Adeline
3.5 stars Epic fantasy with elements of murder mystery, following Neema, a scholar who becomes involved in a tournament to choose the next emperor, after one of the contender for the throne has been found murdered.
Soooo overall this was a great concept but the execution was a mixed bag for me. It started quite well, this being a fast paced setting of the story and the world so I quickly went through the first third of the book.
I really liked the concept , a mix of murder mystery and tournament. The world building was super interesting, specifically the animal deities and their specificities being transmitted to their followers. I liked the themes of the power of stories and folktales, religion as human invention, love, family, etc
The quality of the prose felt inconsistent, but mostly the writing was good especially the descriptions and world building elements.
I liked Neema as the main character and her arc, (I’ve seen some reviews identifying her as neurodivergent) and the other characters like Tala, Yasila, Ruko and Fenn. However, most of the time, there was something about the relationship and dialogue between characters that bothered me. Despite being in their 20s and 30s, their interactions felt a bit superficial and juvenile (not that people in that age group can’t have juvenile moments but still).
Also it became more and more evident that each plot points didn’t evolve organically or subtlety enough, like some scenes was stitched together. So many of the twists and the emotional scenes were less impactful, though I did really like the type of twists the author went for. Halfway into the book the main resolution of the mystery plot felt rushed and the tournament part dragged, so the pacing also felt off, I think a shorter, edited book more focused on the mystery would have been better.
Because the execution was lacking, I’m not sure I’ll check out the sequel immediately and in physical format, I might download the ebook one day.
3.5 stars Epic fantasy with elements of murder mystery, following Neema, a scholar who becomes involved in a tournament to choose the next emperor, after one of the contender for the throne has been found murdered.
Soooo overall this was a great concept but the execution was a mixed bag for me. It started quite well, this being a fast paced setting of the story and the world so I quickly went through the first third of the book.
I really liked the concept , a mix of murder mystery and tournament. The world building was super interesting, specifically the animal deities and their specificities being transmitted to their followers. I liked the themes of the power of stories and folktales, religion as human invention, love, family, etc
The quality of the prose felt inconsistent, but mostly the writing was good especially the descriptions and world building elements.
I liked Neema as the main character and her arc, (I’ve seen some reviews identifying her as neurodivergent) and the other characters like Tala, Yasila, Ruko and Fenn. However, most of the time, there was something about the relationship and dialogue between characters that bothered me. Despite being in their 20s and 30s, their interactions felt a bit superficial and juvenile (not that people in that age group can’t have juvenile moments but still).
Also it became more and more evident that each plot points didn’t evolve organically or subtlety enough, like some scenes was stitched together. So many of the twists and the emotional scenes were less impactful, though I did really like the type of twists the author went for. Halfway into the book the main resolution of the mystery plot felt rushed and the tournament part dragged, so the pacing also felt off, I think a shorter, edited book more focused on the mystery would have been better.
Because the execution was lacking, I’m not sure I’ll check out the sequel immediately and in physical format, I might download the ebook one day.