booksthatburn's reviews
1437 reviews

challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

*I received a free review copy in exchange for an honest review of this book.

THE UNWANTED PROPHET boldly asks the question: is it wrong to confine and torture a young woman who is the prophet of your god? The priests generally say yes, the prophet in question says no, who's to say? Regardless of who ends up proven right, they're on a long journey together to stop the group who is definitely (probably?) wrong... the cult killing in that same god's name.

This is more than robust enough to be a stand-alone story, but I'm quite pleased that it already has a sequel (which I will be reading as soon as I can). There's a distinct narrative arc, with some elements returning towards the end to wrap up some things set up early on which are meaningful for the characters, reinforcing the importance of the early chapters as more than just a way to get into the main story.

Quincy is a self-sacrificing and pretty decent person whose reaction to being tortured and abused is to try and escape, but not to kill her captors. She is thoughtful and clever. While she has her flaws, none of them are treated by the narration as reasonable justifications for the priests' reactions to her elevation to prophet when they thought they would be her executioners. Her rapport with Gethin is wonderful to read, suffused with a combination of wit and seriousness which speaks of two beings trying to figure out a situation that has them each trapped in different ways.

Quincy's interactions with the priests holding her captive range from tempestuous allyship to cool hostility, with peaks of terror and pain. Marlowe, in particular, is deeply fascinated with her situation and the theological implications, but this scholarly fascination isn't enough to keep him from hurting her for the order's goals. He's deeply invested in the idea of her, but doesn't seem to understand that she's a real person being hurt by him and the others. This means that there are long stretches where he and Quincy have meaningful conversations, but he still participates in her confinement and torture. The priests are traveling with Quincy to try and stamp out a Gethin cult whose leader keeps murdering people. They don't seem to notice any dissonance with their plans to murder Quincy when they arrive at their destination.

The worldbuilding uses various real-world touchstones, seemingly from a smattering of Europe and East Asia, allowing for the setting to feel cohesive in each new location but also to convey cultural differences as the group travels a great distance. This is by no means unique in second-world fantasy, but it's done very well here. The references are generally confined to food and features of buildings, as the main religion in play is the Gethin faith and its various permutations. Many of the changes in language and behavior stem from what people think of Gethin, with various phrases as waypoints in conversation. I like the style, focusing on Gethin for the important things, but not trying to make the reader imagine fantastical versions of what is, ultimately, a generally unremarkable inn, village, or other mostly insignificant stop on their journey. It's also an efficient way to convey that they are traveling long distances, especially by using details from regions which are very far apart in reality.

I'd been starting to think maybe I didn't like very long books anymore, but I read this in under two days, fitting in long stretches between things I absolutely had to get done. It's languid, slow without being boring, and I'm very pleased with the ending.

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imPerfect Magic by C.N. Rowan, C.N. Rowan

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 1%.

Dislike the main character's narration.

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Kiss Me Deadly by Jessie Thomas

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 3%.

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Swordcrossed by Freya Marske

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

*I received a free review copy in exchange for an honest review of this book.

Mattinesh Jay is the oldest son of Jay House, which, due to a string of bad luck, is long on respectability and short on funds. Matti is getting married to an acquaintance from a House whose finances are solid but whose reputation in the city is less firmly established. He’ll marry her for duty, and hopefully find companionship (maybe even love?), but Matti puts his family first without complaint. The trouble is, his intended has a paramour, who is very good with a sword and will almost definitely challenge at the wedding, so Matti has scraped together the funds to hire a Best Man to defend any challenge with steel (as is tradition). The night before he is set to contract a professional for this position, an accident in a bar leaves him short of funds, forced to hire an excellent but unknown and untested swordsman rather than the best of the best... but who turns out to be the one who swindled him out of his money. As recompense for his silence, Jay insists that the swordsman, Luca, teach him in the mornings for the weeks leading up to the wedding. The more they clash with steel each day, the more Jay and Luca are desperate for different swords to cross...

SWORDCROSSED advertises itself with the tagline “Low Stakes. High Heat. Sharp Steel.” Early on, I thought the first part might not be true, because I was instantly very invested in the future of Jay House and their financial trajectory and Matti's happiness felt like high stakes. But, while the stakes matter a great deal to those involved (and to me, goddammit), this is a very cozy and ultimately low stakes story that delivers with erotic scenes and steel. Swords are crossed, literally in morning practices, and metaphorically in physical passion between two cis men. I was delighted by this story which combines two of my hobbies, sewing and swordplay, as the title had only guaranteed one of those at first glance.

The most stressful parts of this story for me was the tension over betrayal and secrets between Matti and Luca, and the question of whether there was something more going on with Jay House's string of bad luck. Normally, I get very stressed out by books that have lying in relationships, but the way this was handled kept me engaged instead of getting too stressed to continue. There are so many subtle narrative layers, expertly woven, so that by the end an intricate story can be revealed, with dastardly deeds and hidden motivations, while the exact shape of it was obscured until the end. It has the appeal of a mystery story, the heart of a romance, and the swordplay of an adventure novel. All that while delivering on its promise of keeping the stakes low, the passions high, and the steel sharp.

Things I love, in no particular order: Maya (Matti's sister), how the swordplay is discussed, the wedding, Matti's parents, Luca's brother. The characters are vibrant and wonderful. Keeping the important cast of characters small gave room for several people to shine without becoming too many to track in detail. The intricacies of wool and swordplay are described in a manner that threads the needle between infodumping and vagueness, explaining the important relationships between concepts without getting stuck on specifics that would slow down the story. Part of this is achieved by giving information in scenes where one person is new to the information but isn't ready to handle a mountain of details. One of my favorite moments is when Matti innocently asks whether there is more than one style of fencing, and Luca oscillates between stunned silence the impulse to convey the complexity of fencing and its history in a dizzying spiel.

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