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A review by danielles_reads
Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
<You want me to be you, basically?> said Berenice faintly. <To…To do all the Sancia stuff you used to do? The thievery and the skulking about?>
<Basically. Don’t be too intimidated. You’ve already got the first step to being the old me taken care of.>
<I do?>
<Yes. You’re covered in shit.>
Well, that was a book. I flew through the first 20% and was really curious to see what the crew was up to after Foundryside, especially since the galleon scene was so eerie and gory, and the lexicon scene was both funny and tense. But then it started feeling like reading this book was a chore. Every time I put it down I didn't have any desire to pick it up again, and when I finally did it just felt "meh." I keep telling myself to DNF in these situations but 1. I find it really difficult to DNF sequels of books I really enjoyed (because I KNOW the author can do better!), and 2. I couldn't think of anything wrong with the book and figured I was just feeling slumpy in general. But the ending finally made me realize why this book felt so uninteresting compared to book 1.
The plot for this book is basically discover problem —> solve via scriving innovation —> explain how scriving works in detail —> discover another problem, and then repeat. This happened so many times that it was hard to follow what the overall direction was. Like it took me a while to realize exactly why they wanted to twin people . It got tiring.
There was never any time for the characters to breathe and relax with each other in between all these high-stake scriving problems. I didn't feel anything for Berenice and Sancia like I did in book 1. All the characters started feeling the same (except maybe Gregor, who did have an interesting arc but I feel like it wasn't focused on often enough), especially after a certain plot device was used that I feel like has very dangerous implications that all of the characters are ignoring. Like Berenice and Sancia becoming one combined person would definitely affect their romantic relationship. Where's the intrigue when you know everything about someone else? What would you even talk about? It basically becomes a codependency, and it's really odd to me that none of the characters bring up any possible negatives. I thought book 1 had a good balance between character and plot, but this book felt extremely plot-oriented to the detriment of all the characters. Sancia especially felt so dull compared to the fiery snark she was in Foundryside.
The overexplaining that felt like a minor annoyance in book 1 continued, which made it feel even worse. It was especially irritating when there was a scene from Craesades' POV, and then later a scene from Sancia's POV explaining what the audience had just learned from Craesades earlier. Like Craesades realized he couldn’t detect Berenice (which was obviously because she was twinned with Sancia), and then Sancia and Berenice talked over all the details on why he couldn't find her. It was driving me up the wall. At this point, I don't think RJB realizes that the adage is "show, not tell" and not "show AND tell."
As alluded to above, the overexplaining was often accomplished through dialogue, which was also very irritating. No one talks like this!! It doesn't make sense for a character in casual conversation to describe every single detail of a traumatic event that the other person experienced! It doesn't make sense for people who already know their plan to explain their plan to each other! Just use plain narration for that!
Which makes it even funnier to me is that at the end, I realized that some information was withheld from the main characters in order to force plot twists. Like there is a reveal about one of the antagonists that humanized them. This antagonist tried to get the main protagonist to join their side and help with their plan. Why did this antagonist not TELL the protagonist this to convince them to join?? Craesades being Clef's son would have been helpful to know earlier... Literally there were so many reveals in the end that would have made more sense to have been shared earlier. It also just made the ending feel so tiring. Every time I thought it was over, the book kept continuing, in one long climax.
RJB also continued the constant use of "some kind" that irritated me the first time, while also upping his usage of "queer" and "queerly." Like okay, I get it, you're trying to make the world feel old-timey (even though it feels borderline offensive today to use the term like that), but why use those two words 21 times throughout the book?? "Strange" and "weird" and "bizarre" and "peculiar" and "odd,” etc. etc. all exist.
The ending also disappointed me because it felt like it ended in the same situation that book 1 ended in. Like oh no there are two powerful enemies that threaten Tevanne, what do we do!! Yeah, it's worse than before but I can't help but feel like all the pages in between were pointless. Oh yeah, and the endings for two of the characters were terrible. Orso and Gregor should NOT be dead, what the fuck. Gregor's actually makes sense for the plot but he deserved WAY more page time as his struggle for freedom was so interesting, had so many layers, and revealed a lot of information about Craesedes. Orso's made ZERO sense (since when did the imperiat have distance limitations? why didn't he use it WAY earlier???) and lost its impact on me since the ending was so drawn out.
I don't think I will read the next book, which is a shame as I thought this series had a lot of potential after Foundryside. But I don’t seem to mesh with RJB’s writing style, and I really prefer character-driven stories, which the series seems to be moving away from.