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A review by clarabooksit
Turning Darkness Into Light by Marie Brennan
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I read this believing it to be a spin-off of another series but that it could be read as a standalone. I’m here to tell you that that’s a lie. It’s really book six of A Natural History of Dragons but about a different character.
I haven’t read any of those books so my reading experience lacked a lot of important background information, especially about Draconeans and the world this book takes place in. And unfortunately the epistolary style didn’t lend itself to great world-building. Perhaps the first book has amazing world-building, in which case book six need not have much but it was marketed as a standalone. It does not stand alone.
Anyway, outside of that, this was just an okay read for me. I went into it with high hopes—historical fantasy, dragons, mystery, the protagonist is a translator!—but it didn’t meet those hopes. The choice to write the story in letters didn’t work for me here. There were so many things that didn’t make sense that someone would write in a letter or a diary but were obviously included because the reader needed to know the information. Likewise, the inclusion of the translations the characters are working on didn’t add anything to the story for me. Just so much telling and very little showing. The mc made a lot of stupid decisions, too. The biggest disappointment, though? No actual dragons.
This review is a bit negative but I did actually like the world, I just didn’t fully understand it. And overall it was engaging. I think if I had known I shouldn’t start with this book, it would’ve been a better experience.
I haven’t read any of those books so my reading experience lacked a lot of important background information, especially about Draconeans and the world this book takes place in. And unfortunately the epistolary style didn’t lend itself to great world-building. Perhaps the first book has amazing world-building, in which case book six need not have much but it was marketed as a standalone. It does not stand alone.
Anyway, outside of that, this was just an okay read for me. I went into it with high hopes—historical fantasy, dragons, mystery, the protagonist is a translator!—but it didn’t meet those hopes. The choice to write the story in letters didn’t work for me here. There were so many things that didn’t make sense that someone would write in a letter or a diary but were obviously included because the reader needed to know the information. Likewise, the inclusion of the translations the characters are working on didn’t add anything to the story for me. Just so much telling and very little showing. The mc made a lot of stupid decisions, too. The biggest disappointment, though? No actual dragons.
This review is a bit negative but I did actually like the world, I just didn’t fully understand it. And overall it was engaging. I think if I had known I shouldn’t start with this book, it would’ve been a better experience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia and Racism
Moderate: Classism and Violence