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A review by aseasoninseason
Crier's War by Nina Varela
1.0
The biggest reason I finished this book is because I dnf'ed the last two fantasy novel I tried to read and felt bad at the prospect of dnf'ing another (especially when dnf'ing a wlw fantasy during pride month).
The characters aren't very well fleshed out despite way too much time being dedicated to their inner thoughts. The interactions between the love interests also lacked tension and the progression of their relationship made little logical sense. I'm curious about where the plot is heading, but I didn't enjoy the execution of how it's unfolding. The stakes weren't consistent - in one scene Ayla is stopped by a guard while in the palace late at night while in another scene she isn't stopped by anyone despite causing an incident weeks earlier where she should be under higher scrutiny. The worldbuilding was also often confusing. How exactly is the society structured? We open in a market scene were all the merchants are human and all the customers are Automae and Ayla is selling flowers for the royal family? How many Automae are there? What exactly even are Automae and how are they made? Why does the royal family bother paying their servants if they view them as basically livestock? Why aren't humans mad that Automae eat human food that they functionally do not need to live?
The characters aren't very well fleshed out despite way too much time being dedicated to their inner thoughts. The interactions between the love interests also lacked tension and the progression of their relationship made little logical sense. I'm curious about where the plot is heading, but I didn't enjoy the execution of how it's unfolding. The stakes weren't consistent - in one scene Ayla is stopped by a guard while in the palace late at night while in another scene she isn't stopped by anyone despite causing an incident weeks earlier where she should be under higher scrutiny. The worldbuilding was also often confusing. How exactly is the society structured? We open in a market scene were all the merchants are human and all the customers are Automae and Ayla is selling flowers for the royal family? How many Automae are there? What exactly even are Automae and how are they made? Why does the royal family bother paying their servants if they view them as basically livestock? Why aren't humans mad that Automae eat human food that they functionally do not need to live?