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A review by kimdokjaa
Dustria by Madhurika Sankar
3.0
A conceptually beautiful debut that was lacking in execution
Starting off with what worked for me- I think the overall plot, character arcs, and themes from a high-level view are exceptional. I think painting a colorful atmosphere is one of Sankar's strong suits as well, and would have loved a higher page count to play to that strength and get more immersed in this world.
The biggest deterrent though, especially early on, is the prose, which just does not make for a smooth reading experience. I often felt like I was reviewing a first draft as opposed to a completed novel. The readability definitely improves around the 20% mark, but, honestly, if this wasn't an arc I would have dnf'd it before making it to that point.
I think Dustria also struggled with the number of pov switches. Though I did enjoy the different glimpses of Erath we received through them, I think introducing that many povs in this short of a book made it very difficult for the characters to be developed compellingly. Putting that together with the very tell don't show struggles and relationships the characters have made it so that I never truly connected with or cared about any of them.
While the internal dialogue wasn’t bad, I do think Sankar struggled with writing conversational dialogue. Some great themes were being explored here, but how they were explored was so overt and in your face that the dialogue became very stilted. Put a bit more trust in your reader- every message you're trying to get across does not need to be so explicitly spelled out.
Overall, I think some added length and reworked dialogue would do wonders for this. I do see a lot of potential in Sankar, and would love to see what she creates in the future.
Thank you to the author and BookSirens for the arc!
Starting off with what worked for me- I think the overall plot, character arcs, and themes from a high-level view are exceptional. I think painting a colorful atmosphere is one of Sankar's strong suits as well, and would have loved a higher page count to play to that strength and get more immersed in this world.
The biggest deterrent though, especially early on, is the prose, which just does not make for a smooth reading experience. I often felt like I was reviewing a first draft as opposed to a completed novel. The readability definitely improves around the 20% mark, but, honestly, if this wasn't an arc I would have dnf'd it before making it to that point.
I think Dustria also struggled with the number of pov switches. Though I did enjoy the different glimpses of Erath we received through them, I think introducing that many povs in this short of a book made it very difficult for the characters to be developed compellingly. Putting that together with the very tell don't show struggles and relationships the characters have made it so that I never truly connected with or cared about any of them.
While the internal dialogue wasn’t bad, I do think Sankar struggled with writing conversational dialogue. Some great themes were being explored here, but how they were explored was so overt and in your face that the dialogue became very stilted. Put a bit more trust in your reader- every message you're trying to get across does not need to be so explicitly spelled out.
Overall, I think some added length and reworked dialogue would do wonders for this. I do see a lot of potential in Sankar, and would love to see what she creates in the future.
Thank you to the author and BookSirens for the arc!