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A review by shcleveland
Sistersong by Lucy Holland
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
My feelings about this book are complicated.
At first, I had a really hard time caring about Riva and Sinne. In particular, I found Sinne's sections grating. Up to about the 60% mark, I was wishing Keyne was an only child. As the plot picked up, however, the importance of Riva and Sinne's threads became more apparent. I had an inkling about the big plot twist early on, but the author managed to have me going back and forth second-guessing my assumptions. If I were just rating on plot and characters, the book would be a solid 4.5 stars. However...
There were so many details about the historical setting that I found confusing or just made me want to beat my head against a wall. "WHAT YEAR IS IT????"' was a question I found myself asking constantly. Based on the ash falling from the sky I'm GUESSING that we're looking at 536 CE and boy or boy does that lead me to more questions about the state of affairs as far as the Christianization of these pagan cultures goes. The Romano-Britons probably would have been mainly Christian at that point if I remember correctly.
Which brings me to the paganism of the book. I couldn't tell if the author was going for syncretism, or just pulling the names of pagan gods out of a hat. Some of the West Saxon enemies might have been worshiping Woden, but probably not these Brythonic-speaking celts? The festivals mentioned also looked suspiciously like the Wiccan Wheel of the Year. The Old English Eostre was used in place of Ostara at least, but... the author is clearly aware that it was the Saxons that spoke Old English since there's straight up OE dialogue for them in the book. It's more likely they would have worshipped Eostre? I have questions.
There's also a reference to Lammas, which is again Middle English though it comes from the Old English for "loaf mass" a term that I don't think even the West Saxons would have been using in 536? I'm pretty sure there's a Welsh harvest festival that would have made more sense.
Anyway, the religion and linguistics were just a distracting mess.
At first, I had a really hard time caring about Riva and Sinne. In particular, I found Sinne's sections grating. Up to about the 60% mark, I was wishing Keyne was an only child. As the plot picked up, however, the importance of Riva and Sinne's threads became more apparent. I had an inkling about the big plot twist early on, but the author managed to have me going back and forth second-guessing my assumptions. If I were just rating on plot and characters, the book would be a solid 4.5 stars. However...
There were so many details about the historical setting that I found confusing or just made me want to beat my head against a wall. "WHAT YEAR IS IT????"' was a question I found myself asking constantly. Based on the ash falling from the sky I'm GUESSING that we're looking at 536 CE and boy or boy does that lead me to more questions about the state of affairs as far as the Christianization of these pagan cultures goes. The Romano-Britons probably would have been mainly Christian at that point if I remember correctly.
Which brings me to the paganism of the book. I couldn't tell if the author was going for syncretism, or just pulling the names of pagan gods out of a hat. Some of the West Saxon enemies might have been worshiping Woden, but probably not these Brythonic-speaking celts? The festivals mentioned also looked suspiciously like the Wiccan Wheel of the Year. The Old English Eostre was used in place of Ostara at least, but... the author is clearly aware that it was the Saxons that spoke Old English since there's straight up OE dialogue for them in the book. It's more likely they would have worshipped Eostre? I have questions.
There's also a reference to Lammas, which is again Middle English though it comes from the Old English for "loaf mass" a term that I don't think even the West Saxons would have been using in 536? I'm pretty sure there's a Welsh harvest festival that would have made more sense.
Anyway, the religion and linguistics were just a distracting mess.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Gore, Transphobia, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Sexism
Minor: Pregnancy and War