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A review by katyanaish
Sea of Sorrows by Michelle West
4.0
This one was hard for me in a couple ways.
The most critical one: Diora. I know, from reading reviews, that people adore her. I don't. I honestly, seriously, don't. I have never been a fan of what I call "precious" heroines - the ones who are treated like a perfect, pampered princess... usually because of something they deserve no credit for, like being born beautiful - and Diora has always been that. Now, don't get me wrong, what her father and Alesso did to her in previous books was WRONG, and infuriating - I despise Sendari - and she deserves her vengeance. But in this book, people kept heralding her as some kind of warrior for the Lady, against the Lord of Night, and she used that to position herself ... and look, we have spent a LOT of time in Diora's POV. She has never had a single thought about championing the cause of humanity against the demons. Her every single thought is either mourning her dead, beating herself up for not helping them, and vengeance. And as I said, I'm onboard with that - she deserves it (and she does not deserve to beat herself up as she does - she couldn't have done anything but what she did) - but I felt like it hurt her character a LOT in this book to suddenly be held up as this champion for Team Good Guys. She is not. It is a trick of fate that her goal happens to align with Team Good Guys, but let's be frank: if it didn't, she would be on Team Bad Guys if that's what it took to get her her vengeance. And in this book, she even admits that in a POV chapter - that if the Lord of Night offered her 10 years with her wives as long as he came to rule, she says that she would take that deal.
So it rubbed me wrong, all the time this book spent holding Diora up as some kind of perfect woman. It was, quite frankly, infuriating. And that got even worse, for me, when she outright called the Voyani - people who have helped her, sheltered her and her aunt, and the Arkosan Matriarch even died helping her - her enemies (when she said she wouldn't surrender the Heart while she's in her enemy's territory)... and refused to give them this thing that was theirs by right. And no, that wasn't helped when she admitted that she could not take it off, because she said that even if she could, she wouldn't give it to them. Seriously, you guys, I wanted them to just kill her and take it from her corpse.
Diora was the worst, most condescending ice bitch of a woman for the first half of this book. And I really, really struggled with it. She evolved a bit in the last third, and I enjoyed that much more. But I still dislike her. I dislike her constant repeated lament that she's alone in the world, when she has an almost-mother that she completely takes for granted. Teresa has literally sacrificed everything in her life to help Diora. She has given up everything she has ever known - safety, money, the lifestyle of one of the most respected clanswomen in the Dominion - and made war on her brother, and she has done it ALL for Diora. And Diora can't be bothered to acknowledge that at all. She takes Teresa's loyal Ramdan, without a thought, just as she takes every sacrifice Teresa has made, as if it is everything that she is entitled to. Guys, to me, Diora is literally the same as her father. Plays as pawns everyone around her, to further her own goals. She doesn't think for a single minute about the hurt she has done the person who loves her most in the world. She doesn't even think about that love, as she REPEATEDLY whines (in her POV) about being alone in the world with no one who loves her.
I pretty much despise her. And the events of the end of this book haven't changed it much. We'll see if those events change her behavior. But thus far, I see her as a scheming clanswoman... no different from anyone else who plays horrible games for power. She leveraged herself into a position of power in the Arkosa, just as she leveraged herself into a position of power in the Dominion. At this point, because of her games, Valedan has no choice but to marry her, as she's made herself a symbol of the kingdom. And I hate that, because frankly, he deserves better than to be tied to just another fucking stereotypical Dominion clanswoman. Because the Dominion needs to change. This culture of oppression, where power is the only thing of value, has to shatter and be remade, so this shithole country doesn't continue to fall to demons over and over and over. I mean, guys, there's a fucking reason why the Empire has never fallen to the demons. The culture in the Dominion pretty much WELCOMES the demons.
Last note: Adam.
The most critical one: Diora. I know, from reading reviews, that people adore her. I don't. I honestly, seriously, don't. I have never been a fan of what I call "precious" heroines - the ones who are treated like a perfect, pampered princess... usually because of something they deserve no credit for, like being born beautiful - and Diora has always been that. Now, don't get me wrong, what her father and Alesso did to her in previous books was WRONG, and infuriating - I despise Sendari - and she deserves her vengeance. But in this book, people kept heralding her as some kind of warrior for the Lady, against the Lord of Night, and she used that to position herself ... and look, we have spent a LOT of time in Diora's POV. She has never had a single thought about championing the cause of humanity against the demons. Her every single thought is either mourning her dead, beating herself up for not helping them, and vengeance. And as I said, I'm onboard with that - she deserves it (and she does not deserve to beat herself up as she does - she couldn't have done anything but what she did) - but I felt like it hurt her character a LOT in this book to suddenly be held up as this champion for Team Good Guys. She is not. It is a trick of fate that her goal happens to align with Team Good Guys, but let's be frank: if it didn't, she would be on Team Bad Guys if that's what it took to get her her vengeance. And in this book, she even admits that in a POV chapter - that if the Lord of Night offered her 10 years with her wives as long as he came to rule, she says that she would take that deal.
So it rubbed me wrong, all the time this book spent holding Diora up as some kind of perfect woman. It was, quite frankly, infuriating. And that got even worse, for me, when she outright called the Voyani - people who have helped her, sheltered her and her aunt, and the Arkosan Matriarch even died helping her - her enemies (when she said she wouldn't surrender the Heart while she's in her enemy's territory)... and refused to give them this thing that was theirs by right. And no, that wasn't helped when she admitted that she could not take it off, because she said that even if she could, she wouldn't give it to them. Seriously, you guys, I wanted them to just kill her and take it from her corpse.
Diora was the worst, most condescending ice bitch of a woman for the first half of this book. And I really, really struggled with it. She evolved a bit in the last third, and I enjoyed that much more. But I still dislike her. I dislike her constant repeated lament that she's alone in the world, when she has an almost-mother that she completely takes for granted. Teresa has literally sacrificed everything in her life to help Diora. She has given up everything she has ever known - safety, money, the lifestyle of one of the most respected clanswomen in the Dominion - and made war on her brother, and she has done it ALL for Diora. And Diora can't be bothered to acknowledge that at all. She takes Teresa's loyal Ramdan, without a thought, just as she takes every sacrifice Teresa has made, as if it is everything that she is entitled to. Guys, to me, Diora is literally the same as her father. Plays as pawns everyone around her, to further her own goals. She doesn't think for a single minute about the hurt she has done the person who loves her most in the world. She doesn't even think about that love, as she REPEATEDLY whines (in her POV) about being alone in the world with no one who loves her.
I pretty much despise her. And the events of the end of this book haven't changed it much. We'll see if those events change her behavior. But thus far, I see her as a scheming clanswoman... no different from anyone else who plays horrible games for power. She leveraged herself into a position of power in the Arkosa, just as she leveraged herself into a position of power in the Dominion. At this point, because of her games, Valedan has no choice but to marry her, as she's made herself a symbol of the kingdom. And I hate that, because frankly, he deserves better than to be tied to just another fucking stereotypical Dominion clanswoman. Because the Dominion needs to change. This culture of oppression, where power is the only thing of value, has to shatter and be remade, so this shithole country doesn't continue to fall to demons over and over and over. I mean, guys, there's a fucking reason why the Empire has never fallen to the demons. The culture in the Dominion pretty much WELCOMES the demons.
Last note: Adam.