Canned Bread
First: Tor, why tf did you stamp your logo on the novella hardback? This is Giesbrecht's debut, not yours, get your logo OFF of novellas. This is also why I'm not crazy about Tor themselves these days. Authors, have sometimes no choice, however Tor, you can do better. You profit off your writers, the least you can do is be modest and give Giesbrecht a nice cover instead of just plain black hardback.
Anyway...
I have not read the reviews of this novella yet.
However, I imagine the 3.5 stars people or 1 star people all are triggered by a few things of Johanne. Understandably so. However, I might remind you, this is a crisis that is currently going on with THEIR ecosystem, not the book's. It is unfair to judge a book harshly for a crisis that is going on with themselves. Now if the book just described r@pe in graphic detail, THAT IS ANOTHER STORY
That out of the way, let's address some worms from this can.
.1. Johanne is very creepy stalkish and sorta r@pey: to this- Of course he is. Bro just became the "The Thing" for a long time, his only male role model raped him and he killed his aggressor, so...he doesn't really have the most ideal role models in his life. So, it's understandable that he's gonna be like this. HOWEVER, he still has a moral compass with him, he's SUPER gray in terms or character traits. 2. The relationship is toxic: Once again, of fucking course it is. We have a stalker murderer in one corner, and the other corner, a person who has been stuck in their dead family's house with their rotting corpses in the basement and have done weird murdery science experiments in their lab. They both don't know what a normal relationship is and are both terrified and intrigued by it.
I say all these things, not because I'm belittling people who have triggers (I have them too, this isn't new, I literally cannot handle pet deaths, I spiral horribly), I'm saying this so we know what horrible humanity looks like in reality.
If we continue to avoid the triggers in our fantasies, what's to say we don't also ignore the travesties in reality?
(also the people who review bombed this probably forget this was a horror fantasy)
Prose: Solid, clever and sneaky
Pace: Fast
Plot: Not evident at first but then becomes clear later but still well done
Characters: Everyone is morally gray (maybe except Ansley)
Vibe: Dark ass fantasy London with magic, but it's not London but it might as well be with a serial killer roaming the streets
Worldbuilding: Sneaky and wish there was more
5/5
Giesbrecht, wherever you are, I loved your novella to bits. You have the potentially to be a great dark fantasy writer, please publish again :(
I read this last year and obviously it's 5 stars, but this is the place holder for the visual novel/chapter (Because GR wants me to vet my visual novel to a Goodreads librarian and fat chance they'll accept it, so ring finger raised):
“Such is the Joy of Our Reunion” by Arknights
It is the 6th part of the Sui series and frankly, I think it was their best side story to date. My notes are in the Wave Notebook, to future me, as to not dereal Land of the Lustrous to hard lol
5/5 still
I am...shooketh that it was as good as it was.
Everyone's mileage will vary, ofc, but I was not expecting to have a heart to heart with a bard-pirate and an imp who I will literally now die for.
I do wish this was a series, I would have been ecstatic to follow Liz to her next journey in life. It's a shot less than perfect as the worldbuilding wasn't that clever HOWEVER I still enjoyed it immensely.
The other reason this isn't exactly a 5 star sweep is that platitudes are sorta in your face towards the end, though I think they maybe played to the strength in the story, however this is just my personal opinion and why I didn't give it more weight to lower it to 4 stars.
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If you are with me this far, if you do give this novella a shot (which you should anyway), it tugs at your heart for people who are past their college years and starting to learn empathy from others.
It really does stir your soul if you let Liz lead you. The worldbuilding, while minimal, is necessary as this a character driven story but the worldbuilding you do get, is a surprise.
What that is, you'll just have to bare your soul to Klamvik.
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Prose: Very clean that I literally had to double take that maybe it was AI. I want to give the benefit of the doubt that it is not though and he just knows how to write. However because platitudes were introduced too much in your face towards the end, small deductions are had. It's not unbearable, but I'll address it anyway. -.2
Plot: Simplistic but that's not the point of this story.
Pace: Fast if you don't drop it for a year like I did.
Characters: Here is where the story shines. We dive into Liz primarily, but we also get some like 3 dimensions on the imp and the bard-pirate that I'm STILL MAD THAT LIZ DOES NOT HAVE HER OWN SERIES DAMMIT. +5
Vibe: We're in loch, rolling hills, mist, we're eating gruel from a wet tent all while being called a hag. What not to love?
Worldbuilding: The number one reason it's not a pure 5 star, but again, this is not the point of the story, it's mostly just Liz's world. The small pieces we do get are exciting though it's not a lot tbh. -.3
Still, all my griping is kinda like Liz in the beginning of this novella, ngl, though it doesn't change the fact that just maybe. Maybe Stang has some competition
4.5/5
I'll let Gigguk explain this series:
“Osamu Dazai has one of the most tragic stories in Japanese history. As one of Japan's most famous novelists, Dazai experienced a darkness few humans have ever encountered, leading him to attempt to take his life not once, twice, but four times, to which fate denied him and forced him to continue living his tortuous life. Eventually, he would put his broken soul into the novel, “No Longer Human”, one of the most harrowing pieces of media to ever be created before he would eventually be able to succesfully take his own life. Finally fulfilling his wish of being left alone and finally given the grace of death.
