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A review by fairymodmother
Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr by John Crowley
3.0
Dar Oakley is from Ka, the realm of Crows. Through association with People he discovers Ymr, their realm. From there, Crowley takes us on a journey through the ages of crow-based folklore. Death bird. Trickster. Omen. It's full of beautiful, poignant lines and replete with enough references to mythology and history to satisfy all sorts of readers.
And yet I never felt entirely swayed. This book is the sort you open and it has both atmosphere and an underlying purpose. It is trying to tell us something, to hint at a connection that will reverberate in our minds. I could feel this was what it ought to do. I'm afraid to say I never got the message. Maybe because I was rushed as I read it...but maybe not.
CONTENT WARNING:
Things to love:
-The folklore and mythology. If you love myths and legends, this book may well be enjoyable just for that element. There's so much in here, you could have a whole discussion just on the different references in the book.
-Dar Oakley. He's quite a character. I loved getting this book largely from a Crow's perspective. The non-human narrator allows us to see ourselves as if for the first time. And there were a lot of funny or sweet bits that wouldn't have worked if the protagonist were human. Very well done.
-The prose. There were so many beautiful lines in this book that made me stop and think about death, belonging, and what is inevitable, really.
-The timeline. It was a cool use of the different myths and a myth into itself. Very fun.
Things that left me wanting:
-The pace. It is glacial. It all feels like it's hinting at something, and I loved when there were call backs but a lot of it felt to me like the author just sharing cool things he'd learned, rather than cherry picking the best bits to drive his message home. It also started to speed up. We agonized over the first part and each subsequent part seemed to lose more elements, until we just steamrolled over the present day part.
-The modern story line. I didn't get it and I'm not sure what it added. I'm actually not sure what the revenge story line added either.
-The opacity of the story. There was all this hinting, but I never got the answer to the riddle I was supposed to be contemplating.
-A few missed social beats. There were a couple points raised that made me think...hm...I'm not sure that says what you want it to say. I think it's good to be more largely inclusive and not to forget that people and their problems are universal and eternal, but I do feel pretty strongly that if we're going to mention it we have a duty to do so carefully. I'm not sure this was as careful as I'd have preferred.
-The end. Another ambiguous ending! Is that the hallmark of this era of fantasy? Must it all be uncertain or taut? Do we not put things to rest? Seems especially odd, in a book that asks that very question. Or maybe that was in fact the point.
In the end it was gorgeous and atmospheric, I'm just not sure I actually got a full story out of it, and it took me over a week of reading to be uncertain of that.
And yet I never felt entirely swayed. This book is the sort you open and it has both atmosphere and an underlying purpose. It is trying to tell us something, to hint at a connection that will reverberate in our minds. I could feel this was what it ought to do. I'm afraid to say I never got the message. Maybe because I was rushed as I read it...but maybe not.
CONTENT WARNING:
Spoiler
death, death of a loved one, genocide, torture, tons of body horror, random violence, suicide, violent racism, casual racism.Things to love:
-The folklore and mythology. If you love myths and legends, this book may well be enjoyable just for that element. There's so much in here, you could have a whole discussion just on the different references in the book.
-Dar Oakley. He's quite a character. I loved getting this book largely from a Crow's perspective. The non-human narrator allows us to see ourselves as if for the first time. And there were a lot of funny or sweet bits that wouldn't have worked if the protagonist were human. Very well done.
-The prose. There were so many beautiful lines in this book that made me stop and think about death, belonging, and what is inevitable, really.
-The timeline. It was a cool use of the different myths and a myth into itself. Very fun.
Things that left me wanting:
-The pace. It is glacial. It all feels like it's hinting at something, and I loved when there were call backs but a lot of it felt to me like the author just sharing cool things he'd learned, rather than cherry picking the best bits to drive his message home. It also started to speed up. We agonized over the first part and each subsequent part seemed to lose more elements, until we just steamrolled over the present day part.
-The modern story line. I didn't get it and I'm not sure what it added. I'm actually not sure what the revenge story line added either.
-The opacity of the story. There was all this hinting, but I never got the answer to the riddle I was supposed to be contemplating.
-A few missed social beats. There were a couple points raised that made me think...hm...I'm not sure that says what you want it to say. I think it's good to be more largely inclusive and not to forget that people and their problems are universal and eternal, but I do feel pretty strongly that if we're going to mention it we have a duty to do so carefully. I'm not sure this was as careful as I'd have preferred.
-The end. Another ambiguous ending! Is that the hallmark of this era of fantasy? Must it all be uncertain or taut? Do we not put things to rest? Seems especially odd, in a book that asks that very question. Or maybe that was in fact the point.
In the end it was gorgeous and atmospheric, I'm just not sure I actually got a full story out of it, and it took me over a week of reading to be uncertain of that.