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A review by firstbreaths
Songlines by Carolyn Denman
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
This was a gift from a lovely donor as part of the 2019 r/fantasy bingo (which I probably should have gotten around to reading sooner, oops). So of course, I wanted to love it, but unfortunately it was a huge disappointment.
It's not a badly written book (though some of the metaphors made me cringe), but it just had so many elements that didn't work for me: a portal fantasy set-up where they don't even go through the portal until two-thirds of the way in, not one but two magically-induced insta-love pairings, and a bad habit of forgetting that the MC was part-indigenous until it was suddenly convenient for the plot. Surprisingly, as an atheist, I didn't mind the overt Christian themes (this is literally a book about the Garden of Eden, though none of the characters show much connection to religion), but I couldn't take the idea of our main characters being called Cherubs seriously, either. Which, admittedly, says more about me than this book or its portrayal of religion.
Fingers crossed the next Aussie fantasy I pick up works better for me.
It's not a badly written book (though some of the metaphors made me cringe), but it just had so many elements that didn't work for me: a portal fantasy set-up where they don't even go through the portal until two-thirds of the way in, not one but two magically-induced insta-love pairings, and a bad habit of forgetting that the MC was part-indigenous until it was suddenly convenient for the plot. Surprisingly, as an atheist, I didn't mind the overt Christian themes (this is literally a book about the Garden of Eden, though none of the characters show much connection to religion), but I couldn't take the idea of our main characters being called Cherubs seriously, either. Which, admittedly, says more about me than this book or its portrayal of religion.
Fingers crossed the next Aussie fantasy I pick up works better for me.