groofay

I received an ARC of this book; the views I express here are entirely my own.

I didn't know much about the Māori at all, except the barebones–that they are the indigenous people of New Zealand, and that colonialism drove them almost to extinction. And while I'm now by no means an expert (the book itself goes to great pains to say it can't possibly cover everything), I do feel considerably more informed about the Māori culture and history.

This is also an interesting look at cultural isolation and its effects; I had no idea that the Māori were as young as 600-700 years, or that they came from Polynesia. And after just a handful of generations, neither did the Māori, as they had built up oral traditions, histories, and culture all their own in such a short time, and practically believed themselves to be the only people on earth until, of course, the Europeans arrived.

Overall, I like how the author(s) were respectful to the culture and the people, and encouraged the reader to seek out more information if interested, with a bibliography at the back that I personally intend to use. Even so, this is a wealth of information about a people we don't generally learn much about, very well presented in one place. I would recommend it.

This book is nothing short of Shakespearean, and I mean that in the best possible ways. It's in five acts, sure. It features characters with tragic flaws that play out over its course and reach their logical conclusions, sure. But what really floors me about this book is that Sanderson conveys an entire country's world and political intrigue, along with the main cast's place within it (and goodness, that magic system too), sets up multiple interlaced plot events, and manages to stick the landing with just about all of them in a way that seems both organic and inevitable–inevitable in that, again Shakespearean, sense that you know that something's going to happen, it's been foreshadowed for chapter after chapter, but when it finally does happen, it still manages to punch you straight in the gut.

And I'm looking forward to the next book at the end of it. A goddamn masterpiece.

I liked how this book gave a basic overview of these women's lives and some historical context, to the point where I'm encouraged to read further about some of them. That said, the storytelling is rather bare bones and surface-level, so if you're okay with something a bit over simplistic as a jumping-off point, I'd say give this a try.