Anyway! Here he is in a wacky isekai.”
With that in mind, it's like a fanfiction of giving an author one of the most shittiest hands dealt in life and giving him a second chance (even if he continues to self sabotage himself). I feel like it was created for him in a way, but also for me.
It had the perfect amount of gallows humor and the side blinds you with some peak existential advice.
As far as manga translating to anime, I watched this series thanks to gigguk (even if he doesn't put much else into this series ever again) and became one of my top animes of all time. Now going into the manga, I feel like I have more lore compared to the anime so, yes.
Pick it up if you're a fan of the anime or if you haven't watched it, I think people would enjoy it after they read the above epigraph and then going into the manga looking for gallows humor cause it has plenty of that.
5/5
I am a dragon.
I have so many Kindle books and problems that I'm pretty sure I am one.
So when this popped up, it felt more different than “I'M GOING TO SOLVE PROBLEMS BY SHOVING MY SWORD DOWN THIS SEXUAL METAPHOR” or “THIS SCHOOL FOR MAGIC IS FOR FAERIES” (that last one I know some of y'all in my mutuals would buy that nonstop and do semi-racist cosplays of characters from it)
So, January, I was like, yeah I'll finish this, no problem. Then...LIFE happened and here we are a year later it took me to read almost 200 pages.
So when I booted my Kindle, creaked, and sobbed as it wondered why I abandoned him for so long, and booted up the first thing I wanted to read, The Sunset Sovereign.
/
What Sunset Sovereign does a little differently from the herd is that they payed attention to what cycles are happening IRL and decided that, maybe it's the time to slow down, not speed up, our attention spans. That's what Huie does.
You are taken by the beginning of this spell where it takes a few chapters to really get your barings and then through effective smoke and mirrors are transported to Vakandi's time of telling a tale that, sure on Amazon it'll say it's fucking cozy, but it's more than that.
/
Huh, we're jumping to the Dissection? Yeah I decided that yes, maybe people's attention spans can at least read more than just rely on a review.
So, there.
Prose:
It's neither bad or good. In certain places it can feel clunky and repetitive, but maybe that's what you needed and not something that assumes you understand something first shot. In other places it assumes that yes, reader, YOU HAVE A BRAIN, which hit the mark correctly.
Pace:
I want to say the Sisal chapters and the Vakandi chapters both mimic fast and slow paces. Which ones they are, I'll leave that up to the reader. But last 25% of the book just was like, fuck this, I'm taking the Kindle to my room, don't END PLEASE!
Plot:
So, you know how it will end. You know how it's going to go down. What you don't expect is what feelings this might make you feel. Anger, sadness, joy, hope.
Vibe:
It's more or less what the blurb advertises that this is a memoir and such so the vibe is sorta like a grandfather kinda done with his granddaughter's shit and telling his memoir of Vakfored. I wouldn't say it's sad, more of, reciting history.
Characters:
We focus on the story of simultaneously of Vakandi the dragon, and Sisal the famed warrior going to save the day. They are fleshed 3D and the side characters that we're introduced to along the way are like more or less the same oddly enough. This is a character history drama fantasy and it really did well portraying it.
Worldbuilding:
This is why I deducted it from a 5 star. The prose is not the offender. I only feel like Huie could have played around a bit more with its magic system. Beasts acting like they're playing Civ V was a good twist but the base human magic just felt like it could have been a little bit branched out on. I usually weigh worldbuilding more than prose, however it depends on book to book. This time around I applaud merits where it's due, it's just this one fact made me feel this can't have a 5 star yet.
However, I am interested if Huie has a world where the sea creature could have a memoir or the earth creature. There is good potential in that. I imagine their stories would be vastly different and it would be fun to play around them.
/
Still a good grab on Kindle shop, I would consider getting the physical copy as looking from a pages from a different review on Amazon made me see they put effort into them.
Morgan Stang will have company on my mythical physical indie shelf one day.
You may have your place on that shelf when I'm made of money, Huie.
So, who should read this book?
Read if you really need a break from the usual shit on Kindle and need something to ground you.
And also you're a fan of Civ games done via a Dragon
4.3/5
I don't know what I expected but, um.
No spoilers for this book, so dw about that.
Just...hah....
For how beautiful and dark the vibe and writing were, yes. I get it but.
Hah...
Yeah, no, mate.
...
I have another book by Lint, and I'll see how things might have changed since his popular book.
Quick dissection.
Prose:
Absolutely beautiful. When it hits. It HITS.
Atmospheric and rich and can be dark at times.
Plot:
Um.
Pace:
Kinda just brrs to the end
Characters:
FMC is not a Mary Sue but also about as interesting as a wet blanket when it comes to her personality or any quirks (besides the fact she encompasses traits of like...any artist so it doesn't make her unique)
MMC is more interesting but we barely get much out of him but I kinda get why.
Side characters were definietely more interesting than FMC, why couldn't we get them? We already have interesting characters: points to anything Maas creates
Vibe: We're in a forest and we're REALLY living in it
Worldbuilding: So. It has faerie worldbuilding but...hah....
