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A review by gilroi
The Temple of Fortuna by Elodie Harper
dark
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
This book could have been four chapters shorter. Like, just snip off the last four chapters and the epilogue, and it would have been much stronger. In general, the latter half of the book really suffers for the author feeling the need to tie off all the loose ends, when the nature of the tragedy the characters face means the reader is more likely to accept loose ends.
But whatever. This series has always been a massive mixed bag for me. I love the concept! More historical novels should be written from the perspective of the poor, the enslaved, the non-elite, the people who mainstream history not only forgets but actively erases.
Yet the series is full of pulled punches. Elodie Harper wants to write a character who has experienced-- and on the page present-tense <i>experiences</i>-- sexual assault, but she doesn't want to actually depict it in any detail, graphic or otherwise. She wants to write about the sexual humiliation enslaved women face, but, again, she doesn't actually want to depict it, or its aftermath, except in the vaguest of terms. She wants to write a story about a woman making hard choices and sacrifices, but she's unwilling to let her protagonists get anything less than everything she wants, and won't let secondary or tertiary characters die after the first book. This book is courting a cozycore crowd, but it deals with sexual violence. While sex scenes-- consensual and otherwise-- are not always faded to black, they're always applied with a heavy gaussian blur. The end result is a book that isn't half as visceral as it could be, with weak attempts at meaning that, if the author were brave enough to put what she implies on the page in black and white, would be so much stronger and more complete.
But there are so, so, <i>so</I> few historical novels from the perspective of characters like Amara. I can't not love it, at least a little.
But whatever. This series has always been a massive mixed bag for me. I love the concept! More historical novels should be written from the perspective of the poor, the enslaved, the non-elite, the people who mainstream history not only forgets but actively erases.
Yet the series is full of pulled punches. Elodie Harper wants to write a character who has experienced-- and on the page present-tense <i>experiences</i>-- sexual assault, but she doesn't want to actually depict it in any detail, graphic or otherwise. She wants to write about the sexual humiliation enslaved women face, but, again, she doesn't actually want to depict it, or its aftermath, except in the vaguest of terms. She wants to write a story about a woman making hard choices and sacrifices, but she's unwilling to let her protagonists get anything less than everything she wants, and won't let secondary or tertiary characters die after the first book. This book is courting a cozycore crowd, but it deals with sexual violence. While sex scenes-- consensual and otherwise-- are not always faded to black, they're always applied with a heavy gaussian blur. The end result is a book that isn't half as visceral as it could be, with weak attempts at meaning that, if the author were brave enough to put what she implies on the page in black and white, would be so much stronger and more complete.
But there are so, so, <i>so</I> few historical novels from the perspective of characters like Amara. I can't not love it, at least a little.