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A review by highlanderajax
Ymir by Rich Larson
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
It's a wonderfully-written book, and the world-building is pretty damn good. The descriptions of scenery, society, motivation, actions taken, they all gel really well, and Larson's word choice and structuring really helps create this eerie, alien effect - it's massively evocative. The emotional work is strong too, very effective, and the story is fairly well-crafted. I liked the structure, I liked the writing, it was mostly excellent. A pretty strong narrative overall.
However, there are a couple of things that really knocked this back for me. Firstly, the protagonist. Look, the jaded, depressed, traumatised merc-type figure is a classic for a reason - they're great protagonists, great for a lot of things, but there's a downside. When you make them too traumatised and depressed, they just become a really empty shell; while that's great as a character concept, it sucks when they're an empty shell to the READER too. Larson writes a depressed, traumatised character REALLY well - I recognize a lot of how this one feels, and I understand it in a great deal of depth - but that really translates into a very boring, lacklustre protagonist. Empty shells are fine and all, but this one was too well-written on that score to be interesting. No anger, rage, excitement, anything - the character feels exactly the way depression does, which is flat and dull. Perfectly executed - and that's a shame.
I'll also say that for all Larson does a great job with evocative work, he's not so hot at writing fights and action. For the majority of the time in this book, that's not an issue, because the violence is mostly a small part of the book, but when it happens it needs to matter and it doesn't quite hit here. Larson is clearly more concerned with getting the vibe than anything, and he does that well, but it just doesn't quite have the visceral hit it kinda needs.
The same thing kinda nags at me for the plot overall. There are some big moments, yes, but it doesn't quite hit with the force it should. The plot twists nicely, but it just never quite made the bang I felt it was going to.
All in all, it's a pretty good book, and I'd recommend it to a lot of people. I think for me, I needed a bit more from the MC and I needed a couple of story beats to hit a bit harder. There's some punch missing at key moments, and I put that down to a combination of the specific way the MC is written, and just Larson not quite making the choices I'd want to see in the story. Overall, solid, but not one of my top reads.
However, there are a couple of things that really knocked this back for me. Firstly, the protagonist. Look, the jaded, depressed, traumatised merc-type figure is a classic for a reason - they're great protagonists, great for a lot of things, but there's a downside. When you make them too traumatised and depressed, they just become a really empty shell; while that's great as a character concept, it sucks when they're an empty shell to the READER too. Larson writes a depressed, traumatised character REALLY well - I recognize a lot of how this one feels, and I understand it in a great deal of depth - but that really translates into a very boring, lacklustre protagonist. Empty shells are fine and all, but this one was too well-written on that score to be interesting. No anger, rage, excitement, anything - the character feels exactly the way depression does, which is flat and dull. Perfectly executed - and that's a shame.
I'll also say that for all Larson does a great job with evocative work, he's not so hot at writing fights and action. For the majority of the time in this book, that's not an issue, because the violence is mostly a small part of the book, but when it happens it needs to matter and it doesn't quite hit here. Larson is clearly more concerned with getting the vibe than anything, and he does that well, but it just doesn't quite have the visceral hit it kinda needs.
The same thing kinda nags at me for the plot overall. There are some big moments, yes, but it doesn't quite hit with the force it should. The plot twists nicely, but it just never quite made the bang I felt it was going to.
All in all, it's a pretty good book, and I'd recommend it to a lot of people. I think for me, I needed a bit more from the MC and I needed a couple of story beats to hit a bit harder. There's some punch missing at key moments, and I put that down to a combination of the specific way the MC is written, and just Larson not quite making the choices I'd want to see in the story. Overall, solid, but not one of my top reads.