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A review by acinonyx
The Last Phi Hunter by Salinee Goldenberg
adventurous
dark
emotional
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Essentially a South Asian Witcher, this story’s greatest strength was its world and magic system. There is soooo much potential here, and I would be psyched to read more stories in this setting. The devas, guardians, spirits, phi, and politics were all so interesting and fresh compared to most things I’ve read, and I'm desperate to know more.
Perhaps because it’s the authors first novel, the writing, pacing, and character work were all a bit lack luster for me. Some of the prose was clumsy and confusing at points; though I was grateful the dialogue did not suffer the same. The pacing was a little jarring, ramping up very quickly to a climax and then ending even more suddenly, and taking off again in a new direction.
The characters were somewhat interesting, but didn’t have the spark that made me really feel like I knew them well, even by the end. Although we were in Ex’s head for most of the novel, his motivations seemed shallow and incomplete. Arinya was immediately likable, but her actions later into the book seemed unsupported by our knowledge of her to that point, even though she explained her reasoning afterward.
I think overall the book suffered most from the lack of character development, which inevitably bled into other components of the story. Despite this, I do hope the author continues to write in this world because I think they’ve created something very unique and there are so many ideas and themes here that deserve to be thoroughly explored!
Perhaps because it’s the authors first novel, the writing, pacing, and character work were all a bit lack luster for me. Some of the prose was clumsy and confusing at points; though I was grateful the dialogue did not suffer the same. The pacing was a little jarring, ramping up very quickly to a climax and then ending even more suddenly, and taking off again in a new direction.
The characters were somewhat interesting, but didn’t have the spark that made me really feel like I knew them well, even by the end. Although we were in Ex’s head for most of the novel, his motivations seemed shallow and incomplete. Arinya was immediately likable, but her actions later into the book seemed unsupported by our knowledge of her to that point, even though she explained her reasoning afterward.
I think overall the book suffered most from the lack of character development, which inevitably bled into other components of the story. Despite this, I do hope the author continues to write in this world because I think they’ve created something very unique and there are so many ideas and themes here that deserve to be thoroughly explored!