It has close ties to the plot but I gotta vent to someone about this, so just take this spoiler tag:
So, yeah, it took the wrong page from Terminator 1 being where that FMC is just a vessel for her child to become the savior of the world or some shit. It kinda took a page of THAT book and did the same thing here. So the premise is, in a world of dying nature and one woman hearing the call of the earth. She had a miscarriage already which wasn't her fault. What can she do? She wants to help.The answer? HAVE MY CHILD WITH A WOODLAND CREATURE THAT MAY OR MAY NOT BE YOUR FUTURE PARTNERYeah, no...I know YAs will tell you that kid will deus ex machina their way to an answer but...HEALING ALL OF PLANET EARTH OF WOES?! Girl. Eithene. Wars and corps are more the cause of what's happening to our world, I do no think your YA love child with Treebeard is gonna solve this one.You're cooking, but you burnt this meat.This book came out in 1994, 10 years exactly after Terminator 1. Lint was definitely smoking Treebeard's pipe, jfc
/
Bro.
This was going to be an easy 4.5, but after that ending.
Hah....
Yeah nah mate, I know I rate things objectively for what they were. Whether you agree or not with the ending, it wasn't done tastefully or have any thoughts of what kinda image this might portray.
For that reason:
2/5
That one star is purely because this mofo can write
Edit: I'm counting this as a book because every 6 volumes of manga I feel counts as a full featured book, a very beginning of a manga and every end counts as one book towards book reading.
This is just my personal reading measures
Regardless how this end, so far Phos is not likeable but that's just a me problem
They're just too focused on trying to uncover the truth of Kongo and the Lunarians and trying to get their gems back.
Though it does make it hard because the only thing going for this series right now is:
I love the worldbuilding, it's not complicated, but it very much is. It's a style haven't really seen where it's a low fantasy but has depth of a high fantasy.
It's great!
Characters are based on elements and IRL gems which make it interesting to see everyone's personalities bloom
Also I literally have no idea how this story ends so also another pro for it
The other major down side so far is the fight scenes make it REALLY hard to understand what it's happening which make me sad that this series didn't get a full anime
Will finish this, but this is just a brain dump
4/5
I will finish all the books but bluntly to get you started:
I wish this was more nerdy on the lore and lessons, I feel like we only farted on it.
I do wish this was my HP i grew up with tho, and will finish all the books.
CW for the Book (spoilers): Attempted rape; Actual potential rape/death but shown off screen the gorey details but will tell you how it started, not the process; dead animals a cat is maimed horribly and will be described in gorey details. just skip that paragraph, also a fox is done the same, a pig is gruesomely slaughtered on screen, Christianity torture on one of the girls (idk how to best describe it), one of the girls is gruesomely starfished on the ground, one of the girls is subjected to a creepy teacher but honestly not much happens there, One of the girls clearly sees dead people
Prose: Easy to consume
Plot: It's a plot
Pace: Steady if you get into it, you will know if you want to keep going after you go through several rounds of each POV
Characters: For a YA, well fleshed with potential, I do wish we had more time to get attached to each character. It sorta felt like we speedran all the side quest stories and only viewed the main without any of the other background.
Vibe: Dark HP, but we're acting like we're edgy but will occassionaly spill blood
Worldbuilding: I wish we got more into it, though we do get some of it, it's barely much. We see some samples of homework and lectures, more depth of Danish folklore but not much else. There is something sinister that will probably be revealed in the next two books, who knows?
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Good times, and very gorey times, but mostly edgy good times
4.5/5, why did I enjoy this more than I should lol
Imagine you thought this book was going to be a chocolate chip cookie.
First, you had your main meal of curry and yogurt, and now, dessert.
Cozy PJs, and cookies!
Now flip that cookie over and you realize, it has OATS, CHICKPEAS, and LENTILS.
So you go back to eating other chocolate chip cookies, but still think how that one weird cookie tasted.
Crispy, chocolately in the right places, and the weird legumes had an addictive quality to it that you came back to it a second time and realized
This, is the best store bought cookie you can ever experience.
...And there is still one final cookie in the back of the pantry to conquer
5/5
Disclaimer: I was one of the few beta readers lucky enough to get an early copy.
Did he bribe me?
No, so my opinions of this book are still unfiltered but this segways into a point.
Also jump to where you want.
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I read this in the early phase, a lot of fights with Stang over comma placements, British or American English spelling, WHAT CONSTITUENTS AS BASIC ASS MATH, STANG, and story elements took place. Why? Because of my previous work as an article writer and editing experience, I was fighting him, me, and the ghost of my editor teacher's past in a William Strunk Jr. themed threeway W.W.E match and I'm in the chokehold. And no, it was not scripted.
I can't agree with what Stang kept and what he left out, sure, it's not my book, it's his.
And it made me realize...
Not every book is made with everyone in mind.
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This review is not formatted like my previous works. Why?
I got sick with COVID, new medication for my mystery arm pain literally made me astral project to Ahgra that I needed two weeks to rebalance my hold on this planet, my cat took a chunk off my wrist (yes you read that right) and I almost had to get hospitalized for it and then proceeded to puke my guts when I took the antibiotics, got electrocuted. TWICE., got horribly depressed, and then ultimately to what is today as of October 2nd, sick with a cold.
