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aarnireads's review
3.0
What a strange, enchanting book. I think it's the first time I have read anything with a poly relationship and such intricate, diverse societies. It's cool to see such carefully thought out exploration of gender and sexuality and sex in general. Ariah himself was a very frustrating protagonist at times, ignorant and naive, but I think he has a good heart and a curiosity to him, that he learns to be better. His two loves are good to him.
I'm taking two stars though, for consent issues in some parts that never really get explored, and some parts that I just found confusing and dragging.
I'm taking two stars though, for consent issues in some parts that never really get explored, and some parts that I just found confusing and dragging.
roannasylver's review
5.0
"My mind is indecisive, wretchedly so, but my heart is not so patient."
* * *
Oh my goodness.
Oh.
I've spent like ten minutes just staring at the screen and mentally breathing into a paper bag because words kind of don't... begin? (A quirk of my Definitely Not Typical brain = the more important something is to me, or the more intense an emotion I experience, the harder it is for me to express it in words. That's what is happening here, so forgive any strange phrasing. *Ariah's words rid me of mine.*)
It's beautiful. This book is so beautiful. My chest aches thinking about moments in it. The prose reads like poetry, like lyrics to a song you never want to end. You read it and there's *more.* To life. To a world you may not think you belong to. And you might not. But you read something like this, and you think maybe someday, in another place, you could.
I am honestly starting to cry right this instant because of Sorcha in general and his existence. I can't actually get into this, as I'm skirting the edge of actually breaking down, and that WILL push me over, but. He is... so much.
Ariah himself is... one of the most compelling characters I've come across in some time. His openness - dangerous for a Shaper, or at least *in the way his culture dictates they live*, his inability to project "walls" and distance himself from emotion, people, desires, pains. His sense of losing himself in the people around them and the maelstrom of their lives. His indecision, his paralysis, his uncertainty, fear, grief, and slow-dawning hope.
Shapers can create 'mirrors' of magic. This book is a mirror to me. For better or worse, beautiful and infuriating, I see more of myself - and the deep, vulnerable ache to CONNECT, live together and understand one another, even in our shared isolation and relatable solitude - than I can easily say. It's a hard mirror to look into. But it heals the way cauterizing a wound does.
This is very hard to write.
It's sometimes hard to read.
But it should be read.
That is all I can say here because I am on the edge of coherency and it's getting overwhelming. Please read my highlights; there are many. https://www.goodreads.com/notes/31826131-ariah/24662516-roanna-sylver
And please read this book. It might hurt, but it also might heal.
* * *
Oh my goodness.
Oh.
I've spent like ten minutes just staring at the screen and mentally breathing into a paper bag because words kind of don't... begin? (A quirk of my Definitely Not Typical brain = the more important something is to me, or the more intense an emotion I experience, the harder it is for me to express it in words. That's what is happening here, so forgive any strange phrasing. *Ariah's words rid me of mine.*)
It's beautiful. This book is so beautiful. My chest aches thinking about moments in it. The prose reads like poetry, like lyrics to a song you never want to end. You read it and there's *more.* To life. To a world you may not think you belong to. And you might not. But you read something like this, and you think maybe someday, in another place, you could.
I am honestly starting to cry right this instant because of Sorcha in general and his existence. I can't actually get into this, as I'm skirting the edge of actually breaking down, and that WILL push me over, but. He is... so much.
Ariah himself is... one of the most compelling characters I've come across in some time. His openness - dangerous for a Shaper, or at least *in the way his culture dictates they live*, his inability to project "walls" and distance himself from emotion, people, desires, pains. His sense of losing himself in the people around them and the maelstrom of their lives. His indecision, his paralysis, his uncertainty, fear, grief, and slow-dawning hope.
Shapers can create 'mirrors' of magic. This book is a mirror to me. For better or worse, beautiful and infuriating, I see more of myself - and the deep, vulnerable ache to CONNECT, live together and understand one another, even in our shared isolation and relatable solitude - than I can easily say. It's a hard mirror to look into. But it heals the way cauterizing a wound does.
This is very hard to write.
It's sometimes hard to read.
But it should be read.
That is all I can say here because I am on the edge of coherency and it's getting overwhelming. Please read my highlights; there are many. https://www.goodreads.com/notes/31826131-ariah/24662516-roanna-sylver
And please read this book. It might hurt, but it also might heal.
gillianw's review
4.0
I'm not particularly fond of fantasy novels but this one came so highly recommended that I thought I would give it a try. I'm glad I did. It turned out to be a beautiful, meandering story that forces us to look at friendship, love, gender and family in a new light and it couldn't possibly be more relevant. 4 stars
dragon_s_hoard's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
missn11's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
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
5.0
ashley_elizabeth's review against another edition
A bit too slow-paced for me, and I am already struggling with Ariah's POV. Several people I know really enjoy this book, though, so I'll likely try again at some point.
mesrayures's review against another edition
as frustrating as an odyssey tends to be! well written, kind of abuses ellipses sometimes. Weirdly reminded me of Candide??
angelgotchi's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
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
3.75
I had fun reading this, and liked it a lot. It was a super fun story with a loveable cast.
