A review by thequeerbookish
Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances by Aliette de Bodard

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.0

 

I nearly DNF-ed this so many times, how did I manage to finish this book?

First, Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances is supposed to be a standalone. It really, really doesn’t read like it. At all. I was thrown into a universe I knew absolutely nothing about, but felt like I was expected to do so.

Thanks to that connecting to the characters – oh gods, so many characters – felt damn near impossible without the proper background knowledge. So I struggled on while trying to gather as much information as possible. Or tried to. Instead, I gathered a lot of unnecessary repetitions. Kindle pos. 379 tells us, Asmodeus and Thuan’s marriage is six years old. Kindle pos. 384 tells us again, they’ve been married for six years. THAT’S ON THE SAME DAMN PAGE! Are you fucking kidding me? I want to stress I read an ARC so I’m seriously hoping it got fixed before publication but I’m still wondering how those repetitions made it into the ARC.

Perhaps you’re able to sense the emotion I mostly felt while reading Aliette de Bodard’s book. It’s annoyance. I could rant on and on but I’ll stop it with this little ending thought: I wasted my time reading this queer paranormal romance and I’m especially disappointed because I was so excited about it! Vietnamese-inspired mythology meets fallen angels. What’s not to like?

Apparently a lot. 

 Disclaimer
I received a free copy through NetGalles in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.