hmmm. okay. so, subjectively i enjoyed this book, but i love fairytale-esque novels and inhuman boyfriends so in some ways i was very easy to please. objectively, i have several issues.

this book is the definition of "well done, but didn't need to be done at all" let's start with irina

her plotline felt like an entirely different book that was weaved into the base story of miryem's plotline for padding, and while i didn't dislike it, not do i think it was poorly done, it felt highly unneeded. she mostly seemed to exist to introduce the antagonist of the novel chernobog, i don't think that was the required way, nor the best way to introduce him. he felt do distanced from miryem, and her storyline, that when they intersected, i couldn't invest in it too much beacause i felt very little personal stakes on her behalf. it should have been miryem encountering and dealing with chernobog primarily. not to mention i felt like irina's prescence sent the plot of the rails, she's clearly only there for the sake of introducing the villian, who also didn't really need to be here in my opinion. the staryk king was a good enough antagonist. but if we must go with chernobog i would've preferred a different implementation. something more grounded in the already established plot with miryem and wanda (who should have gotten the plot importance that irina had) or in all honesty, introduce the witch character that was spoken of and whose house the characters occupied. that was a massively missed opportunity in my opinion.

and the sheer amount of unneeded povs.

i've already discussed irina, but did we need her husband, nanny, and stepon's povs??? no, we did not. again, not poorly done, naomi novik's pen game will not be denied here, but we simply didn't need to do it. also, the middle dragged quite a bit. i feel like cutting some pov's and centering miryem and wanda's stories would've assisted that.

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Fire Logic by Laurie J. Marks

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

i can see why this book wouldn't work for everyone but it did for me. i absolutely devoured 500 pages in three days, in the time where i'm still slagging through an arduously obnoxious 291 pages of another book as of writing this review. i love storytelling that comes to you in puzzle pieces (though the author graciously gives you exactly what you need, if a plot point hinges on previously given vague information) and odd narrative structures. i love stories where the world feels truly lived in, where you are given so much worldbuilding and lore, especially stories that just have so much going on in them, whether its in the scope of the main plot or not. Because of this, i did enjoy the footnotes (not to mention here, the footnotes had a plot purpose and explanation that i found satisfying) despite generally being a footnotes hater in fiction. i'm very impressed with this being the authors debut novel, and i will definitely be continuing with the series.

also, mild critique / wants for further installments

this book was very obviously interested in sex and sexual abuse in a way i found thoughtful, but somewhat wanting. i found the execution to be well done, but i would enjoy a deeper exploration of the topic, especially from one of the sex workers / slaves, since i think their perspective was sorely lacking in this book. however, i do hear that is something that is followed up on in later installments, so i'll withhold judgement on this front. i would also like more handling of khirin's trauma as well. i understand why it couldn't be lingered on for too long for practicalities, but as we enter territories regarding relationships for him in the coming books, i think it would be a good way to tackle it more. despite everything, it still seemed to haunt him over the novel, but wasn't addressed much.

also shout out to jenn lyons for creating a male protag i actually enjoy. not very many cases!

Content Warnings

The Origin of Others by Toni Morrison

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challenging emotional informative reflective sad

5.0

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This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

...it's okay. far better by the end of the book rather than the beginning.

the book was never really bad, but for the first 80ish pages, was awfully repetitive and vague to the novel's detriment, as i feel this was meant to establish the later groove of the novel, but it wasn't until halfway in that the epistolary format convinced me. at the beginning of the book, it doesn't seem to have much to say, or rather it doesn't want to say much yet, so it spends half it's page time saying nothing at all.

but when it kicked off, it really kicked off for me, as red and blue fully carried the momentum of the story in the way the plot was doing yet. the ending is again vague and hurried, but the emotional presence of red and blue carried me through it, so i didn't really mind.

and by nature of being more well-read than when i first came across this book several years ago, i think the prose is just pretty okay. it is well constructed but less impressive than many boast. pretty sentences but its a bit sudden and stiff for me. never bad though, but i do raise an eyebrow whenever we do dramatic poetic love declarations. the flow of the actual prose is kind of uneven, and you can tell that there are parts of this novel that were written to be deliberately quoted. but i think it’s much stronger in its longer sections than the 3 sentences that gets passed around a lot.

tldr; i’d recommend it but it’s not a favorite and i probably wouldn’t pick it up again.

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Leech by Hiron Ennes

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 35%.

had to go back to the library. will definitely be picking it up again!

Shadow of the Bird by Tim Probert

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective sad 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

4.5

haven’t enjoyed a middle grade like this in a while. really appreciate how expansive this world and plot is getting, both in lore and in general scope. this would have deeply pleased younger me who used to memorize wiki pages of my favorite media for more Lore™️. i will still note that the priority here is middle grade audiences and i appreciate how the author keeps his young audience in mind, but doesn’t condescend to them. all around delightful, and i eagerly await the next installment.

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vigil's reviews 180 reviews

vigil's reviews
180 reviews