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tavvyink's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
chelsea_u's review against another edition
4.0
4.3 Stars
Beautiful illustrations, an epic adventure with lots of culture and language. My favorite parts were the poems and of course, Justice. An interesting read, that will have you wanting more and yet full at the same time. A riveting journey of strife, sadness, and joy.
Beautiful illustrations, an epic adventure with lots of culture and language. My favorite parts were the poems and of course, Justice. An interesting read, that will have you wanting more and yet full at the same time. A riveting journey of strife, sadness, and joy.
misselaineous's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
medium-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? It's complicated
4.25
baya_111's review against another edition
3.0
It's not bad but I didn't really like this book either.
arrowsartsandbooks's review against another edition
4.0
This is a poetic book about a prince named Acolmiztli and his life journey. It is written through the lens of pre-Columbian Mexico, making it interesting to see their view on gender and sexuality. In this book, there are several genders. One of the main characters, Izcalloh, is a xochihuah. They stick with Nezahualcoyotl for as long as possible and their relationship develops over the years. There are several themes in this book such as family, war, poetry, gender fluidity, etc. Nezahualcoyotl has such a deep relationship with a coyote that's difficult to explain with words. They help each other survive at the most dangerous points in their lives and bond throughout those moments. The unfamiliar terms guide in the back of the book was very helpful. This is a beautiful story that I would recommend to anyone.
peachybek's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
pvp_niki's review
Unfortunately, the writing style is not my cup of tea.
I was drawn to this book because of the setting, I was really excited to read a story set in pre-columbian Mexico. I think this book is perfect for those who are looking for a classic historical fiction or an epic for this setting and period in history we don't really see represented. It's clear that the era and setting is well researched and there are beautiful illustrations throughout the book that really enchance the experience of reading this book.
I think the writing style probably fits the genre and readers enjoying a lot of history books will love this book, but for me the narration was too distant to feel involved and the first 15% is basically a lot of infodump and some events and activities a ruler tipically participates in. I usually prefer books that are character-driven, when I can very soon feel invested in the characters and their personal stories. All the political factions and interests and familial relations however are really dense at the beginning of the book and are pretty confusing unless you have some basic knowledge of that part of the history which I unfortunately don't. (It's of course not the author's or the book's fault we don't really hear about this period in history in education or in the media.)
I have to admit that I'm not really invested in political intrigue and ruling families drama unless it's either on a very personal level i.e. I'm invested in the characters because the narration shows them closely, or on a global level e.g. this faction has to succeed because people will suffer if they don't. And if I see the start of a personal plotline I can easily get through any kind of infodump but here I just felt detached and I simply felt that I cannot work myself through the book to find out if it becomes something more to my liking.
However, this only reflects my taste, if you're a fan of classic historical fiction you're very likely to love this book!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing the ARC.
I was drawn to this book because of the setting, I was really excited to read a story set in pre-columbian Mexico. I think this book is perfect for those who are looking for a classic historical fiction or an epic for this setting and period in history we don't really see represented. It's clear that the era and setting is well researched and there are beautiful illustrations throughout the book that really enchance the experience of reading this book.
I think the writing style probably fits the genre and readers enjoying a lot of history books will love this book, but for me the narration was too distant to feel involved and the first 15% is basically a lot of infodump and some events and activities a ruler tipically participates in. I usually prefer books that are character-driven, when I can very soon feel invested in the characters and their personal stories. All the political factions and interests and familial relations however are really dense at the beginning of the book and are pretty confusing unless you have some basic knowledge of that part of the history which I unfortunately don't. (It's of course not the author's or the book's fault we don't really hear about this period in history in education or in the media.)
I have to admit that I'm not really invested in political intrigue and ruling families drama unless it's either on a very personal level i.e. I'm invested in the characters because the narration shows them closely, or on a global level e.g. this faction has to succeed because people will suffer if they don't. And if I see the start of a personal plotline I can easily get through any kind of infodump but here I just felt detached and I simply felt that I cannot work myself through the book to find out if it becomes something more to my liking.
However, this only reflects my taste, if you're a fan of classic historical fiction you're very likely to love this book!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing the ARC.