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A review by lebolt
All the Seas of the World by Guy Gavriel Kay
adventurous
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Pros:
The discourse on longing for home was satisfying. The characters were heartfelt and their relationships were sweet. The heavy topics of war and slavery and persecution were handled with a lot of compassion. It felt like every beat had impact - if not for the plot then at least for the sake of giving life even to people who don't matter. There is something about a pandemic novel that says, "I see you, I know you, you are not alone."
Cons:
This is my first book by this author, and I haven't decided if I like the style. Every POV ends with a blatant teaser about the distant future, or even a resolution about that character's path in the distant future. The whole "Little did they know, it was a huge mistake!" thing got a little tiresome. I also kind of thought that this book read more like a summary or an overview, rather than a whole story. I tend to crave immersive detail, which this work is scant on. However:
I love that the details of focus were about what was in the hearts and minds of the characters, rather than their sensory observations or tactile worldbuilding. I think I've just now decided that I like the style after all. I think it's ultimately good that I got everything important from the story without needing to extract it from physical descriptions. The stretches of direct exposition weren't the kind of thing that I like to sit and savor, but it made the occasional touching emotional moment all the more intimate.
The discourse on longing for home was satisfying. The characters were heartfelt and their relationships were sweet. The heavy topics of war and slavery and persecution were handled with a lot of compassion. It felt like every beat had impact - if not for the plot then at least for the sake of giving life even to people who don't matter. There is something about a pandemic novel that says, "I see you, I know you, you are not alone."
Cons:
This is my first book by this author, and I haven't decided if I like the style. Every POV ends with a blatant teaser about the distant future, or even a resolution about that character's path in the distant future. The whole "Little did they know, it was a huge mistake!" thing got a little tiresome. I also kind of thought that this book read more like a summary or an overview, rather than a whole story. I tend to crave immersive detail, which this work is scant on. However:
I love that the details of focus were about what was in the hearts and minds of the characters, rather than their sensory observations or tactile worldbuilding. I think I've just now decided that I like the style after all. I think it's ultimately good that I got everything important from the story without needing to extract it from physical descriptions. The stretches of direct exposition weren't the kind of thing that I like to sit and savor, but it made the occasional touching emotional moment all the more intimate.