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katyanaish 's review for:
The Hidden City
by Michelle West
It is hard to review this book. Let's begin with this: I really, really liked it.
But like all first books in a series - and particularly with a fantasy series (it is so much easier with fiction, because the author doesn't have to establish the particulars of the world when it exists in our real world) - there is a lot of world-building, and character establishing (and this book introduces a HUGE number of core characters). That means that it is weighty, and at times a little slow. But it never felt like a slog.
There's a lot going on. Here's another thing to be upfront about: the core characters in this series are children. Abandoned, poor children who are living on the street. They are abused - and there are glimpses of sexual abuse, in addition to the expected physical/mental - and sometimes it is hard. But it is, imo, tastefully handled... accepted as a reality in their world, in a way which is, at its horrible core, true. To deny that these children would have to deal with this, in the shitty circumstances of their lives, would be to deny something that is critical in shaping them as the people they are. And it would deny something critical about what they need to either fold to - the rage, hate, fear - or overcome.
Michelle West/Sagara writes in a way that is ... it is hard to find good words. Ephemeral and non-linear in its narration. I love that about the Cast series (one of my favorites) and it is just as present here. You wander through the inner narration of characters, the lightning quick leaps of intuition or the meandering of emotion, with the occasional explosion of contrary anger, and it makes them real in a way that books seldom do. The voice in their head is so like my voice. Not linear. Not always rational. The past and the future mashed into a tangled knot that becomes the present.
I know it's not a thing that everyone likes - I've seen reviews complain about it in the Cast series - but it is generally a thing that I like very much. It is a tone of voice that is unique to her, in my experience - I've not seen any other author write this way. But it is not for everyone, and if you don't like it in the Cast series, you won't like it here. Also, as I've occasionally mentioned in the Cast series, sometimes it stretches too much. Like, in a critical moment, that you know happens over a handful of seconds, the character can have pages and pages of inner monologue as they respond to the situation / choose what to do / grasp for instinct. At its best, it makes me feel right in it. At its worst, it makes that moment drag, and deflates all the tension in the situation... because what is in reality a lightning-quick thing, feels like a decision made after days of discussion in a committee.
And both are present here, the best and the worst. But the good outweighs the bad by a mile, and I've already jumped into the second book. YMMV.
But like all first books in a series - and particularly with a fantasy series (it is so much easier with fiction, because the author doesn't have to establish the particulars of the world when it exists in our real world) - there is a lot of world-building, and character establishing (and this book introduces a HUGE number of core characters). That means that it is weighty, and at times a little slow. But it never felt like a slog.
There's a lot going on. Here's another thing to be upfront about: the core characters in this series are children. Abandoned, poor children who are living on the street. They are abused - and there are glimpses of sexual abuse, in addition to the expected physical/mental - and sometimes it is hard. But it is, imo, tastefully handled... accepted as a reality in their world, in a way which is, at its horrible core, true. To deny that these children would have to deal with this, in the shitty circumstances of their lives, would be to deny something that is critical in shaping them as the people they are. And it would deny something critical about what they need to either fold to - the rage, hate, fear - or overcome.
Michelle West/Sagara writes in a way that is ... it is hard to find good words. Ephemeral and non-linear in its narration. I love that about the Cast series (one of my favorites) and it is just as present here. You wander through the inner narration of characters, the lightning quick leaps of intuition or the meandering of emotion, with the occasional explosion of contrary anger, and it makes them real in a way that books seldom do. The voice in their head is so like my voice. Not linear. Not always rational. The past and the future mashed into a tangled knot that becomes the present.
I know it's not a thing that everyone likes - I've seen reviews complain about it in the Cast series - but it is generally a thing that I like very much. It is a tone of voice that is unique to her, in my experience - I've not seen any other author write this way. But it is not for everyone, and if you don't like it in the Cast series, you won't like it here. Also, as I've occasionally mentioned in the Cast series, sometimes it stretches too much. Like, in a critical moment, that you know happens over a handful of seconds, the character can have pages and pages of inner monologue as they respond to the situation / choose what to do / grasp for instinct. At its best, it makes me feel right in it. At its worst, it makes that moment drag, and deflates all the tension in the situation... because what is in reality a lightning-quick thing, feels like a decision made after days of discussion in a committee.
And both are present here, the best and the worst. But the good outweighs the bad by a mile, and I've already jumped into the second book. YMMV.