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bookaneer 's review for:
Shadow & Claw
by Gene Wolfe
There are books that are not meant for everyone and this one is not for me. I would have DNFed it if it's not because of a group read.
It started out quite interesting, with the main character being a torturer-in-training meeting with a mysterious rebel leader but when the torturer successfully lost his first love (and v-card) and began his travel, well, it just went downhill. I could not understand 3/4 of this book. Almost everything feels disjointed, random and confusing.
I could not relate to the MC anymore after 30% progress then completely lost interest in him and other characters until the end. The female characters were bland and infuriating if not annoying. There are parts that made me uncomfortable because they involve objectifying women. Same uneasy feeling when I read Dune and one of Elric's stories.
The world building...well a mix between SF and fantasy has always been a tricky combo (in which only Hyperion that really grabbed my attention from all science fantasy I read so far). The SF parts - as little as they were - in this were quite intriguing but the confusing, uninteresting plot just drowned what's left of my interest until it suffocated and died miserably.
It started out quite interesting, with the main character being a torturer-in-training meeting with a mysterious rebel leader but when the torturer successfully lost his first love (and v-card) and began his travel, well, it just went downhill. I could not understand 3/4 of this book. Almost everything feels disjointed, random and confusing.
I could not relate to the MC anymore after 30% progress then completely lost interest in him and other characters until the end. The female characters were bland and infuriating if not annoying. There are parts that made me uncomfortable because they involve objectifying women. Same uneasy feeling when I read Dune and one of Elric's stories.
The world building...well a mix between SF and fantasy has always been a tricky combo (in which only Hyperion that really grabbed my attention from all science fantasy I read so far). The SF parts - as little as they were - in this were quite intriguing but the confusing, uninteresting plot just drowned what's left of my interest until it suffocated and died miserably.