Jamie
Contains spoilers
a book all filipinos should read at least once in their lifetime.
the story starts strong with a harrowingly grotesque prologue, and moves forward following a priest-detective hybrid tandem as they uncover a bleak and anger-inducing mystery: the monthly murders of young boys by a payatas serial killer.
i thought characterization was great. priests saenz and jerome theorizing the murderer’s methods and motives was always a page-turner, and i enjoyed their symbolic parent/mentor and child/mentee dynamics. ben arcinas was so successfully infuriating that i genuinely wished for him to rot in hell (i was pleasantly surprised by his redemption arc albeit i thought it a bit too swift). there is this one chapter — by far the most impactful and most demoralizing — where the victims' mothers were informed of their sons' murder , that on its own, i would've rated six stars. overall, i never would’ve thought a book following the investigations of two scholarly priests would be this interesting.
critique-wise, i will say that the first third of the novel contains quite clunky exposition but i found that smaller and smaller circles gets warmer and more insightful as you read progressively. things start to get seriously unsettling about 75% in the book so be forewarned. unfortunately, the weakest component of this story is its conclusion: it was too abrupt (though, perhaps that was deliberate on batacan's end, so that she could demonstrate how misfortunes never wrap up with satisfaction). on a similar note, i am fervent in wishing that alex should've gotten a less depressing, less unjust ending. but i guess that's the point of this novel: to illustrate how unfair life can be.
to future readers, don't start this with expectations of mindboggling mystery. i've found its qualities are more appreciated if received less for the criminal investigation unfurling, and more for its (realistic) reflections of filipino cultural faults. it remarkably unveils insight into the utter incompetence of philippine law enforcement, goddamn corruption, expediency, and complete absence of due process. as i read through the chapters, i thought that smaller and smaller circles might as well be a work of non-fiction.
such important thematic coverage of injustice. quite the heavy book and quite the wake up call. it left me angry. irate, even... more dreadfully, this book is a meaningfully imposing narrative of victims of abuse who consequently inflict abuse too... of a child so badly harmed that he grew up broken, driven to harm others in turn. the sad reality of victims of evil, and of how they wrongfully mistreated and forsaken.
if you asked p. djeli clark to write a bad book, it would probably still turn out pretty great.
at this point, i've read master of djinn, and all its prequel short stories and novellas so i was delighted to experience his familiar lush writing that paints an even more lush world. the more i read his works, the more i'm appalled by clark’s prose's vivid quality. as such, the dead cat tail assassins had me dazed. reading this was like — forgive my poor metaphors — watching watercolors paint an artwork, one brush stroke at a time. i could sense the port of tal abisi, the shimmer, sky's initial tower, all so viscerally. it's the type of prose that can't help but read so smooth and fluid yet has you compelled to pause and savor its beauty, word per word.
the premise is hilariously fun: a zombie assassin contracted to kill someone. except that someone is herself from the past. why? because some old powerful guy's seeking vengeance on her for killing his child-murderer son who was supposed to grant him immortality. it was weird. but so fun. the dialogue contains great banter with just enough back and forth, and with a satisfying amount of times it had me chuckling.
clark's latest novella is animated not only with his lush writing, picturesque world-building, and hilarious dialogue, but especially through his distinctive characters. eveen and sky are some of the strongest (and i don't mean this in a captain marvel kind of way) female protagonists. fennis is too precious. i mean, c'mon, a bad ass zombie, a baby-faced man, a sassy time refugee, an eccentric scientist, a power-hungry politician, a delinquent sorcery nerd, and one (or two?) jamaican-sounding fiery goddesses all in one story? sounds like a recipe for a good, chaotic time.
my only critique is that a great deal of the story was packed into mere 200+ pages. it almost felt like a number of the events and plot points that transpired wouldn’t have felt rushed if the story had more air to breathe, more space to live in (especially that one chapter where three new characters were randomly introduced, two of which killed in the same chapter). i have to caveat though that this isn't a major fault; i simply believe that eveen's adventures would be appreciated and relished much more in a longer format.
throughout the entire book, my brain could not stop wondering (in the most fun way possible), "how is this happening?", and that pretty much synthesizes my reading experience. tldr: ridiculously, magical fun.
some miscellaneous thoughts:
- asheel the maniac hunter, you will always be legendary
- that ending will absolutely leave some people dissatisfied but i ate it all up (cmon, sassy heavily-accented goddess doppelgangers?)
