mcait9 's review for:

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

DID NOT FINISH

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got about 50% through this audiobook before deciding to dnf it. i liked the premise, and thought the narrative structure in the first quarter of the book (switching back and forth from present to past to build backstory) was really interesting! however, there's a pretty noticeable shift in this about 30-40% in, and that tone shift wasn;t my favorite. it made the story feel a bit boring, and the tension from the beginning of the book kind of dissipated. it was like, okay we're building up a plot here, and then all of a sudden that initial plot/quest is almost completely irrelevant? idk. i enjoyed the themes of this book - womanhood, feminism, reproductive rights, domestic violence - and thought they were all worthy an interesting in this fantastical setting, but it almost feels to me as if T. Kingfisher prioritized theme over substance, like she knew she wanted to write a book with these thematic tones but instead of fleshing out a story around the themes, the plot and characters fall second to the themes. it just made it a bit boring, and i wish our main character marra had a bit more common sense at age 30 and less of that doe-eyed "really????" attitude when it came to any of the big plot points/challenges. also, does the print version of this have a map? because based on the writing alone i was so lost on the geography of this setting. maybe i'll pick this up again someday to try to finish it but for right now i have other more interesting things to spend my time reading.