I feel as though this was a book in which almost too much happened. I would have preferred multiple books, with the story extended, allowing room for a deeper read into some of the events. For example, something interesting will start to happen, and then in the next paragraph it will have ended with a 'Six years had passed' type of thing. Which I didn't like.
Some of the plot and character was confusing to me. I liked Dirva as a flawed character but I grew to be annoyed with him. Some things come into the story with zero explanation and stay that way, while other things are overexplained. Some plot points like Ariah's torture and growing relationship with Laavi are completely rushed over even though they are major parts of the story which are often talked about. Some minor parts of the story seemed a bit 'white-knight'-ish, like certain ways the slaves are described. I loved Ariah as a main character, but I feel like I could have known more about him. I wasn't expecting the story to have a happy ending either since so many events ended badly. As in, halfway through whenever something started to happen I was setting myself up for another failure or upset. Like the relationship between Ariah and Sorcha, and Ariah and Dirva, and so on.
Overall Ariah was a very good read, it explored things like sex, gender, race, and hierarchy really well. I wish that parts of the story were more fleshed out. I truly feel that this story would have been better as a series of books rather than a single. It ended a bit abruptly, but I'm glad it had a happy ending.
I feel as though this was a book in which almost too much happened. I would have preferred multiple books, with the story extended, allowing room for a deeper read into some of the events. For example, something interesting will start to happen, and then in the next paragraph it will have ended with a 'Six years had passed' type of thing. Which I didn't like.
Overall Ariah was a very good read, it explored things like sex, gender, race, and hierarchy really well. I wish that parts of the story were more fleshed out. I truly feel that this story would have been better as a series of books rather than a single. It ended a bit abruptly, but I'm glad it had a happy ending.
knitcowboy's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
2.5
I desperately wanted to love this book, and halfway in I did! But then the inconsistencies and worldbuilding issues started to pile on in a way I couldn't ignore.
I admit, that as a linguist I have a more nuanced and deeper understanding of languages and teaching of them, so this specific issue I had with the book may just be a me problem. But. The way linguistics and teaching languages are portrayed in Ariah is extremely frustrating, and make no sense even in the cultural setting inside the book. Ariah is supposedly able to give multiple hours long lectures about a language's structure without giving any vocabulary with it. I have attended many a language teaching course and lecture about linguistics. Even in lectures where I'm not asked to learn the language shown in the examples, just to examine the grammar, I am shown sentences in that language. You cannot explain a foreign grammar several hours without showing a single word in that language. And then Ariah is surprised that the only elf in the study hall tells him that she isn't learning anything?? Like no shit. I also don't buy that this is the "Qin way" of teaching languages. Because why would it be? Especially because no one seems to be learning anything, and well. If you lived in a deeply racist society and your teacher who was from the marginalized group couldn't teach you anything, would you be just cool with it? Of course not! Ariah isn't that special that he could get away with it, and I refuse to believe that from the 300 students he had only one actually wanted to learn the language!
Other issues I had was how consent and sex was handled. When Ariah gets raped by basically everyone in town, no one comments. But when he (without knowing and under a spell!) kisses a woman (who goes on to rape him later) ARIAH is told that he needs to get a grip and learn about consent. I'm sorry? Kissing someone without asking is worse than several strangers raping you because they all know he can't fight against them? This never gets resolved btw, Ariah just goes on living and never talks about it with anyone.
There are other inconsistencies, like the whole book being full of comments and implications that it's easy to end up as a factory worker unless you have good luck and special skills, but then like 80% in suddenly there's a shortage of factory workers even though we've so far been lead to believe that it's easy and likely to become one. I also don't understand what kind of linguistic teaching Ariah received under Dirva's mentoring, likely a bad one, because there's no way he didn't know about languages which conceptualise gender (-ed pronouns) differently. And as a native speaker of one of those irl genderless languages, I found it somewhat insulting how they were described in the book.
Also, the book is written like Ariah is telling the story to someone else. (He sometimes extremely rarely makes allusions to "you" the reader.) But who exactly are we supposed to be? Surely not his children because he probably wouldn't be explaining his sex life quite in so much detail, but it also doesn't really make sense for the "you" to be Sorcha or Shayat (who btw deserved to have more character development in the book).
