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A review by ebonwilde
Fyrebirds by Kate J. Armstrong
3.0
3.97 ★
my expectations were very high after the brilliance that was nightbirds, and i will say that this did not quite meet the mark, but it was nevertheless a wondrous experience. (anything with sayer in it would be, obviously.) the atmosphere and the magic remained the main attraction of the novel for me, and the poetic writing concealed what flaws there were in pacing and characterization.
there is mostly slow buildup for the first 70% of the book, with everything wrapping up quickly and almost too neatly within just the last 15%, so the end was somewhat of a letdown. and the thing with joost should have been explored way more in-depth, perhaps even in a whole another book. most of the story is of the wyllo regnis-red hand agenda, but objectively, the handmaid's tale-esque colonization attempt seems more significant? even if it couldn't have been the majority of the plot, it should have taken up at least the same amount of screentime.
and finally, almost half of this book was solely about matilde. and she's not a character who does things—that would be fenlin and sayer—things just seem to happen to her. with the exception of the final battle. perhaps i'm biased, because sayer and fenlin are my favorite characters, but i wish they had a larger role. especially because they're lesbian, and that should be an important story to tell in a feminist fantasy.
but regardless, i've come to adore kate j. armstrong's prose, and i will always be on the lookout for anything new from her.
thank you to netgalley for the advanced copy.
my expectations were very high after the brilliance that was nightbirds, and i will say that this did not quite meet the mark, but it was nevertheless a wondrous experience. (anything with sayer in it would be, obviously.) the atmosphere and the magic remained the main attraction of the novel for me, and the poetic writing concealed what flaws there were in pacing and characterization.
there is mostly slow buildup for the first 70% of the book, with everything wrapping up quickly and almost too neatly within just the last 15%, so the end was somewhat of a letdown. and the thing with joost should have been explored way more in-depth, perhaps even in a whole another book. most of the story is of the wyllo regnis-red hand agenda, but objectively, the handmaid's tale-esque colonization attempt seems more significant? even if it couldn't have been the majority of the plot, it should have taken up at least the same amount of screentime.
and finally, almost half of this book was solely about matilde. and she's not a character who does things—that would be fenlin and sayer—things just seem to happen to her. with the exception of the final battle. perhaps i'm biased, because sayer and fenlin are my favorite characters, but i wish they had a larger role. especially because they're lesbian, and that should be an important story to tell in a feminist fantasy.
but regardless, i've come to adore kate j. armstrong's prose, and i will always be on the lookout for anything new from her.
thank you to netgalley for the advanced copy.