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A review by jeckehecke
When Shadows Grow Tall by Maressa Voss
3.0
*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book*
"When Shadows Grow Tall" is the first book in a fantasy book series with fascinating world building that verges on dystopia in parts. At the heart of the story are power struggles and religious fights concerning the 'truth'. With two different focalisers, a ranger from an ancient brotherhood and a young girl leaving home following her seditious father, the story has a good pacing and manages to make the world feel vivid. I sadly disliked both focalisers and also the artifical mystery surrounding Kylene (especially in the end) somewhat annoyed me. The 'evil guys' also remained flat characters for the majority of the book. Maybe I was not in the right mood for this book, but I was kinda bored when reading...
What made me really mad, however, was the stereotypical usage of Celtic languages in yet another fantasy novel. Droch Fhortan = bad luck, really; to just name one example. If you have studied Celtic Studies and have learned Celtic languages (Scottish Gaelic, Irish, Welsh, and some Breton and Cornish too), seeing Celtic names in books about to be butchered by readers, audiobooks and whatnot, makes me sad on top. Especially if the words picked are not coherent in terms of context, time and language. Why do people still do this? I wish people would either put real work into the languages and cultures they exploit for literature or just make stuff up themselves. *sigh*
So, a promising novel with some flaws for me. I'm not sure if I'll read a sequel because I disliked the characters and found the overall conflict somewhat trite. Sorry.
3 stars max.
"When Shadows Grow Tall" is the first book in a fantasy book series with fascinating world building that verges on dystopia in parts. At the heart of the story are power struggles and religious fights concerning the 'truth'. With two different focalisers, a ranger from an ancient brotherhood and a young girl leaving home following her seditious father, the story has a good pacing and manages to make the world feel vivid. I sadly disliked both focalisers and also the artifical mystery surrounding Kylene (especially in the end) somewhat annoyed me. The 'evil guys' also remained flat characters for the majority of the book. Maybe I was not in the right mood for this book, but I was kinda bored when reading...
What made me really mad, however, was the stereotypical usage of Celtic languages in yet another fantasy novel. Droch Fhortan = bad luck, really; to just name one example. If you have studied Celtic Studies and have learned Celtic languages (Scottish Gaelic, Irish, Welsh, and some Breton and Cornish too), seeing Celtic names in books about to be butchered by readers, audiobooks and whatnot, makes me sad on top. Especially if the words picked are not coherent in terms of context, time and language. Why do people still do this? I wish people would either put real work into the languages and cultures they exploit for literature or just make stuff up themselves. *sigh*
So, a promising novel with some flaws for me. I'm not sure if I'll read a sequel because I disliked the characters and found the overall conflict somewhat trite. Sorry.
3 stars max.