So in other words, I'm lucky to be depressed and sorta functioning, but I also give up trying to have any energy to do a “proper” review as I promised Stang and an astral projected deity I apparently made during the fugue of COVID.
So, take this, astral projected deity!
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Let's get blunt:
This story felt like it was made for me.
Now, I don't think Stang had his arms astral projected (I think these are my favorite words today) away for three years, but that's not the point. He knows, somehow, how it feels to be a person that has Hitch's disability. He feels who his MC is, lives and breathes through them that they feel 100% real. And frankly, that's one of many Stang's strengths.
Hitch, our MC, during the small and quiet moments and thoughts, really enveloped what I feel as a disabled person.
The small things mean a lot to us.
Her snail collection? That's literally “Civilization V” to her. Those rocks? OS Runescape. And Fwen? Redditors on Gwent.
It sort of baffles me that Stang really can hit it out of the ballpark when it comes to his MCs that I do think he found a Hitch IRL and based it off of her.
Overall, they all seem like genuine real people we know today.
I tried to ask Stang if any of these people were based on IRL but he was having none of it.
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Hitch, as a character, and though I love her to bits, has me a little mixed. She is deep and fleshed, yes, though I think her brilliance tends to be blunted by that of Beatrix. ‘Cause this is Beatrix's world and we're just living in it as she makes it startlingly clear. (I kept imagining her as Galadriel who finally snapped after the events of Mt. Doom, who didn't board the ship to Valinor, and we're just living in the end game here)
Beatrix you can see her as what she is in all of her glory (and a near copyright infringement) that I was gushing about her until the very end.
With Reinwald, who served as the in between chapters, he is fleshed too and he will speak to a lot of people, but it didn't work for me but I understood what Stang was going for. Doesn't mean I agree with the execution, but let's face it:
~
“I have more books published than you, so your arguments are invalid.” Morgan Stang laughed as he blew more bubbles out of his pipe and kicked away my manuscript.
(Based on a false story)
~
There are going to be elements that won't mesh with you, and that is perfectly ok.
Remember what I said earlier? “...not every book is made with everyone in mind.”
What maybe didn't mesh with me, probably changed someone else's worldview.
You never know!
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I can go on about worldbuilding, plot, pace, vibe, etc. But at the end of the day, without too much nit picking, Stang knows how to cast a spell over his reader and if he casts it on the right person, you will be in for a treat.
It might hit down to the most pessimistic person to the most live laugh love creature. And heck, I was one the pessimistic readers going into this, 100% sure I can figure this book out, and by the end I was like Squidward having a meltdown about the “future”.
And who knows? Maybe you'll have a new perspective on life, maybe you won't.
Who am I to say? I'm not your goddess.
But, Beatrix sure is.
5/5
Note: this review is long, jump to where you want, or jump to the end to see my TLDR of who should read this book and ratings.
Disclaimer: I'm 2nd gen South Asian who is in diaspora. I did not read the “Mahabharata” nor am I religious of any sort. I'm agnostic AT BEST, but logically, a blunt atheist.
Take that as you will.
CW: Brief mention of Suicide
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“Life is like water; if you block one side, it takes another turn to continue its journey.”
What the meaning is up to interpretation, but I always found this quote to be utter shit (sorry ancestor whoever said this). If you block it enough, the water might stop coming all together and effectively be damned.
However, I didn't have any ill will to this quote. Why? Because I was thinking of the wrong quote entirely.
Around 2013, during a dark memoir related event took place, I found this speech:
“This is Water” by David Foster Wallace.
I highly recommend everyone to read/listen to his commencement speech: here. It's under 10 mins. It teaches you a lot about how to interact with others. It's very important to human life but....at the time I thought it was shit because Wallace ended up taking his own some time later.
Unbeknownst to me, I still incorporated the thoughts behind his speech in my everyday life. Even if it felt hypocritical that he was telling me how to live life when he took his own, he taught me how to be human.
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“Goddess of the River” has the mindset of “This is Water” but in book form. You can feel the emotions, the grief, and empathy. But whether you decide to engage with it is up to the reader.
I say this because everyone misses the point of books.
Not every book is made for YOU.
I could say everyone needs to read this book, but chances are someone will get frustrated and not understand it and yeet it and complain to everyone on Twitter and buy an NFT of the cover.
However, if you can engage with this book, give it up until Ch 11, you'll understand if this book is for you or not.
That out of the way, this was an emotional and beautiful book. It can get dark and painful but that is life. If we bypass all the bad, we will never learn to recognize it when faced.
I cannot verify how respectful or tasteful it was to the source material, though as someone with my disclaimer above, it was still a beautiful book that I wish I was tabbing and highlighting because Patel just drops banger after banger of good quotes.
Downfalls of this book come from just me being lost in names, though that has to do with more of me not being familiar with the source material and not the problem of the author.
I will update and revise this review at a later date, because I buddy read it with my mom for the first time (she's procrastinating the last few CHs...for reasons) and I wanted to collab with her what she thought and what was different from the “Mahabharata” and how it was changed in “Goddess” and whether she thinks certain things were done tastefully or not.
