Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by theinquisitxor
A Conspiracy of Truths by Alexandra Rowland
3.0
You love them like their heart is a bird in your hand. You hold it so gently, and you cherish it
while you have it, you are filled with the wonder of it-and then they flutter their wings, and
you open your hands and let them fly. And you don't begrudge them in their flight, because
you held them for a few warm moments, and how often is it that that happens?
This was a good book, with a solid plot, characters and world building. It is a little slow and a little boring at points but overall I enjoyed the story. This is a story about stories and how they effect us, but also about what makes humans tick. This book is not what quite I was expecting (thats not a bad thing) and it told a good story. I was pleasantly surprised by world building, and in my opinion that was the biggest strength of the book. On a worldly level, we get such great descriptions of other lands and cultures by Chant, that make me wish that the book included a full map and the potential to explore these other places. Except we're stuck in Nuryevet, an icy, bleak northern land that we find out is much more than it appears. The politics of Nuryevet and the structure of society was incredibly well designed and interesting. The concept of the four rulers, marriage as a love and/or business contract as well as many other little designs shows that Rowland really put in her time and effort to creating a unique fantasy land.
The characters are also strong points of the story. Of course there is Chant, our narrator and storyteller who you progressively like more and more as the story progresses. He is unexpectedly funny, but I can't help to feel that sometimes I could not get a full understanding of his personality, nor could I fully form a persona of him in my mind. Ylfing was a great character and I started this book not expecting the amount of lgbt rep and equality shown in this story. Having several characters that would be considered lgbt was awesome and such a pleasant surprise. The society is also not Patriarchal which is such a breath of fresh air when almost all books are based on a patriarchal society.
The reason why this book got three stars is because the plot is slow, there are no huge revelations, and the story is told almost entirely from the view of a jail cell. While I usually like slower paced stories and ones that are more character driven, I feel like this still did not hold my attention as well as it could have. It also was not until about 200 pages in until the story actually started going somewhere. But I still liked it! I think this book is a good first book by an author that I look forward to seeing more of in the future. I will probably check out her next book, A Choir of Lies because of more Ylfing, world building and more stories is going to be awesome and I think Rowland's talents will only improve.
while you have it, you are filled with the wonder of it-and then they flutter their wings, and
you open your hands and let them fly. And you don't begrudge them in their flight, because
you held them for a few warm moments, and how often is it that that happens?
This was a good book, with a solid plot, characters and world building. It is a little slow and a little boring at points but overall I enjoyed the story. This is a story about stories and how they effect us, but also about what makes humans tick. This book is not what quite I was expecting (thats not a bad thing) and it told a good story. I was pleasantly surprised by world building, and in my opinion that was the biggest strength of the book. On a worldly level, we get such great descriptions of other lands and cultures by Chant, that make me wish that the book included a full map and the potential to explore these other places. Except we're stuck in Nuryevet, an icy, bleak northern land that we find out is much more than it appears. The politics of Nuryevet and the structure of society was incredibly well designed and interesting. The concept of the four rulers, marriage as a love and/or business contract as well as many other little designs shows that Rowland really put in her time and effort to creating a unique fantasy land.
The characters are also strong points of the story. Of course there is Chant, our narrator and storyteller who you progressively like more and more as the story progresses. He is unexpectedly funny, but I can't help to feel that sometimes I could not get a full understanding of his personality, nor could I fully form a persona of him in my mind. Ylfing was a great character and I started this book not expecting the amount of lgbt rep and equality shown in this story. Having several characters that would be considered lgbt was awesome and such a pleasant surprise. The society is also not Patriarchal which is such a breath of fresh air when almost all books are based on a patriarchal society.
The reason why this book got three stars is because the plot is slow, there are no huge revelations, and the story is told almost entirely from the view of a jail cell. While I usually like slower paced stories and ones that are more character driven, I feel like this still did not hold my attention as well as it could have. It also was not until about 200 pages in until the story actually started going somewhere. But I still liked it! I think this book is a good first book by an author that I look forward to seeing more of in the future. I will probably check out her next book, A Choir of Lies because of more Ylfing, world building and more stories is going to be awesome and I think Rowland's talents will only improve.