Reviews

Feathertide by Beth Cartwright

smepsmorp's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful slow-paced

2.75

bumble_abi's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious reflective slow-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? No

No rating as it's YA and it always feels a little unfair to me to star rate books for which I am clearly not the target market.

Honestly I picked this up in a charity shop a while back not quite realising it was YA and I might have left it on the shelf if I had realised. 

It's a cosy fantasy about a girl with feathers growing from her back, and her journey to a magical 'City of Murmurs' to seek out her father, who is part man, part bird. It's slow paced and sweet and (surprisingly) a little bit gay, but I think I'd have DNF'd it had I not found the audiobook on Spotify - so I listened to the last few chapters on the train this morning. Not a bad book by any means but I think not for me.

books_and_mushrooms's review

adventurous lighthearted medium-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

3.75

almondcookies's review against another edition

3.0

The thing that drew me to Feathertide was the characters and prospect of understanding what pieced them together. Unfortunately, I found that aspect slightly lacking and was a bit disappointed. However, in a fantastical twist, I was very pleasantly surprised by the fantastic world building that Feathertide had to offer. It's the best part of the book for me, as Cartwright describes the magical city and its inhabitants with such delight you can't help but smile.

This book started as an uncomplicated Hero's Journey, but slowly morphs into something else that attempts to delve deeper into our main character. However, whilst this did add some depth, I don't think it managed to meet its full potential. Regardless, this is good book with low stakes and a steady pace that I'm glad I read.

rosenewton's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

thebooklovingpanda's review against another edition

The world doesn't always understand things that are different.

DNF @ 41%.

This stunning cover and lovely title themselves deserve a star. Cartwright definitely has a way with words, I will say that. There were plenty of pretty metaphors, several really nice turns of phrase and quotable lines:

In my rage, I had destroyed what I loved most and, in doing so, the only person I had punished was myself.

I have a relatively high tolerance for purple prose (I'm guilty of a dose of waffle here and there myself) but sometimes all the introspection and flowery language caused scenes to drag. And herein lies the problem. The start was slow, opening with several chapters' worth of the protagonist Maréa's childhood, which was both unnecessarily long and written in a tone that sounded much older than it should. I wonder if her childhood would have worked better being told as a memoir sort of recollection? If I was in the middle of reading it, I would still turn the page, but if I was interrupted/had to put the book down then I didn't feel compelled to pick it back up again.

Characters-wise, I struggled to get a read on Maréa's personality - she felt like she could be anyone. And how many times did she have to say whore? (For context, Maréa's mother is a prostitute and Maréa grew up in the basement of a brothel/hair salon building.) Why does she call her friends (almost family) whores all the time? That's their profession but it's not the only thing that they are. I was reminded of the endless 'mate' repetition in S.J. Maas' ACOTAR novels. I also wasn't a fan of the 'gypsy beggar woman' stereotype that popped up briefly. The only character I was interested in was Sorren, the 'madam' essentially, but sadly we left her behind about a quarter in.

I'd heard that Maréa is bisexual and there's a sapphic romance later on, but unfortunately I'm not invested enough in Maréa's story to carry on just for that. Given that this is a debut novel, I will still keep an eye out for Cartwright's future work, as I thought the concepts were intriguing and her writing style is pretty.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

ioana28july's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

loriciawrites_'s review against another edition

hopeful inspiring lighthearted slow-paced

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

2.75

Overall, I don't think I was the intended audience for this book, but also the line-sentence craft was very poor, and you can definitely tell that this is a debut. I hope her second book is better.

goblincat's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

girlglitch's review against another edition

3.0

Feathertide is an unusual novel. The blurb promises secrets, magic and mystery - and it delivers on all those fronts, although not quite in the way I hoped.

I find world-building pretty essential to a good fantasy, but here it was strangely lacking. The prose is dense with imagery - wonderful, vivid, cloying imagery - but imagery alone does not make for decent worldbuilding. I wanted a greater sense of place and context.

The imagery also overwhelms the plot - and it isn't until the final quarter when the story finally comes to life. I found Marea's character development endearing and realistically frustrating: she is a young woman finding herself in more ways than one. She also gains a much greater understanding of others, and I enjoyed watching her relationships develop.

Ultimately, Feathertide is a coming of age story that would have been much more suited to a YA style, with a better balance of plot and poetry.

*Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review*