Scan barcode
A review by ana3333
The Winged Histories by Sofia Samatar
5.0
Well, Samatar's done it again. Just like A Stranger in Olondria, this was nonsensical, failed to engage me at all for quite a while, and then somehow convinced me it's literally one of the best books in existence in the last couple chapters alone.
Overall, the prose and narrative structure could be best described as "intentionally dense" or perhaps "actively hostile towards the reader." There's piles of different viewpoints hopping around, the plot is basically flashbacks inside of flashbacks inside of flashbacks, about 1/15th of the story is excerpts from random made-up books, and every time a story starts to look promising, the plot whirls away to an entirely different place.
Most of the book was read in a sort of meditative state, where I had no clue what was going on or how anything connected to anything else, and all I could do was focus on one paragraph at a time and enjoy Samatar's absolutely stellar prose. I kept picking it up briefly and putting it down to read something more restful, because it felt like a lot of work.
However, much like a magic eye puzzle, you eventually reach a point where your brain sort of rotates the plot into another dimension, everything clicks into place, and it's perfect. For me, that point was Seren's entire section and the end of Siski's section. Those parts flowed so smoothly and said so many intriguing things that I felt like I read for a few hours straight without even stopping to breathe.
Ultimately, the whole experience of reading this was entirely unique, and it's a book I'll fondly remember and will definitely reread again at some point.
Overall, the prose and narrative structure could be best described as "intentionally dense" or perhaps "actively hostile towards the reader." There's piles of different viewpoints hopping around, the plot is basically flashbacks inside of flashbacks inside of flashbacks, about 1/15th of the story is excerpts from random made-up books, and every time a story starts to look promising, the plot whirls away to an entirely different place.
Most of the book was read in a sort of meditative state, where I had no clue what was going on or how anything connected to anything else, and all I could do was focus on one paragraph at a time and enjoy Samatar's absolutely stellar prose. I kept picking it up briefly and putting it down to read something more restful, because it felt like a lot of work.
However, much like a magic eye puzzle, you eventually reach a point where your brain sort of rotates the plot into another dimension, everything clicks into place, and it's perfect. For me, that point was Seren's entire section and the end of Siski's section. Those parts flowed so smoothly and said so many intriguing things that I felt like I read for a few hours straight without even stopping to breathe.
Ultimately, the whole experience of reading this was entirely unique, and it's a book I'll fondly remember and will definitely reread again at some point.