Light Disclaimer in the future: She did enjoy “Kaikeyi” but my god, she had a lot of quips that are too bothersome for me to revisit unless I reread it again. I will reread “Goddess” at some point because this is actually a good reread book
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Pace:
It's sorta slow in the beginning, then just brrs to the climax which, MIND YOU, is over a 100 pages (and honestly needed 100 pages for this climax) so take that as you will, it was still fast paced and sped through it in one sitting
Plot:
So, I want to hammer it into you. This is a recollection of a goddess about her LIFE. And like life, not everything is interesting or meaningful but is still meant to be experienced all the same. Patel actually rewrote the basic plot structure and just did her own thing, and it works. Looking back, it was never about rising or falling action nonsense, but just....life. If you engage yourself in Ganga's life, you will enjoy it. However if you're complaining about every little thing, you missed the point of this book.
+1
Prose:
I don't remember much about “Kaikeyi”'s prose, but either way, I found “Goddess” was beautifully done, maintained your attention, and honestly, made you forget you were reading. This isn't Sanderson snappy type prose, but just a beautiful river of words gliding into your brain.
+1
Characters:
Fleshed out, I can't say if all the side characters were, but you do see other sides to their 2Dimensionality but the main focus is Ganga and her son which, on the surface might not be very fleshed but as time goes on you see your frustrations on some characters and others are justified and addressed at a later point. Like people, not all of them are likable and some you'll genuinely hate. Though then they change and you have a new view on them. Take that with you as you read through this.
Shiva for instance comes off as extremely unlikable. But at the same breath, gods aren't MEANT to be your best friend, they're meant to be feared and revered.
+2
Vibe:
Ancient India with side effects like you're being high on Ambien but you're just a goddess that sniffed that cosmic ocean
Worldbuilding:
As I said, I never read the source material so I can't say how good or bad this was. As a casual reader, it was more of a character drama and you won't really see all that much worldbuilding but it's more of an autobiography of a river goddess and ancient Indian court drama with a flare of confusion because a lot of names sound alike and the family tree is easy to get lost in (it's still well done mind you, but at several points I just confused myself). If you have quips about names sounding alike, that's the “Mahabharata”'s problem, not the author.
You won't see an advanced magic system, but you will see Ganga doing her magic on a daily basis, her going into people's memories, and it's fascinating to see what a goddess sees where it's not entirely black and white. Her son will do jack shit when it comes to that.
+1
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Still, if you enjoyed “Kaikeyi” you'll probably enjoy this book (?) depending if you understand the source material or not.
Even if you don't like me, it's still entertaining and if you let Ganga guide you through her life and this memoir of time, it'll be a good time.
So who should read this?
Read if you want a good character drama about a goddess and you're tired of Roman and Greek retellings for 148th time. Also a good book for fasting purposes since you'll be thirsting for water or Ganga.
5/5
Not much to say, easy read, FMC wasn't as annoying as Remy and realistic with how she thought and felt about the world. But -2 how there was a lack of diversity in demographics and worldbuilding. It wasn't that creative really. Renwick didn't have much personality besides that he was hot and has PTSD
Still hoping Anerys and Fenrin become a ship one day tho
3/5
Do not sleep on this book!
I heavily dislike this cover for a few reasons though I think there's a purpose to it.
The cover and GR doesn't do this book justice and kinda proves the message of this book.
When we think of ctrl + c + v race politics in fantasy, it's usually elves being persecuted and humans being murders that we sorta dissasociate from the people we're suppsoed to sympathize. Have I ever been an elf? Not really, even though I'm pretty green. Do I know anyone that is elf like? Not really, the white people I'm around are more hobbit-like than elf.
But instead of a fantasy race being persecuted, what if it's just humans? Regardless of skin color, we're being pitted against future humans that see us as savages. How does that make us feel? Truly. No matter what you do, you're seen as a threat, savage, barbarian, and treated like a child. No matter what you do, you can't compare to what people ahead of you already did. And that's unfair if you just started out on a planet but people telling you can't do shit.
Jump back to the present:
That's how us POC have been feeling for centuries.
I want to think this book was an ambitious project to get people to get out of their fucked up comfort zones and face some harsh realities:
Our very lives are political, regardless if you are brown or otherwise.
Food is political
and even the slightest changes can impact the rest of humanity.
To put this in perspective, your name is Beth. Beth is a Booktoker, but she doesn't make videos but she likes to escape with them and read their books. The world is fucked up right? And there's only so much she can do she escapes with “Spellshop” “L&L”, etc.
That is political. You are taking a stance to do shit and escape.
And here's the fun part: The more you escape, the more things are gonna get fucked up and it's all going to catch up to you. Things happening in the States is the latest ex.
I'm going off track here, but my point is, this book with it's cover, is supposed to draw people like Beth in. It's not the Great British Bake off or even Hell's Kitchen. It's about coming to face with the realities that no one wants.
And what is that?
Fish curry, not a donut.
Prose: Oddly addictive. I need to go back to analyze why I couldn't put this book down.
+2
Plot: It tends to go in ways you don't really expect. Don't read the blurb and go in blind, you'll be happy.
Pace: Medium? Fast? It depends how sucked into the story you are, but for me it was a medium.
