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A review by wumings
Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse
3.0
this trilogy is just an exercise in mixed feelings for me.
in some ways, mirrored heavens improved from fevered star and in other ways, it remained the same. the pacing is just as bad as in the previous book - way too much build-up was happening for a finale and too much page time was wasted on useless POVs. too many new plot threads were introduced - dreamwalking, serapio's prophecy, xiala's teek arc - and they weren't really resolved in satisfying ways (except for the prophecy which made sense thematically for serapio's character). balam's POV chapters were interesting but felt like second book material to me - did we really need this much backstory and exposition in a final book?
serapio's character arc remained the most well-written, coherent aspect of this series. his struggle between following a pre-determined destiny and taking fate in his own hands is just as compelling here and i think the prophecy plotline was a good way to highlight that internal struggle. i just feel like the author chickened out a bit towards the end from really confronting serapio's terrible actions and kinda waved them away instead.
what this book improves upon (sort of) is xiala's and okoa's characters. at long last, xiala gets her own space in the story, her own goals separate from serapio, and comes into her own powers (although we never learned why the teek lost their magic??? it seemed like the author just needed a reason for xiala to be the super special chosen one). i was just happy to see that, for once, xiala's world didn't revolve around serapio and she got to do her own thing for a while. i also think her personal resolution was the most satisfying out of all the characters.
as for okoa, i was pleasantly surprised that his chapters weren't a complete bore for me like before. his inner conflict between his duty to his clan and his bond with serapio finally made sense and i actually started sympathizing with him. i also really liked his relationship with serapio and i was looking forward to seeing how it would evolve - until the author completely fucked things up of course.like you're telling me okoa ends up pointlessly killed by a completely random character?? we never get to see serapio finding out??? we never get to see serapio mourning him???? what was the point of developing their bond in this book??? so yeah, i hated how his arc wrapped up and the resolution given to carrion crow.
naranpa was done so dirty in this book, i was kinda shocked. her arc really peaked in fevered star and honestly, if THIS is what the author gave her in the final book, i'd rather naranpa's arc ended in fevered star. we had to watch her go on this inane side quest that was not only divorced from the main plot but was eventually rendered completely useless. and her main conflict in this book is with BALAM? that was so out of left field for me.and then she ends up in a years-long coma and that's how we leave her???? iktan is now just her mourning spouse trying to cure her. sorry but that was lowkey queerphobic to me. hated everything about her chapters except her relationship with iktan.
the main plot with the war between tova and the other cities had a pretty good build-up and i liked seeing serapio as a war leader - but of course, this author is allergic to satisfying resolutions so the war plot we spend significant page time on is concluded in the most anti-climactic battle ever with the most anti-climactic and pathetic final confrontation between serapio and balam.
also, i absolutely hate that we didn't get serapio's POV in the last couple chapters. i wanted HIS reflections on everything - it felt like his character arc was just left hanging in the air towards the end. the last chapter with him and xiala felt like such a cop-out to me and showed me that the author just didn't want to deal with any actual consequences of serapio's actions or figure out what a viable future between him and xiala would look like. we had to see them constantly pine over each other and make these huge love declarations just for that?
overall, this book had way too many things going on and nothing actually happening at the same time. i wasn't happy with where any of the characters ended up, except for xiala. the more i think about it, the more i want to lower my rating but i'll leave it at this for now.
in some ways, mirrored heavens improved from fevered star and in other ways, it remained the same. the pacing is just as bad as in the previous book - way too much build-up was happening for a finale and too much page time was wasted on useless POVs. too many new plot threads were introduced - dreamwalking, serapio's prophecy, xiala's teek arc - and they weren't really resolved in satisfying ways (except for the prophecy which made sense thematically for serapio's character). balam's POV chapters were interesting but felt like second book material to me - did we really need this much backstory and exposition in a final book?
serapio's character arc remained the most well-written, coherent aspect of this series. his struggle between following a pre-determined destiny and taking fate in his own hands is just as compelling here and i think the prophecy plotline was a good way to highlight that internal struggle. i just feel like the author chickened out a bit towards the end from really confronting serapio's terrible actions and kinda waved them away instead.
what this book improves upon (sort of) is xiala's and okoa's characters. at long last, xiala gets her own space in the story, her own goals separate from serapio, and comes into her own powers (although we never learned why the teek lost their magic??? it seemed like the author just needed a reason for xiala to be the super special chosen one). i was just happy to see that, for once, xiala's world didn't revolve around serapio and she got to do her own thing for a while. i also think her personal resolution was the most satisfying out of all the characters.
as for okoa, i was pleasantly surprised that his chapters weren't a complete bore for me like before. his inner conflict between his duty to his clan and his bond with serapio finally made sense and i actually started sympathizing with him. i also really liked his relationship with serapio and i was looking forward to seeing how it would evolve - until the author completely fucked things up of course.
naranpa was done so dirty in this book, i was kinda shocked. her arc really peaked in fevered star and honestly, if THIS is what the author gave her in the final book, i'd rather naranpa's arc ended in fevered star. we had to watch her go on this inane side quest that was not only divorced from the main plot but was eventually rendered completely useless. and her main conflict in this book is with BALAM? that was so out of left field for me.
the main plot with the war between tova and the other cities had a pretty good build-up and i liked seeing serapio as a war leader - but of course, this author is allergic to satisfying resolutions so the war plot we spend significant page time on is concluded in the most anti-climactic battle ever with the most anti-climactic and pathetic final confrontation between serapio and balam.
also, i absolutely hate that we didn't get serapio's POV in the last couple chapters. i wanted HIS reflections on everything - it felt like his character arc was just left hanging in the air towards the end. the last chapter with him and xiala felt like such a cop-out to me and showed me that the author just didn't want to deal with any actual consequences of serapio's actions or figure out what a viable future between him and xiala would look like. we had to see them constantly pine over each other and make these huge love declarations just for that?
overall, this book had way too many things going on and nothing actually happening at the same time. i wasn't happy with where any of the characters ended up, except for xiala. the more i think about it, the more i want to lower my rating but i'll leave it at this for now.