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konventionen 's review for:
The Tangled Lands
by Tobias S. Buckell, Paolo Bacigalupi
I went back and forth between 3 and 4 stars for this one. The idea behind the work is very interesting and the reason I picked up the book. A fantasy setting where every bit of magic creates bramble - a deadly plant that in time drowns cities, erases roads and civilizations. Small spells creates ease and comfort. Bones are mended, coughs eased. But with every small spell the bramble moves in closer, creating waves of refugees coming towards less affected cities. But the refugees bring their small magic, and the bramble, with them.
In these times we live in where we are starting to get a real taste of what climate change does to our planet, I thought this was an interesting analogy. Would the book ask questions about guilt, about the role of the poor and the rich? About what we have to give up to save ourselves?
Ultimately it falls short. It’s not really one story but four. I was disappointed to discover that these stories did not intertwine, nor did any of the three last stories end with any change to this world created by the authors. The bramble, the suffering cities, the tyranny of the powerful using big magic while quashing the use of magic by anyone else - it all served as a backdrop to these stories. The authors set a scene.
When I was at the middle of the last story I started to realize that there would be no payoff. All the possibility of this world and there wouldn’t be an attempt to tell a story wider than a snippet of the lives of the four main characters. That’s was a disappointment. Especially considering the plot description on my edition talked about a possible uprising. Something that didn’t actually happen. While I never take too much heed of summaries, it suggests to me that it was hard to find a fitting summary for a book that ultimately leads nowhere.
So I end up giving it 3 (3,5).
In these times we live in where we are starting to get a real taste of what climate change does to our planet, I thought this was an interesting analogy. Would the book ask questions about guilt, about the role of the poor and the rich? About what we have to give up to save ourselves?
Ultimately it falls short. It’s not really one story but four. I was disappointed to discover that these stories did not intertwine, nor did any of the three last stories end with any change to this world created by the authors. The bramble, the suffering cities, the tyranny of the powerful using big magic while quashing the use of magic by anyone else - it all served as a backdrop to these stories. The authors set a scene.
When I was at the middle of the last story I started to realize that there would be no payoff. All the possibility of this world and there wouldn’t be an attempt to tell a story wider than a snippet of the lives of the four main characters. That’s was a disappointment. Especially considering the plot description on my edition talked about a possible uprising. Something that didn’t actually happen. While I never take too much heed of summaries, it suggests to me that it was hard to find a fitting summary for a book that ultimately leads nowhere.
So I end up giving it 3 (3,5).