- “yuh acolyte hav ah dutty mout. but shi talk truut—sistah.” needs to be tattooed on my forehead
2.5 stars
this might be my largest disappointment of the year. jade city has been on my tbr for numerous months and i'm more than aware it is a much beloved story.
before i list my issues with this story, let me preface by saying fonda lee's writing is good. i enjoyed some characters decently, especially lan and anden. and the premise had a lot of potential. in terms of actual reading experience though, it was just... okay.
the overarching conflict of clan conquest felt too distant. maybe i had gone into this book with the presumption of it having high stakes (which is naturally my taste with fantasy, i need the world to be ending to pique my interest) and was severely let down because jade city read more like a semi-draggy family drama.
i massively wish there was more exposition on the jade disciplines. the portions of the story where the kauls wielded their jade abilities were some of my favorite, though they were quite few. that last fight scene between hilo and gont where anden is inserted as a secret weapon was cool. speaking of, as of the moment, i'm considering continuing the series even if this first installment was quite subpar, i'm curious to see anden's relationship with jade and its addictive qualities develop.
covered interesting themes: from imperialism, nationalism, politics, to ethnocentrism, all of which i don't encounter frequently in the books that i read, so the thematic coverage was pleasant, albeit it fell short. wish it was explored more directly.
lan's death was too abrupt. maybe i think this way because he was my favorite character. had to slog through the remainder of the book after his death. truly what wasted potential. also felt his dependence on shine wasn't nearly explored enough. overall, his death felt like a contrite device to trigger shae's return to green bone life and establishment as weather man. which by the way, was majorly abrupt too.
moving on to some miscellaneous thoughts about the book:
i felt ambivalent with the family dynamics. i cared little for hilo, minutely for shae, and a fair amount for lan. their interactions were interesting at times and boring at others.
the character angst felt off-putting. especially hilo.
i had virtually no care for the clan conflicts. no peak this, mountain that. ayt madashi this, kaul lan that.
bero's plot line was useless, other than being the cause for lan's death.
the deitist religion was random and unexplored.
the female characters (kaul shae, maik wen, ayt madashi) did not get nearly as much development as the male ones.
overall, not a very satisfying read. promising premise, disappointing execution and focus. no tangible sense of escalation. not for me.
2.75 stars
this is the kind of book that warms up to you. i found the writing overly descriptive and at a lot of times in the beginning, parts were unnecessary. but by the third chapter (which featured my favorite story), it grew on me, even if it did feel slightly contrived. this is the kind of book that requires steady patience to receive its simple, heartfelt themes. on another note, the librarian and her assistant are PRECIOUS.
an adequate conclusion to the trilogy. enjoyed the first, was mesmerized by the second, and now unfortunately left wanting more from this third installment. felt simultaneously a bit lost and too rushed. not enough depth provided regarding all the spiritual unravellings, leaving immortal lore scattered. at times, was a great exploration of morality, but was too distracted by the deus ex machina overuse to fully appreciate themes. a portion of my three stars is likely due to nostalgia and character attachment...
where do i even begin... a world so rich and colorful, so fantastically epic in scale that gets larger and larger. the characters, namely fatma, siti, hadia, and abigail, were such well-developed, fleshed-out people whom i could read 1000 more novels about. such profound, social themes tackled so masterfully and just so gosh darn funny. i need to devour more of this world!
i'd adored p djeli clark's novellas in this series but master of djinn has cemented him as an ultimate favorite author.
2.5 stars
disappointing, but not entirely bad! found the world-building incomplete. characters aside from the main two were all a bore. for some reason, just couldn't latch onto the story (in other words, i had no idea what was happening more than half the time). BUT, gideon and harrow are an amusing duo! and the magic system was so cool, wish it was better illustrated...
i felt countless visceral urges to pause reading so i could catch my breath. only to turn to the next page and have my jaw drop. again.
this is a world that gets bigger and bigger, darker and darker, and more deliciously horrifying (and devastating). putting this book down was an impossible feat.
i will say though that the first 60% of the book reads quite slow but the end makes up for it by a mile. also, helena and vonvalt's relationship still bothers me as it did in the first book.
3.75
was just looking for a short read to palate cleanse and pleasantly found myself enthralled by this world, its creatures, and its magic system. the writing was lush and mystical without being overly descriptive. i had fun following the main character throughout her investigations and had satisfaction (the right amount) watching her piece the puzzle together! short but impactful.
perhaps it was my skyrocketing high expectations, perhaps it was the fact the main character is a literal AI, perhaps it was the slow plot... ancillary justice was just quite dull. and distant. felt no attachment to the story. last few chapters were slightly interesting. overall, alluring concept that to me, fell cold in execution.