Anyway, it seems like this is a love it or hate it kinda book. I'm just sad I wasn't one to love it, even when I really wanted to :(
I admit, that as a linguist I have a more nuanced and deeper understanding of languages and teaching of them, so this specific issue I had with the book may just be a me problem. But. The way linguistics and teaching languages are portrayed in Ariah is extremely frustrating, and make no sense even in the cultural setting inside the book. Ariah is supposedly able to give multiple hours long lectures about a language's structure without giving any vocabulary with it. I have attended many a language teaching course and lecture about linguistics. Even in lectures where I'm not asked to learn the language shown in the examples, just to examine the grammar, I am shown sentences in that language. You cannot explain a foreign grammar several hours without showing a single word in that language. And then Ariah is surprised that the only elf in the study hall tells him that she isn't learning anything?? Like no shit. I also don't buy that this is the "Qin way" of teaching languages. Because why would it be? Especially because no one seems to be learning anything, and well. If you lived in a deeply racist society and your teacher who was from the marginalized group couldn't teach you anything, would you be just cool with it? Of course not! Ariah isn't that special that he could get away with it, and I refuse to believe that from the 300 students he had only one actually wanted to learn the language!
Other issues I had was how consent and sex was handled. When Ariah gets raped by basically everyone in town, no one comments. But when he (without knowing and under a spell!) kisses a woman (who goes on to rape him later) ARIAH is told that he needs to get a grip and learn about consent. I'm sorry? Kissing someone without asking is worse than several strangers raping you because they all know he can't fight against them? This never gets resolved btw, Ariah just goes on living and never talks about it with anyone.
There are other inconsistencies, like the whole book being full of comments and implications that it's easy to end up as a factory worker unless you have good luck and special skills, but then like 80% in suddenly there's a shortage of factory workers even though we've so far been lead to believe that it's easy and likely to become one. I also don't understand what kind of linguistic teaching Ariah received under Dirva's mentoring, likely a bad one, because there's no way he didn't know about languages which conceptualise gender (-ed pronouns) differently. And as a native speaker of one of those irl genderless languages, I found it somewhat insulting how they were described in the book.
Also, the book is written like Ariah is telling the story to someone else. (He sometimes extremely rarely makes allusions to "you" the reader.) But who exactly are we supposed to be? Surely not his children because he probably wouldn't be explaining his sex life quite in so much detail, but it also doesn't really make sense for the "you" to be Sorcha or Shayat (who btw deserved to have more character development in the book).
Anyway, it seems like this is a love it or hate it kinda book. I'm just sad I wasn't one to love it, even when I really wanted to :(
livelaughlesbian99's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
I LOVED this book. If you want a sprawling epic fantasy, this is it. If you want polyamory and queer worldbuilding, this is it. If you want good worldbuilding, this is it.
My only complaints are: the worldbuilding is not always easy to follow. I wish we spent more time in the many settings of the novel developing the atmosphere of them.
If you plan on reading, here is a little guide so you can follow worldbuilding from early on. Light spoilers but not that ruin the reading:
Qin: Humans who rule the Empire
Semadran: Silver elves. Seem to be native to Empire land. Sometimes called tinks as a slur
Red Elves: Athenorkos. Seem to be native to land beyond empire.
Nahsiyya: Mixed heritage elves
There are also other kinds of elves you will see
Shaper: A power that allows for mind reading and partial mind control. In the Empire if you are declared a Shaper you probably won’t be able to safely cross a border. In elven communities you cannot marry, though you will be respected. The power is a great burden.
Charms: Common ability of red elves. Can cause people to experience false emotions or see things they didn’t (which is called mirroring)
Happy reading!
My only complaints are: the worldbuilding is not always easy to follow. I wish we spent more time in the many settings of the novel developing the atmosphere of them.
If you plan on reading, here is a little guide so you can follow worldbuilding from early on. Light spoilers but not that ruin the reading:
Semadran: Silver elves. Seem to be native to Empire land. Sometimes called tinks as a slur
Red Elves: Athenorkos. Seem to be native to land beyond empire.
Nahsiyya: Mixed heritage elves
There are also other kinds of elves you will see
Shaper: A power that allows for mind reading and partial mind control. In the Empire if you are declared a Shaper you probably won’t be able to safely cross a border. In elven communities you cannot marry, though you will be respected. The power is a great burden.
Charms: Common ability of red elves. Can cause people to experience false emotions or see things they didn’t (which is called mirroring)
Happy reading!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Death of parent, Violence, Xenophobia, Slavery, and Colonisation
Moderate: Sexual assault