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adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book follows two young women going on an adventure through this fantastical land, going to retrieve idols, which are the literal physical interpretations of gods that each group/city have but we’re stolen by a previous empire. I think it tackles friendship, romance, religion, and duty in a really interesting way. There are some fantastic lines and really lovely prose. I really enjoyed the element of religion in this book. The pace is a little uneven. And I feel like even though this book follows really only three people you are only given in-depth understanding and ability to attach to two of them. Ultimately, I really liked how diverse and specific each of the nations of this fantasy world were but they were almost too close to what the author was clearly drawing from and admits to draw from which is the fall of the Roman empire and early near East groups, like the Sumerians and the Assyrians. I think that the book itself could benefit from splitting itself into multiple books that allow the characters all to be well developed and all thee very different societies explored to their fullest. But it clearly has the makings of a lot of really interesting things. I think it also falls into the unfortunate and common trope with a lot of modern fantasy novels of hitting you over the head with the message rather than letting you figure it out for yourself. Fantasy as a genre is meant to often reflect and critique modern societal issues, but I have found that this book and a lot of other more modern and fantasy books tend to just tell you that rather than giving you a story that makes you think about how this connects to your life.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Genocide, Infertility, Blood, Grief, Colonisation
Minor: Misogyny