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_av_ 's review for:
Gods of the Wyrdwood
by R.J. Barker
DID NOT FINISH: 46%
DNFed at 46%. This was boring, confusing, and poorly edited.
Boring: The book hit its peak for me when Cahan and Venn first met to when Venn sacrificed themselves to save Cahan’s life. Everything else though? A frustrating slogfest of Cahan leaving his farm to coming back to his farm to leaving his farm to coming back to his farm to avoiding his destiny by staying on his farm to leaving his farm to almost dying and being forced to use his cowl because he’s a dumbass to miraculouslybeingbroughtbacktohisfarmtoleavinghisfarmagain,AGAIN,forarandomkidddddLIKE . . ! This is at 46% of the book. FORTY-SIX PERCENT. 46/100!!
I could not believe my eyes when I realized I was almost halfway through the book and practically nothing interesting/significant had happened (besides Kirven abusing her child and descriptions of nonbinary children being mass murdered, but that's a whole other can of worms). And no, the massive info dumps were not fun.
Confusing: The author understood all the Lovecraftian tentacle animals, the power system and the differences between Skua-Rais, Cowl-Rais, regular Rais, etc. Unfortunately, I did not.
Also, I could not believe Cahan was so careless about his true identity. Him telling Furin his real name? In a place where he KNOWS the Cowl-Rai’s servants have been and could still be hunting him? HELLO????? And him never bothering to make a fake name or anything? And openly declaring his heresy in public? Sir?????
Cahan was treated terribly by society because of his clanless status. Since he’s a stranger to the villagers in this region, why didn’t he just paint his face and pretend to be in a clan? Are clan symbols too detailed or historically tied to be faked? Is there more to proving one’s clan status than just makeup? Does Cahan look too “local” or something, which would draw even more suspicion towards him? Furthermore, why does everyone paint their clan symbols on themselves (makeup that isn’t even waterproof), when tattooing them on or displaying them on their clothes would be easier overall?
Poorly Edited: This book was riddled with comma splices, every page was practically infested with them, was being grammatically incorrect a stylistic choice or something?? And the dialogue formatting was awful. AWFUL. Reading dialogue should be easy, damn it. But no. Instead I got:
Example:
“Character One speaking.” Character Two reacts to Character One speaking. “Character one is still speaking.” Character Two does something.
“Character One is still speaking.” Character Two reacts. Description description action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action. “Character One speaks again.”
Real examples from the book:
Example One: (Chapter 23)
“'Oh,’ she shouted as they tramped along a path in the scrub. ‘You mean that only those who are not killed by these swarden ever get to tell about them.’ He did not answer. He did not think her words needed an answer. ‘I supposed many of the creatures of the forest are like that, are they not?’ He stopped, and the monk almost walked into him. He turned to find her looking up at him, a smile on her face.
"'Do you always talk so much?' he said.”
Example Two: (Chapter 25)
“'It is different for all plants?’ She looked at him.
“'Yes, and I do not know how long it takes for all of them, only the most common. To study the forest is a lifetime’s work.’ She nodded, looking at the broken stalk. ‘Why don’t you lead for a while, Udinny?’
“'Me?’ said Udinny.
“'You see the path, do you not?’ She nodded. ‘Well, follow it until you find a place that looks like we should camp there.’ The glow of the forest was brightening while the light from above was dying.”
(There were definitely more egregious examples but I just don’t care at this point.)
It'd make more sense if I read this as an audiobook, but reading it with my two eyeballs was such a pain in the ass. Someone needed to tell the editor that having paragraphs of pure dialogue is legal and perfectly acceptable.
Boring: The book hit its peak for me when Cahan and Venn first met to when Venn sacrificed themselves to save Cahan’s life. Everything else though? A frustrating slogfest of Cahan leaving his farm to coming back to his farm to leaving his farm to coming back to his farm to avoiding his destiny by staying on his farm to leaving his farm to almost dying and being forced to use his cowl because he’s a dumbass to miraculouslybeingbroughtbacktohisfarmtoleavinghisfarmagain,AGAIN,forarandomkidddddLIKE . . ! This is at 46% of the book. FORTY-SIX PERCENT. 46/100!!
I could not believe my eyes when I realized I was almost halfway through the book and practically nothing interesting/significant had happened (besides Kirven abusing her child and descriptions of nonbinary children being mass murdered, but that's a whole other can of worms). And no, the massive info dumps were not fun.
Confusing: The author understood all the Lovecraftian tentacle animals, the power system and the differences between Skua-Rais, Cowl-Rais, regular Rais, etc. Unfortunately, I did not.
Also, I could not believe Cahan was so careless about his true identity. Him telling Furin his real name? In a place where he KNOWS the Cowl-Rai’s servants have been and could still be hunting him? HELLO????? And him never bothering to make a fake name or anything? And openly declaring his heresy in public? Sir?????
Cahan was treated terribly by society because of his clanless status. Since he’s a stranger to the villagers in this region, why didn’t he just paint his face and pretend to be in a clan? Are clan symbols too detailed or historically tied to be faked? Is there more to proving one’s clan status than just makeup? Does Cahan look too “local” or something, which would draw even more suspicion towards him? Furthermore, why does everyone paint their clan symbols on themselves (makeup that isn’t even waterproof), when tattooing them on or displaying them on their clothes would be easier overall?
Poorly Edited: This book was riddled with comma splices, every page was practically infested with them, was being grammatically incorrect a stylistic choice or something?? And the dialogue formatting was awful. AWFUL. Reading dialogue should be easy, damn it. But no. Instead I got:
Example:
“Character One speaking.” Character Two reacts to Character One speaking. “Character one is still speaking.” Character Two does something.
“Character One is still speaking.” Character Two reacts. Description description action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action. “Character One speaks again.”
Real examples from the book:
Example One: (Chapter 23)
“'Oh,’ she shouted as they tramped along a path in the scrub. ‘You mean that only those who are not killed by these swarden ever get to tell about them.’ He did not answer. He did not think her words needed an answer. ‘I supposed many of the creatures of the forest are like that, are they not?’ He stopped, and the monk almost walked into him. He turned to find her looking up at him, a smile on her face.
"'Do you always talk so much?' he said.”
Example Two: (Chapter 25)
“'It is different for all plants?’ She looked at him.
“'Yes, and I do not know how long it takes for all of them, only the most common. To study the forest is a lifetime’s work.’ She nodded, looking at the broken stalk. ‘Why don’t you lead for a while, Udinny?’
“'Me?’ said Udinny.
“'You see the path, do you not?’ She nodded. ‘Well, follow it until you find a place that looks like we should camp there.’ The glow of the forest was brightening while the light from above was dying.”
(There were definitely more egregious examples but I just don’t care at this point.)
It'd make more sense if I read this as an audiobook, but reading it with my two eyeballs was such a pain in the ass. Someone needed to tell the editor that having paragraphs of pure dialogue is legal and perfectly acceptable.