Characters: Let's get this out of the way. You will probably not like any of the characters. AND THAT'S OK! I don't think you're actually supposed to like them. But why did I keep reading the story? Because not everything is in a neat little package for my preference and I want to read things outside of my comfort zone. But because no one is likabe, everyone is well fleshed and 3D. It's a breath of fresh air +2
Worldbuilding: Disclaimer: I'm not a scifi buff, and I only dab in it on occasion if it's closer to a fantasy setting. So how did I get here even though the author is indian? I don't read every indian book that writes fantasy or scifi. I have specific criteria. 1. It must be interesting, like every book i pick up. and 2. The romance isn't the whole book. This ticked the 2 boxes, and I was happy. However, there IS romance, but it in the form of worldbuilding and the main couple is LGBT so. At least it's spicy lol
I picked this book up again to read the blurb and review of someone on reddit, of all places, that actually enjoyed this book and gave it 5/5. Though the cover is off putting, the plot seems good enough and maybe it's a good book to just enjoy between dark fantasy books. Yeah, uh. This book gets realistically dark when it comes to politics that we can find our lives as well. And ofc, the xenophobia! Whoooo boi.
So worldbuilding in my opinion, is solid and vivid and fresh. I don't know how it looks to a scifi buff. Your milage may vary.
+1
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There's really not a lot I hate with this book, it did everything it did well. Obviously, there's a lot of Indian inspiriation and influence, but hey. Most scifi stuff I encountered were very Americanized in culture anyway. Why can't we have one with Indian roots that eat Rasam on the daily?
5/5
If you want spoilers so you can skip this book and go to the third one, scroll down.
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Without spoilers, this series is an example of the working of publishers.
A solid story that, yes, could have been a multibranched series like Discworld. However, they forced Lawrence, or Lawrence suggested himself, we'll never know, that this should be a THREE book series, when I 100% believe this would have been fine as a 2 book series.
The other problem lies in with the author's writing style. He tends to focus in on things that are not needed, even from an artistic standpoint.
Did I REALLY need a paragraph how Evar is climbing a bookshelf when he's in the middle of an action sequence? Not really.
The only reason I'm committed to this series and will finish it to the end is the worldbuilding is unique and I'm emotionally invested in a smut scene between Arpix and Clovis, but they're probably cannon fodder for Livira and Evar, while they are fine and even though Evar is white bread and Livira is laced with Coke, I rather had the series focus on Arpix/Clovis...Probably F to my OTP....I swear, every time I declare an OTP in my head, they die lol
I'm not going to lie, I got the Locked Library of the last book, and probably will never find the second book for it (I got lucky and snagged the first at a used book store), I'll be ok. This series is a mind fuck for the average Booktoker. But, for the average person who reads hundreds of books, this series does make you stop and think a lot.
Is free information really the best thing? Is barring it more beneficial to civilization? Should we barter between the two? Is there other options? How are emotions defined between spaces and times?
SPEAKING of emotions:
That reminds me...The *lie* is probably the most stupidest thing about this book and why it's 2.5 stars. Celcha KNOWS it was Starval and Mayland that gave Hellit the info to commit mass genocide, yet she pins it on a couple because they're right in front of her? Cmon. Get real.
Honestly, if you want to skip this book and just go to third book, do that, I'll put in spoilers what you need to know in short:
Introduce new species. Ganar = Golden furry automaton like beings? It's sorta vague what they are.Essentially they are from the moon of Atmast and were enslaved by canith and human alike.It's implied so far that they created the first library.Celcha and Hellite are ganar that commit mass genocide because info given by Mayland and Starval from a past world. For some reason, Celcha pins the murder on Livira and Evar , Kinda the reason this book got 2.5 stars, pinning women as hysterics, clever, Lawrence... Even though she knew about Mayland and Starval and their contribution to this.Livira/Evar are reunited. Arpix/Clovis becomes a thing. Salmonda and Wentworth are thick as thieves and apparently the cat is an assistant for X amount of years. Wentworth also has the ability to become BIG...but not really? Eh. The former King and his soldiers are doing creepypasta and having their own cannibalistic society in one of the halls of the Library after the burning of Crath. The reason the genocide of the cannith family happened was Yute led the royal court through the Exchange when the burning happen and they exacted their revenge in the past in Clovis childhood. They then started eating people. Also Yute's daughter has been alive this whole time.There's 3 paths to choose from supposedly.Irad and Jaspeth have an ongoing wager who is right.1. Side with Irad, to continue the library.2. Side with Jaspeth, to destroy the library.3. Side with Yute, the fallen angel of Irad who wants to compromise but they show repeat images why that failed.Also, Arpix and human gang is being held hostage by creepypasta. Clovis and Evar tries to rescue them, Evar gets shot and is on his deathbed when Celcha walks into town and only realizes now for some reason, that Evar and Livira were ignorant and Mayland and Starval were the culprits.Mayland forces Evar's dying body into 2. Pushing the rest of the cannith family (Kerrol chooses side 3.) into it as well.For some reason, Mayland didn't want Livira to come with Evar, convinced she's too dumb for this and forces her out of option 2. Ony Kerrol chooses Option 3.Everyone else chooses Option 1.Also, Celcha and Hellit are finally ghosts and now Hellit wants to find his body again.WHILE ALL THAT SHIT IS HAPPENINGLord Algar, the dick that hated Livira because he's white, discovers Livira's book that she had been writing has broken the space time continum and forces cracks in the library. He asks hostage Arpix to explain the book, and that's where we are left off.
