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tachyondecay's review
It pains me, because everyone is so hyped about Kameron Hurley, and I want to be hyped too. Alas, this first foray into her writing was not a successful venture. Despite spending exactly a week with this book, I am just barely halfway through. It was this realization that made me decide to cut my losses. I am not going to finish The Mirror Empire.
Principally, I just don’t care about any of the main characters and their fate. I genuinely do not care to find out how this book ends.
That isn’t just a problem with the characterization (which is poor) but also the plot, which is stretched thin. For example, Lilia’s entire plot in this first half of the book is “go back and forth between two travel companions, both of whom she hates, and ending up exactly nowhere.” Zezili is a fearsome general who spends her time whinging that her empress is going to get everyone killed, but after half a novel, she still hasn’t done anything about it. Likewise with Ahkio or Roh—these characters are moving slower than molasses.
I was in a reading slump earlier, one which Felix Ever After rescued me from. This book has threatened to send me spiralling back into the slump. Sigh.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Death of parent, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Slavery, Racism, Cannibalism, and Genocide
Moderate: Sexual assault
laisai's review
I got about 1/3 of the way through the book, trying very hard to see if it would get better. Perhaps it did in the end, but it was too dark and painful for me to read personally, though the world-building and especially the way the author wrote about gender was very, very interesting. In the end, there were just too many difficult, graphic topics for me to handle. Wish I would have known before starting that this is typical for Kameron Hurley's writing. The back-cover summary did not prepare me for the contents, unfortunately.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Rape
Moderate: Death and Gore
alexalily's review
adventurous
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism, Genocide, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Domestic abuse, Gore, Self harm, Slavery, Ableism, Child death, and Death
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