of story. And I feel uncomfortable giving that criticism because while I'd love more fantasy set or partially set in the hood, here it just felt like an afterthought.
There were some elements that could have been explored more (further explanation of the element and mage systems, for example) that led to my feeling that this story was incomplete. The reveal of the heroine's origin felt rushed, the supposed gender/lack thereof diversity understated... There were just too many things that should have set this story apart that were not developed enough to make it memorable.