Save your money, just read the spoilers and go for book 3.
2.5/5
MY OTP JUST WENT IN SMOKE JFC
Look, by around the 300 or 400 page mark I was just hoping Owen/Henry was going to be canon cause Owen kept calling Henry “beautiful” and I just imagined him as Mads Mikkelsen and Henry as a horn rimmed sexy nerd.
But this book was written around 2000ish era, that won't happen ofc but one can hope.
Anyway, that out of the way.
This book is a hot but beautiful mess.
King does what King does best, cast his spell and MAKES you get invested in his world.
BUT
Holy shit, I thought it was his debut book of more than 800 pages as a paperback cause it's a hot pile of turds.
HOWEVER
He makes you fucking cry over Duddits, get so emotionally invested in him and Roberta and the boys that you can't help but needing to finish this to the last sticky end.
I went in hoping for a horror book, went out with a new found love of people of different types and shapes.
Fuck, man, I'm a mess after this book. The reason I'm giving it two stars is simple. King goes in every direction and hasn't really got a good handle here on how to make an emotional impact hit and feel the investment paid off. He makes it work with Duddits and that hits home so hard by the end you're just crying, not being scared of the aliens, feeling for Duddits in everyway and form. Idk if that was King's goal, but I didnt really feel scared in any of this book much. More like “lol alien”, but that's about it.
It feels like a giant dream, sure, but not a good one. “Saint of Bright Doors” did a better job with that and even then Chandrasekera got a better execution.
For ex, the big thing they were charging up is how they “killed” Duddits bully, but he sort of wrote the outcome as an afterthought. It wasn't a grand scene. Shocking sure, but it was over in a single sentence.
TLDR: Book made me cry and feel things, but as a “horror” book, it didn't hit any marks for me.
Also a dog is abused horribly so ye, maybe skip this book dude
Prose: It's King, he makes you care and feel things, uses your brain to make you fill in gaps, but it was also a hot crazy mess -2
Plot: Probably the saving grace and the downfall. The plot of the aliens is deducting points but the overall arching plot of the Dreamcatcher was beautiful. -2
Pace: Slow as this book
Characters: Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, there's a lot of suicide in this book so that's great. Ironically, the person most suicidal survives at the end which can be poetically hilarious or dumb depending on your outlook. Either way, everyone is fleshed out DEEP so +1
Vibe: Winter but small town Maine with alien fungus and BACON
Worldbuilding: Was fine, it's not a fantasy book so hard to get that much done. King does set his scene and depth wonderfully though. But as I said, it's not enough for me.
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Either way, there's a LOT of CW for this book, so please do check them before deciding to read this book.
But if you can somehow skim over the animal abuse and death in the later chapters, it's a beautiful book about a mentally disabled person and will have you bawling your eyes out at the end if you have any empathy left in your heart
2/5
I think this book was a good lesson that different writing styles exist and that is OK. You may be used to a fast paced book and when a book doesn't mesh with it, you may feel disappointed.
Is it the writer's fault? No, dear reader, it's yours.
Reading is supposed to BROADEN our perspectives, not narrow it. So when other reviewers find these books slow paced and winding, “not like Terry Prattchet”, and “boring”, bitch, that's just you not trying to take in account that other people THINK and write differently.
Yes, these books are slow, but it wasn't boring, I was enjoying the ride. This book has Prattchet-like elements, but you can't expect an author to copy and paste a style. It can remind you of it sure, and the blurbs say that, but you the reader at the end of the day decide how to perceive the books, not the advertisements.
Goodreads has this dumb habit of putting a subtitle under your yearly reading goal telling you how far behind you are. And if you're not reading your quota, you stress.
I used an adblocker to now block that annoying subtitle cause it was making me worry when at the end of the day, who am I trying to prove to myself that I'm reading? Myself, not my anxious brain. I want to read because I enjoy it and learn things from it as a writer.
Anyway, this book was far better than the first one. Is the writing style the same? Ye, but the story is a lot better and I feel diversified the characters signifigantly. Go in for the advertisements, close the book crying that death sucks.
Prose: Same as the first book, long and winding and the only thing I wish improved. “But I thought you liked this book.” Bitch I can be constructive. I liked that the prose sunk me into Pell, though I do wish we actually had MORE descriptors of our environment instead of less of and going towards a satirical line. Though, that's just my opinion. -.5
Plot: By far, vastly improved from the first one which seemed too cookie cutter and I was about to shelve this series. Really glad I didn't! It can be seen as a long metaphor about the genocides happening in the world, or you can apply it to Pell. Up to you.
Pace: SLOW AF. (Winks in ovitaur) Seriously, it doesn't write in a fast paced Booktok style and it's not trying to be. It's not trying to capture that audience, it's trying to snag a few Prattchet readers that are American and certainly did for me. I mean be real, is Pratchett the fastest paced books? No they're about the same, so stfu, Karen
Characters: One of the best thing about this book that improved upon the first is none of the characters in our group are human this time around! There are minor characters that are human but for the most part, our group is a mix of personalities and races that it was very heartwarming to see.
