Reviews

A Book of Tongues by Gemma Files

sandygx260's review

4.0

This book is insane. It's like Gemma Files decided to collect a huge grab bag of craziness and started running with it. First off, I don't like Westerns, but the only relation this has to a trad Western is that it is set out West and there are saloons, bandits, and gunslingers.

There is also a homicidal gay man with the temperament of a rabid racoon, a preacher turned hexmaster who loves said homicidal gay man, and a powerful goddess—or is she— out to destroy the world? Unleash the hell of ancient Mexican gods on the world?

Rainbow is quite a piece of wicked work.

One reason I can't grant this mayhem five stars of love and lust is the dialog. In her quest to be authentic to how certain people talk in 1866, Files creates some almost incomprehensible passages. Plus there are a few too many scenes where the descriptions become unhinged to the point where I didn't know what the hell happened in the story. Yes, using writing to display hallucinatory madness sounds good, but it doesn't always work.

I just started the second book. Tasty.

I highly recommend this book to readers who love the unexpected and love gunslingers who love to fuck.

mama_reads_too_much's review

DNF @50%. I was on the fence going into this book, but decide to give it a try anyway. I should have just skipped it.

trashgobby's review

adventurous challenging funny mysterious 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

3.0

whodey_spaceman's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

qalminator's review against another edition

2.0

Well. That was a thing. Since it's Files, the writing is quite good, as is the world-building. But. Did we really need so much visceral detail? Not just the unnecessarily detailed sex scenes, but the long, drawn-out descriptions of organ removal, etc? Maybe that was just being true to the Aztec legends and/or history this is built on, but, yick. I really could have done without it.

It ends on a notable cliffhanger, but I don't know when I'll feel up to the second book, if ever. It's an extremely bleak, disgusting world Files has created, and I don't feel like spending any more time in it right now.

sarahjonewt's review

2.0

Horrible, clumsy dialogue. Prose that was probably intended to be ethereal and poetic but ended up being opaque and annoying; overly descriptive writing when it wasn't needed and lack of clarity when it was. It would be one star, but I did end up finishing it, so whatever je ne sais quoi it was that compelled me to keep turning pages warrants at least two stars, I guess.

I think I have the second and third book in my mailbox, but I'm gonna leave them there and start another series. I might one day come back to this series...

dmpphoto's review

2.0

This book feels like if someone wrote you a beautiful poem to tell you the worst news of your life. The words themselves are wonderful but no matter how you read them you still feel sick afterwards.

Will not be continuing on with this series, will not pass go will not collect $200. I didn’t like any of these characters they all gave me the ick.
Maybe it was all the slurs woven into an LGBT narrative I was waiting for something to happen to justify all the horrible and it just never happened. I thought for sure there would be a point. At the end when where wasn’t I felt like I had been manipulated.

linlinlin's review

I really wanted to love this; Files comes recommended by Gretchen Felker Martin which is no small praise. But I am too old to tolerate much senseless murder even in a horror novel, and this book uses background character death as scenery. Not here and there or as part of a fight; bodies litter the pages from the get go. Feels like Tarantino or an anime. In my twenties I would have frothed this. Heck, in my twenties I wrote novels like this. I look forward to trying Gemma Files' more recent works instead and might recommend you try that too, unless you are still the target age group. I reckon you could have loads of fun if you are. Frankly I think it's important to enjoy things like this while you can! 

erinsanson's review

3.0

The concept of the book was interesting, but got very bogged down as the story progressed. The narrative style changes at least three times, which irked me. First it was entirely present, then in the middle it became all flashback, and then at the end it didn't entirely resume present but was also told from a future perspective as well. With a very complex plot (I'm assuming because I didn't understand it, but maybe it was just all those crazy Aztec names), jumping around stylistically like that just confuses everyone. More.

The writing in itself was a pleasure though. I could get lost in some of those descriptive passages. Also I really liked the characters' growth and how they clearly but complexly got from point A to point B. Not a bad read, but not great.

primereads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

Did I like this book? Uncertain.

Will I read the next one? Probably.