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A review by albedinous
Questors by Joan Lennon
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I wanted to like this more than I actually did. It comes off very much as the author's first novel; it has the bones of a compelling YA/middle grade story, but it's just not quite hitting home for me. Might work better for a younger audience, or one with a different sense of humor.
It's a semi-humorous, self-aware take on the stereotypical "destined youths go on a quest for MacGuffins" story, with three themed youths from different worlds all struggling with a sense of personal inadequacy in the arenas their cultures most value. The central conceit is that the trope-iness of the Quest is what causes the magic to work, and the resonance of having a quest undertaken by a scion of each world will bring them back into balance.
The three worlds respectively are Mind, Body, and Spirit, essentially, and their respective societies are built as such. There's some interesting worldbuilding. The Spirit world is some sort of planet on the brink of collapse because it's lost all its water from land, air and sea, but it's also somehow a living body with water deep below the crust which could be accessed with mining equipment? The Body world is full of Viking-style macho ice warriors fighting constant punchclock wars. The Mind world is some sort of "The Little Princess" style dystopian London which values exam results and math and logic above all else.
You could do a lot with that, but... despite a relatively high page count, it feels like not a lot happens. The author is trying for compelling visual setpieces, but it never quite hits home for me. There are interesting bones, but they don't really go anywhere. We don't really see society as a whole, just a few representatives without broader worldbuilding on the page.
Ditto, the characters are... fine, but they basically have one note. One is embarrassed that she can't sing, one is embarrassed that he likes to draw and isn't macho enough, one is learning that her mother might be flawed and also is NB.
(A bummer, because the NB worldbuilding had me really excited - the character is from a world where people don't have expressed gender or sex until puberty, at which point they gradually come to "just know" what their gender and/or sex will be. It's not super nuanced, but it's nice to have an NB protagonist, even if "what gender will they become?" gets brought up... a lot.)
So... yeah. Good bones, imperfect execution. I'd be interested to see how the author's work evolved in subsequent years.
Punting to Z for a decision, as this was a "read to see if we should give it to the BILs" book.
It's a semi-humorous, self-aware take on the stereotypical "destined youths go on a quest for MacGuffins" story, with three themed youths from different worlds all struggling with a sense of personal inadequacy in the arenas their cultures most value. The central conceit is that the trope-iness of the Quest is what causes the magic to work, and the resonance of having a quest undertaken by a scion of each world will bring them back into balance.
The three worlds respectively are Mind, Body, and Spirit, essentially, and their respective societies are built as such. There's some interesting worldbuilding. The Spirit world is some sort of planet on the brink of collapse because it's lost all its water from land, air and sea, but it's also somehow a living body with water deep below the crust which could be accessed with mining equipment? The Body world is full of Viking-style macho ice warriors fighting constant punchclock wars. The Mind world is some sort of "The Little Princess" style dystopian London which values exam results and math and logic above all else.
You could do a lot with that, but... despite a relatively high page count, it feels like not a lot happens. The author is trying for compelling visual setpieces, but it never quite hits home for me. There are interesting bones, but they don't really go anywhere. We don't really see society as a whole, just a few representatives without broader worldbuilding on the page.
Ditto, the characters are... fine, but they basically have one note. One is embarrassed that she can't sing, one is embarrassed that he likes to draw and isn't macho enough, one is learning that her mother might be flawed and also is NB.
(A bummer, because the NB worldbuilding had me really excited - the character is from a world where people don't have expressed gender or sex until puberty, at which point they gradually come to "just know" what their gender and/or sex will be. It's not super nuanced, but it's nice to have an NB protagonist, even if "what gender will they become?" gets brought up... a lot.)
So... yeah. Good bones, imperfect execution. I'd be interested to see how the author's work evolved in subsequent years.
Punting to Z for a decision, as this was a "read to see if we should give it to the BILs" book.