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A review by futurememory
The Shadowed Sun by N.K. Jemisin
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
What a conclusion! Probably 4.5 stars.
This installment of the Dreamblood Duology is very, very different from the first, with a fairly new cast of characters, and a storyline that takes place 10 years after the events of the first novel.
It's by far the stronger of the two novels, with the first almost feeling like a... prequel. N. K. Jemisin's worldbuilding is spectacular here. The worldbuilding is so well thought-out, and the magic system, based on Egyptian medicine and science and religion, is endlessly fascinating. There was almost not enough. I could have lived in this unique and satisfying world for another few books.
The new characters are fantastic. Hanani, especially. Jemisin's women are wonders, they're complicated, strong, full of emotion and subtlety and just wholly three-dimensional. We get far more of them than we got in the first book, and this book is all the richer for it.
The plotting here is great, and I almost needed to put the book down several times and stop reading, or else I would have stayed up into the middle of the night. The only reason it took me so long to finish this one was because it was my bedtime book, and because my kids have both been viciously sick. Otherwise, I would have flown through this with ease.
My only quibbles have to deal with the romantic aspects of this book, and the violence of this book. I didn't anticipate there to be SO much sexual violence, in graphic detail, on the page. I don't like the way it served the story, and that took me out of the novel quite a few times. I also don't love the romance at the heart of this particular book.
But what a ride, I'm so sad that it's over.
This installment of the Dreamblood Duology is very, very different from the first, with a fairly new cast of characters, and a storyline that takes place 10 years after the events of the first novel.
It's by far the stronger of the two novels, with the first almost feeling like a... prequel. N. K. Jemisin's worldbuilding is spectacular here. The worldbuilding is so well thought-out, and the magic system, based on Egyptian medicine and science and religion, is endlessly fascinating. There was almost not enough. I could have lived in this unique and satisfying world for another few books.
The new characters are fantastic. Hanani, especially. Jemisin's women are wonders, they're complicated, strong, full of emotion and subtlety and just wholly three-dimensional. We get far more of them than we got in the first book, and this book is all the richer for it.
The plotting here is great, and I almost needed to put the book down several times and stop reading, or else I would have stayed up into the middle of the night. The only reason it took me so long to finish this one was because it was my bedtime book, and because my kids have both been viciously sick. Otherwise, I would have flown through this with ease.
My only quibbles have to deal with the romantic aspects of this book, and the violence of this book. I didn't anticipate there to be SO much sexual violence, in graphic detail, on the page. I don't like the way it served the story, and that took me out of the novel quite a few times. I also don't love the romance at the heart of this particular book.
But what a ride, I'm so sad that it's over.