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A review by aimiller
River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
An interesting alternate history take with a fun, fascinating premise. It felt like the story was much, much bigger than the space given here, so I was left feeling like the pace was uneven—it took so much to introduce each member of the party and then after that things had to go high octane immediately. It just all sort of felt like too much, like wearing ill-fitting clothes or something.
This is a nitpick aside, but in a world where we have recognized androgynous nonbinary characters, to the point where even the villain can somehow recognize that he should use they/them pronouns without anyone saying anything, why is there shock and awe that a character might dress occasionally in masculine clothing (and was I supposed to read that character’s comments as an indication she is genderfluid?) I just think consistency in the gender/sexuality politics is more interesting than like a Reveal.
Overall, it was okay, and I think people might really enjoy it. It just didn’t click fully for me.
This is a nitpick aside, but in a world where we have recognized androgynous nonbinary characters, to the point where even the villain can somehow recognize that he should use they/them pronouns without anyone saying anything, why is there shock and awe that a character might dress occasionally in masculine clothing (and was I supposed to read that character’s comments as an indication she is genderfluid?) I just think consistency in the gender/sexuality politics is more interesting than like a Reveal.
Overall, it was okay, and I think people might really enjoy it. It just didn’t click fully for me.