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A review by el393way
Ebony Gate by Julia Vee, Ken Bebelle
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
3.0
This book was recommended via one of Tor.com next read quizzes and then became available for advanced copy review. Seemed like a perfect fit. The concept for this book is fun and interesting and unique. I’m always excited when East Asian history inspired fantasy and scifi.
This book has a lot going for it to draw you in and keep you on your toes. It is also well narrated as to be expected with Natalie Naudus. As a whole, the book did not drive me to want to continue reading.
Each time I paused, I had to make myself start again. Despite the magnificent parts of the book I think this happened for a few reasons. There is a lot of exposition in this book and it interrupts plot movement often. There is also not a ton of meaningful character interactions. Emiko interacts with a TON of other characters but it’s quick and she moves on to other interactions. There’s a lot of history with many different characters but we only get little snippets. It just feels like she’s bouncing around. Part of her persona is being detached from the world she knew and not being settled where she’s at but it makes it hard to connect to her as a reader.
Still highly recommend the book and can see it being well liked by a lot of people. It was worth the read.
This book has a lot going for it to draw you in and keep you on your toes. It is also well narrated as to be expected with Natalie Naudus. As a whole, the book did not drive me to want to continue reading.
Each time I paused, I had to make myself start again. Despite the magnificent parts of the book I think this happened for a few reasons. There is a lot of exposition in this book and it interrupts plot movement often. There is also not a ton of meaningful character interactions. Emiko interacts with a TON of other characters but it’s quick and she moves on to other interactions. There’s a lot of history with many different characters but we only get little snippets. It just feels like she’s bouncing around. Part of her persona is being detached from the world she knew and not being settled where she’s at but it makes it hard to connect to her as a reader.
Still highly recommend the book and can see it being well liked by a lot of people. It was worth the read.