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A review by gribkigamayun
This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
This book was a mess, people say the writing is really beautiful and flowery but that’s honestly what I think it suffered the most from (besides the two main characters, and the rhythm of swapping povs). The repetition drove me insane, and I was listening to the audiobook at 2x speed most of the time. I don’t hate the characters, but the inner tangents just went on and on, and I felt like it was just ultimately one very long scene because of that. There’s no feeling of progression in either of their thought processes, they’re not learning anything, or taking action, they’re not really puzzling anything out… again I feel like the reason this bothers me so much is because of the style it’s done in.
I did like that there were a lot of surprises for in the world building, but I didn’t feel like they built on themselves very much. I imagine that will happen in the other books? But I don’t know because this story seems to exist solely for the romance. I’m not saying that’s an inherently bad thing, but I see that this story could have so much potential for more than that, so it frustrates me.
The conclusion was again oddly drawn out, lots happened at the very last second, but we already knew most of it was going to happen from the very beginning, so the payoff was not there.
I’ve seen a lot of people say it gets better, so maybe I’ll come back to this series again someday when I need something to put on in the background, but I won’t be spending any money on it. All in all, I’ve seen this same story done better.
I did like that there were a lot of surprises for in the world building, but I didn’t feel like they built on themselves very much. I imagine that will happen in the other books? But I don’t know because this story seems to exist solely for the romance. I’m not saying that’s an inherently bad thing, but I see that this story could have so much potential for more than that, so it frustrates me.
The conclusion was again oddly drawn out, lots happened at the very last second, but we already knew most of it was going to happen from the very beginning, so the payoff was not there.
I’ve seen a lot of people say it gets better, so maybe I’ll come back to this series again someday when I need something to put on in the background, but I won’t be spending any money on it. All in all, I’ve seen this same story done better.