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This was quite the ride. Kameron Hurley has created a kick-ass heroine who's not 21, sassy for sassy's sake, doesn't wear spike heels and tight leather pants or have a tattoo.
Nyx is not a good woman. She knows it. She's got some notion of honor, but more of a knack for ugly, dirty survival. Her team is mostly stolen from a rival bounty hunter- another female jack-of-all-trades, specializing in guns, a comm operator, a shapeshifter, and a magician.
The characters and setting in this world are amazing. There are some rough analogues to earth-type cultures,mostly Islamic or other people of the book, but each place is definitely its own. There's Chenja, where women are property and men have 20 to 30 wives. There's Nasheen, where women pretty much run the show after sending most of their boys to the eternal war front with Chenja. There's Mhoria, where men love men and women are "deserts of secrets", at least to men. There's tropical coastal neutral Tirhan, which is honestly where I'd probably go to get away from the horrors of desert biological warfare, and there's Ras Tieg, where shapeshifters and homosexuals are stoned and people worship saints.
Hurley doesn't really bother to explain the technology/magic on her world. Magicians seem to be able to manipulate insects, possibly with pheromone control. They also have incredible healing skills. Shapeshifters seem to have some sort of genetic ability, but can shift mass and retain intelligence as a dog or a raven. But you just see the utility of these abilities, not an explanation. You're steeped in the characters' point of view, and they take all this stuff for granted and don't think too much about the whys of it. No info-dumps here. The world is vivid and brutal.
Poor Nyx is drawn to Rhys, her magician. He's a devout Chenjan while she's Nasheenian. Pretty much everything she does is blasphemy to him, but he's got to stay with her to survive. Nyx knows this is pretty stupid when it comes right down to it, but the heart wants what the heart wants. This relationship is pretty much the least interesting part of the whole book for me, though, because Rhys is kind of a prudish ass. I think that in many books, Nyx would be the villain. Certainly her old mentor saw her that way, and saw it as his mission to "end" her.
I was quite interested in Nyx's practical views on government and survival. She didn't know everything, and she sometimes made the wrong decisions. She was really a bitch to Khos for the whole book, and I could never figure out why, unless his big physicality intimidated her deep down and she was compensating for it. Khos was one of the most interesting characters to me, and I wanted to know more about him. There's been a flush of "dark" books lately, and I'm getting tired of people trying to follow this trend. But this book felt like it had to be told the way it was told. There was no pretentiousness, and I didn't feel like it was trying to be grim for grim's sake. This is a frightening world and it breeds frightening people. I totally bought into it.
The pacing on this book was amazing. When I had to put it down, I really wanted to get back to it to find out what happened next. Well-written action scenes, interesting problem-solving, unique characters. I really want to find out what happens next.
Nyx is not a good woman. She knows it. She's got some notion of honor, but more of a knack for ugly, dirty survival. Her team is mostly stolen from a rival bounty hunter- another female jack-of-all-trades, specializing in guns, a comm operator, a shapeshifter, and a magician.
The characters and setting in this world are amazing. There are some rough analogues to earth-type cultures,mostly Islamic or other people of the book, but each place is definitely its own. There's Chenja, where women are property and men have 20 to 30 wives. There's Nasheen, where women pretty much run the show after sending most of their boys to the eternal war front with Chenja. There's Mhoria, where men love men and women are "deserts of secrets", at least to men. There's tropical coastal neutral Tirhan, which is honestly where I'd probably go to get away from the horrors of desert biological warfare, and there's Ras Tieg, where shapeshifters and homosexuals are stoned and people worship saints.
Hurley doesn't really bother to explain the technology/magic on her world. Magicians seem to be able to manipulate insects, possibly with pheromone control. They also have incredible healing skills. Shapeshifters seem to have some sort of genetic ability, but can shift mass and retain intelligence as a dog or a raven. But you just see the utility of these abilities, not an explanation. You're steeped in the characters' point of view, and they take all this stuff for granted and don't think too much about the whys of it. No info-dumps here. The world is vivid and brutal.
Poor Nyx is drawn to Rhys, her magician. He's a devout Chenjan while she's Nasheenian. Pretty much everything she does is blasphemy to him, but he's got to stay with her to survive. Nyx knows this is pretty stupid when it comes right down to it, but the heart wants what the heart wants. This relationship is pretty much the least interesting part of the whole book for me, though, because Rhys is kind of a prudish ass. I think that in many books, Nyx would be the villain. Certainly her old mentor saw her that way, and saw it as his mission to "end" her.
I was quite interested in Nyx's practical views on government and survival. She didn't know everything, and she sometimes made the wrong decisions. She was really a bitch to Khos for the whole book, and I could never figure out why, unless his big physicality intimidated her deep down and she was compensating for it. Khos was one of the most interesting characters to me, and I wanted to know more about him. There's been a flush of "dark" books lately, and I'm getting tired of people trying to follow this trend. But this book felt like it had to be told the way it was told. There was no pretentiousness, and I didn't feel like it was trying to be grim for grim's sake. This is a frightening world and it breeds frightening people. I totally bought into it.
The pacing on this book was amazing. When I had to put it down, I really wanted to get back to it to find out what happened next. Well-written action scenes, interesting problem-solving, unique characters. I really want to find out what happens next.