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A review by bookish_bullsh_t
The Four Profound Weaves by R.B. Lemberg
3.0
I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book speaks of change, of wanderlust, of hope; and of death.
We follow our two MCs- Uiziya, who has learned the first three of the four profound weaves, now ventures out into the desert, in search of her exiled aunt Benesret, in search of knowledge. To learn the fourth weave.
The nameless man who struggles with his identity. The identity that his society rejects. He seeks to acquire his name.
I enjoyed the book. That's all for my opinion. This whole review is 100% my opinion. [Other readers may disagree, apparently different people have different preferences] I will be following my template of the neutral, the disappointment, and then what I loved, to end it on a positive note.
This section of the review is dedicated to the aspects of the book that I do not care for. But I do know that some readers do; and they seek out these elements in their books. Some might consider this a spoiler, so watch out I guess.
- This book has a vague magic system, though it is consistent; The concepts of these magic and their ability is a bit difficult to grasp at least for me.
- It does not feature a present- romantic subplot. There are plenty who complain about romance in their Fantasy book. Good new for them.
- It contains the Man Vs. Society trope. Which is obvious that it would be included.
This section is dedicated to the aspects of the book that I personally didn't like, or which I think could have been done a bit better.
- The Ending. I had been dreading this since halfway through it. It is [in my humble opinion] a bit too prolonged. There was an attempt at reaching a certain depth which the book could have reached and even exceeded but alas! The purple prose strikes again.
- The World building. Don't get me wrong it's great. Like actually, genuinely great! However I [along with some others] am new to the Birdverse. And I'm sure there will be other readers who will be introduced to it, through this book. I felt that in only some places [not all], we are sort of expected to already know about some stuff. If not, then we will immediately see an action after the explanation of a concept. [Again, not in all of them, but only a few]. I wish these information would be more evenly spread out through out the book.
- *Mild spoilers* I would love to see a bit more character depth to Benesret, and The Collector. [He likes to preserve, but why?]. I would put it in the place where we are already expected to know. I'm sure this is explained in other books[e.g. The author has another book exploring Aviya's POV}, but it could be better if they had some significance in this book too, because as I said earlier, many readers are introduced to the Birdverse via this book.
To conclude my last two points, I'd say that this book is too short for it to achieve what I expected it to be.
- There is no sense of urgency, I mean yes there is, but I just could not feel it. The Characters went from one place to another and I went along with them.
This Section is dedicated to the aspects I loved.
- The Hook. OMG The Hook is just so good! I was invested in the book within the first 10 pages. It has a solid beginning. I really can't pinpoint to what hooked me, but it was really good.
- The Formatting of the book is a work of Art. So amazing. *Mild spoilers? Idk how formatting can be spoiler but I'm scared of angry readers, who decided to read long enough.* The book is divided into 4 parts. Each relating to a profound weave. The plot, the description, EVERYTHING fit into the theme of a certain part. I really don't have coherent words to describe it, I'll be here gushing all day about it, so moving on...
-The Representation. The MCs, are Trans, that's a given. Uziya is a darkskinned plus-sized woman, who actually has come to terms with her body and feels comfortable in it. Those who say that representation doesn't matter, have probably been represented enough times for it to not matter. I do not fall into any of the demographics, but I can still appreciate it. So I won't be talking about the "accuracy" of the representation. Leaving it to those who know what it's like.
In conclusion, if you are looking for a book with the aspects which I mentioned in the neutral territory, then you might want to check it out. Take the rest with a grain of salt, because it's just my preference. [it might be different from you!]. Happy reading. :D
This book speaks of change, of wanderlust, of hope; and of death.
We follow our two MCs- Uiziya, who has learned the first three of the four profound weaves, now ventures out into the desert, in search of her exiled aunt Benesret, in search of knowledge. To learn the fourth weave.
The nameless man who struggles with his identity. The identity that his society rejects. He seeks to acquire his name.
I enjoyed the book. That's all for my opinion. This whole review is 100% my opinion. [Other readers may disagree, apparently different people have different preferences] I will be following my template of the neutral, the disappointment, and then what I loved, to end it on a positive note.
This section of the review is dedicated to the aspects of the book that I do not care for. But I do know that some readers do; and they seek out these elements in their books. Some might consider this a spoiler, so watch out I guess.
- This book has a vague magic system, though it is consistent; The concepts of these magic and their ability is a bit difficult to grasp at least for me.
- It does not feature a present- romantic subplot. There are plenty who complain about romance in their Fantasy book. Good new for them.
- It contains the Man Vs. Society trope. Which is obvious that it would be included.
This section is dedicated to the aspects of the book that I personally didn't like, or which I think could have been done a bit better.
- The Ending. I had been dreading this since halfway through it. It is [in my humble opinion] a bit too prolonged. There was an attempt at reaching a certain depth which the book could have reached and even exceeded but alas! The purple prose strikes again.
- The World building. Don't get me wrong it's great. Like actually, genuinely great! However I [along with some others] am new to the Birdverse. And I'm sure there will be other readers who will be introduced to it, through this book. I felt that in only some places [not all], we are sort of expected to already know about some stuff. If not, then we will immediately see an action after the explanation of a concept. [Again, not in all of them, but only a few]. I wish these information would be more evenly spread out through out the book.
- *Mild spoilers* I would love to see a bit more character depth to Benesret, and The Collector. [He likes to preserve, but why?]. I would put it in the place where we are already expected to know. I'm sure this is explained in other books[e.g. The author has another book exploring Aviya's POV}, but it could be better if they had some significance in this book too, because as I said earlier, many readers are introduced to the Birdverse via this book.
To conclude my last two points, I'd say that this book is too short for it to achieve what I expected it to be.
- There is no sense of urgency, I mean yes there is, but I just could not feel it. The Characters went from one place to another and I went along with them.
This Section is dedicated to the aspects I loved.
- The Hook. OMG The Hook is just so good! I was invested in the book within the first 10 pages. It has a solid beginning. I really can't pinpoint to what hooked me, but it was really good.
- The Formatting of the book is a work of Art. So amazing. *Mild spoilers? Idk how formatting can be spoiler but I'm scared of angry readers, who decided to read long enough.* The book is divided into 4 parts. Each relating to a profound weave. The plot, the description, EVERYTHING fit into the theme of a certain part. I really don't have coherent words to describe it, I'll be here gushing all day about it, so moving on...
-The Representation. The MCs, are Trans, that's a given. Uziya is a darkskinned plus-sized woman, who actually has come to terms with her body and feels comfortable in it. Those who say that representation doesn't matter, have probably been represented enough times for it to not matter. I do not fall into any of the demographics, but I can still appreciate it. So I won't be talking about the "accuracy" of the representation. Leaving it to those who know what it's like.
In conclusion, if you are looking for a book with the aspects which I mentioned in the neutral territory, then you might want to check it out. Take the rest with a grain of salt, because it's just my preference. [it might be different from you!]. Happy reading. :D