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A review by bookph1le
Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear
3.0
Though this was a long book, two weeks is far longer than it would normally take me to read a book like this. Even one would have been longer than usual.
There are a couple of reasons why it took me so long to read this book. For one, I wasn't devoting much time to reading in general because I was caught up in other things. For another, I read a bunch of middle grade graphic novels while also reading this, which ate into what little time I did spend reading. But the other thing that contributed to what took me so long to read this was that I kept walking away from it, not because I didn't like it, but because I'd find myself getting impatient with it. It was strange, because when I was reading it, I really liked it, but I didn't feel compelled to pick it up once I'd put it down.
The biggest reason for this was because this book meanders. I loved the writing and really enjoyed the characters, but sometimes they just dithered and I was impatient for them to get on with it. When they didn't, I'd walk away from the book for a while. So for as much as I did like this book, I think it had pacing problems. I think it could have been shorter. I think some of the dialog and plot choices made it meander more than was necessary.
My more serious problem with this book, though, is I hated the Haimey and Farweather dynamic and just plain didn't get it. I won't give details away other than to say I didn't find Farweather redeeming in the least, and I thought Haimey was far, far too tolerant of the things Farweather did. I also felt like part of why Haimey is so tolerant is because her tolerance made it possible to drag the book out longer. In my opinion, she should have dealt with Farweather once and for all. I get what the book was saying, that the ideas of forgiveness and tolerance and how to live in a civilized society were caught up in the dynamic between Haimey and Farweather, but Farweather was more or less a sociopath, and it's hard for me to have any sympathy for someone like that. Sue me.
Still, I think I'd like to read the next book in the series, though I'll probably take a break and read a bunch of other books first.
There are a couple of reasons why it took me so long to read this book. For one, I wasn't devoting much time to reading in general because I was caught up in other things. For another, I read a bunch of middle grade graphic novels while also reading this, which ate into what little time I did spend reading. But the other thing that contributed to what took me so long to read this was that I kept walking away from it, not because I didn't like it, but because I'd find myself getting impatient with it. It was strange, because when I was reading it, I really liked it, but I didn't feel compelled to pick it up once I'd put it down.
The biggest reason for this was because this book meanders. I loved the writing and really enjoyed the characters, but sometimes they just dithered and I was impatient for them to get on with it. When they didn't, I'd walk away from the book for a while. So for as much as I did like this book, I think it had pacing problems. I think it could have been shorter. I think some of the dialog and plot choices made it meander more than was necessary.
My more serious problem with this book, though, is I hated the Haimey and Farweather dynamic and just plain didn't get it. I won't give details away other than to say I didn't find Farweather redeeming in the least, and I thought Haimey was far, far too tolerant of the things Farweather did. I also felt like part of why Haimey is so tolerant is because her tolerance made it possible to drag the book out longer. In my opinion, she should have dealt with Farweather once and for all. I get what the book was saying, that the ideas of forgiveness and tolerance and how to live in a civilized society were caught up in the dynamic between Haimey and Farweather, but Farweather was more or less a sociopath, and it's hard for me to have any sympathy for someone like that. Sue me.
Still, I think I'd like to read the next book in the series, though I'll probably take a break and read a bunch of other books first.