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A review by esop
Seraphina's Lament by Sarah Chorn
4.0
Sarah Chorn has created a fascinating world known as the Sunset Lands, filled with a dynamic, intertwined cast of characters hurtling toward a volatile, unknown fate.
The setting of the book was interesting, something that I haven't encountered before in a novel. The Sunset Lands are plagued by famine, leading to unrest among its populace, who resort either to secret revolutionary measures or, more often in most cases, cannibalism.
We follow a cast of several core characters in the Sunset Lands (as well as dipping into the POVs of a few other unfortunate souls in interludes), and I really enjoyed the complex character relationships between everybody. My favorite was Vadden, who we quickly learn was deeply involved with the country's less-than-stellar leader back when he was a revolutionary himself. I spent the whole book looking forward to their inevitable confrontation at the climax.
I suppose that's where my one criticism of the book would be, though. Chorn created a lot of rich characters with interesting, complicated relationships to each other, but I don't feel like any of those threads were explored as fully as they could have been. Each character shares highly emotional scenes with others, but I didn't feel fully invested in their relationships so those moments didn't land quite as hard; I wanted to know them better, as well as Chorn clearly knows and cares for them. There's a lot underneath the surface there, and I wish we had gotten to see more.
But the book concludes with a huge event, one that dramatically shifts the direction the series is going in, giving us hints at the world's history and lore that I hope are explored in further books, because the mystery of what exactly is going on and the purpose of it has truly hooked me.
The setting of the book was interesting, something that I haven't encountered before in a novel. The Sunset Lands are plagued by famine, leading to unrest among its populace, who resort either to secret revolutionary measures or, more often in most cases, cannibalism.
We follow a cast of several core characters in the Sunset Lands (as well as dipping into the POVs of a few other unfortunate souls in interludes), and I really enjoyed the complex character relationships between everybody. My favorite was Vadden, who we quickly learn was deeply involved with the country's less-than-stellar leader back when he was a revolutionary himself. I spent the whole book looking forward to their inevitable confrontation at the climax.
I suppose that's where my one criticism of the book would be, though. Chorn created a lot of rich characters with interesting, complicated relationships to each other, but I don't feel like any of those threads were explored as fully as they could have been. Each character shares highly emotional scenes with others, but I didn't feel fully invested in their relationships so those moments didn't land quite as hard; I wanted to know them better, as well as Chorn clearly knows and cares for them. There's a lot underneath the surface there, and I wish we had gotten to see more.
But the book concludes with a huge event, one that dramatically shifts the direction the series is going in, giving us hints at the world's history and lore that I hope are explored in further books, because the mystery of what exactly is going on and the purpose of it has truly hooked me.