Vibe: Fellowship of the String, with more gnomes
Worldbuilding: Probably the best thing about this series that it's not afraid to be silly and be creative with it's writing and creation. Is it a giant generic medieval world? Sure, but it actually isn't ashamed to be and plays on it and amps it up to x10 that it feels like you're reading a giant crack fic of LOTR.
If you're tired of things being TOO out there, this book grounds you pretty well.
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So highly rec to read this book if you were not convinced about the first one. You now know the pacing of this series and force yourself to slow down and be in a world.
Cause, when has Booktok REALLY done that and not force feed the next dumb romantasy?
Exactly.
4.5/5
Go to the very last sentence if you want a spoiler free tldr.
Everything else is spoilers, be warned.
It took 3 months to get here
If you were to combine magical realism, Sri Lankan vibes, urban cities, macabre humor, and reverse “Chosen One” tropes in a book, this it it.
Now, what I thought this book was going to be: magic system involving the bright doors, exploring different aspects of the Zodiac (I got excited when I realized one of the doors was named “Nine Yellow Oxen” and “First Blue Heron”), opening a bright door, Buddhism with Samsara aspects sprinkled in, Fetter going on a lot of undercover missions, and the complex relationship of navigating all this while trying to string together a normal life.
What this book ACTUALLY is: Magical Realism (sorta) that delves into utopias/dystopias, living under the shadow of parents that kinda fucked up your life, slight multiverse, a colorful magic system, uses the word “pogrom” A LOT and I didn't know what it meant until I looked it up after I finished the book, we open a bright door...sorta., no map, VERY immersive
Now reigning in with my expectations and knowing now what this book is...
It's still worth it.
It's confusing, sure, but that's sorta the point with this genre. We're entering an age where South Asian fantasy authors are embracing this side of dream-like quality of writing and I love it. We see a more straightforward magical realism in South America and East Asia where a banana is talking and everyone accepts it.
But we don't see where the lines of what makes it magical realism and what doesn't, blur and turn gray. Murakami MAYBE, but when was the last time anyone pointed out his usage of women to create said “art”? We see it in Chandrasekera's work plenty where it's technically magical realism and fantasy, but to the normal people in this world, it is normal as breathing. Gods and messiahs are normal, but being unchosen is not and you have your own subgenre of magic system between the shadows.
We're going to see this again with the “Mad Sisters of Esi” when it comes out in August, so be prepared. This started probably long before Das even wrote “The Devourers” and we're seeing a bright age of well thought out fantasy books. No matter how confusing they are, they are here to stay.
Prose: The biggest strength and weakness of this book. He has a good handle how to “weave” his own spell and get you sucked into the book. Though, he does go off on tangents that aren't necessary sometimes. While that's an aspect to dream-like writing, it can't be used EVERYwhere. You will need some whiskey to go with this book to enhance your experience. If you can't drink, people might question that you do after reading this book and telling them what it's about. +4, -.5
Pace: It is very slow, but the last 150 pages go lightning fast.
Plot: Uh...the plot feels straightforward at first until you get to the second part where it is not a plot anymore but feels more like you are witnessing Fetter's life as you can see it slowly explode
Characters: I would say Fetter is the most 3D of any of the characters, at first his mom isn't but we see it unravel through out the book, the side characters Koel and Caduv aren't deep but I did wish we spent more time with each of them, his father feels like a moustache twirling god so dont expect a lot out of the villain. +2 -.5
Vibe: I said Chandrasekera has a good handle on weaving his spell. Well, it's sorta true but he tends to lose it a bit when the focus of Fetter's life starts to go into many directions. We jump into many locations, sometimes too fast or too little, that the Vibe starts to not feel like a vibe but more like a drunken afterthought. I can't say this is good or bad, your milage may vary. So, this vibe is like: Drunk Sri Lanka in the future and maybe you might have accidently did a mushroom or two last night.
Worldbuilding: Oh dear. OK, this is a good book for worldbuilding. It has REALLY good potential and you don't see the pay off until the last half where things slowly start to fit. And heck, there was even a moment that caught me, a cynical reader that can predict most things in a book, off guard.
The problem is, a lot of the pieces are just...left unexplained. While this might be normal in this type of writing, there were certain aspects that I wish the publishing house pushed more.
For instance: a map would have done WONDERS for on different places it was really needed and we didn't get one, an index on the back for certain terms, or even cultrual explanations. I can't say I need the latter as much but when you're pushing this book to a West audience, it would be helpful to them. And also, why was everyone in a trance over staring at Blue Heron? We never got the answer besides “don't stare at a door too long” but I felt like there should have been something more. We also get no explanation why Ulpe signs their death off with barely an explanation other than Koel saying that they needed to do this.
It's things like this while I'm ok with not everything explained and pointing out to you as I was able to piece it together myself (like what it means to be “Chosen”), at the very least some aspects needed to be solid while others can be vague. It's a hard balancing act, and I don't think this book quite achieved it.
Worldbuilding aspects: Unchosen ones, gods, prophets, time alterations, shadows, devils, bright doors, map manipulation, multiverse, and gods
-.5
Even a night later, I don't know how to describe to someone this book. Just, maybe don't tell them over a glass of whiskey.
TLDR: Either way, go into this book knowing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, and you'll have a good time
4.5/5
