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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
Sounded/felt promising, with a very ethnically diverse cast (many dark-skinned, some blond, some steppe-Asian-sounding, and different sexual orientations, too), a fresh new world to explore (with carrion-bird riders and mammoth-drawn fairgrounds), and the interesting premise of secret identity and warring gods, but in the end it feels like one long build-up to and set-up for the hopefully more eventful second book. I will give the second volume a try to see if it lives up to its potential, but the world-building didn't give satisfying-enough depth here (the worm-people only make brief cameos with no personality so far, the warring-deities aspect is only spoken of and doesn't make a tangible appearance either, and I felt the mammoth-drawn castles and fairs could really have used an illustration to clarify my mental image of them) and the character development in several cases could have used more attention. This felt more like a long introduction to the backgrounds of the multiple main characters. Though a few characters took turns I didn't expect (a good sign for later twists?), hopefully the second book will pick up the plot and character development now that events are getting some traction.
reviews.metaphorosis.com
3.5 stars
A baby is rescued from the death his father the king intends. Years later, Smiler's Fair draws together a diverse set of people, each with their own needs and destinies.
I'm not a Doctor Who fan, and I'd never heard of Rebecca Levene before this, but I enjoyed this fantasy novel. The writing is smooth, and the plot complex, but she does a pretty good job of keeping the many threads of her plot distinct.
Levene describes a mostly standard fantasy universe, with a trace of steampunk at the end. She follows the modern trend by dealing matter-of-factly with elements once elided from standard mainstream fantasy - sex, waste, prostitution, homosexuality, etc. What's more disappointing is that despite this relatively modern outlook, gender relations in the world of Smiler's Fair are not much different than they would have been in a fantasy from the '70s. Levene's far from unique in this, but where is it written that in a medieval world, men's muscles must dictate the shape of the world? It's fantasy.
That quibble aside, Levene does a nice job of establishing an intriguing, credible world, and of creating events with both individual and epic import. There are many characters, and for the most part they're well explored individuals with personalities and desires of their own. There are perhaps a few too many - Levene kills off one or two in such a way that I wondered why they existed at all; they were interesting, but seemed to add little to the overall arc of the story - red herrings, in a way. The story is large enough not to need that.
There are plenty of hints and mysteries laid out, with all sorts of puzzles laid out for future solution, but with enough pieces placed that we don't leave the book frustrated. The book makes no pretense of being a standalone piece, but it does beach the plot on a decent resting spot while we wait for the next book.
I will be reading that next book. I wasn't bowled over by this one, but I definitely enjoyed it, and particularly enjoyed exploring one fairly big corner of this world. Once Levene starts pulling all the strands together, I have the feeling that the next book will be even better and stronger than this. I hope so, and look forward to finding out.
NB: Received free copy from Net Galley.
3.4 ☆☆☆
I...I honestly don't really know what to do with this book. I definitely liked it more than I thought I would, but is just strange.
I'll probably read the second book, but only after a long break.
I...I honestly don't really know what to do with this book. I definitely liked it more than I thought I would, but is just strange.
I'll probably read the second book, but only after a long break.
O good classic epic-fantasy novel with a few interesting angles. Unfortunately, it is greatly overhyped, so a solid epic-fantasy book becomes a disappointing one.
Put simply, I loved this book. Rich with characters that were destined to come together, I thoroughly enjoyed the works of Smiler's Fair and couldn't put this book down. It's like a dark version of the Night Circus and I'd definitely recommend it.
I love books centered around travelling fairs (e.g. Caraval, The Night Circus,...) so when I saw this book I knew that I was gonna enjoy it. And I was not wrong!
In addition to looking absolutely gorgeous, this book has an amazing story and a wonderful world. But what really makes this story great are the characters. There are a lot of them (which can, in some books, be overwhelming), but as soon as I got used to the changing names and locations I loved every one of them. They are all so different, with different outlooks on the world and the main conflict of the story, and it was super interesting to see everything from so many points of view. The individual sub-plots in no way took away from the main storyline (which doesn't really get as much 'page-time' as you'd expect), but I loved that!
The book takes you to all corners of this fictional universe, changing locations with ease and describing every new place beautifully.
I honestly can't wait to get started on the next book!
In addition to looking absolutely gorgeous, this book has an amazing story and a wonderful world. But what really makes this story great are the characters. There are a lot of them (which can, in some books, be overwhelming), but as soon as I got used to the changing names and locations I loved every one of them. They are all so different, with different outlooks on the world and the main conflict of the story, and it was super interesting to see everything from so many points of view. The individual sub-plots in no way took away from the main storyline (which doesn't really get as much 'page-time' as you'd expect), but I loved that!
The book takes you to all corners of this fictional universe, changing locations with ease and describing every new place beautifully.
I honestly can't wait to get started on the next book!
I'm giving this book a 4.5*s and I was very surprised by this never having heard of the book or author before. I received this free from Hodderscape, but that doesn't affect my views or opinions on it, it was genuinely really engaging and exciting, and here's why...
This is a story which has been compared to The Night Circus many times, and indeed it does focus on a fair, however this is much darker, grittier and more down to earth than The Night Circus. This story features a couple of different characters whose paths all either start, pass through or end at Smiler's Fair and each of their plot's is somehow connected.
First we have Nethmi who is the daughter of a an Ashane Lord and she's being sent away to the Tribe to marry a man she's never met. Her Uncle is the one who has sent her, he's not a very nice guy (she believes he might have killed her father), and it's a political move for friendship with the Tribes on his part. Nethmi is a character who took a while to grow on me because I felt that she was a little bit naive and irritating at times, but this certainly didn't last and as the story went on she did become someone whose story I enjoyed, and who grew as a character.
I liked seeing the way that she was forced to make decisions she;d never envisioned, the way that she had to conquer her fears, and how she became a stronger character for the things she went through.
Next we have Eric who is my favourite character, Eric is a molly, or a male whore, at Smiler's and he's pretty happy with his life, but there's a new whore who's a bit better than him, and he's not too happy about that. He has had a hard beginning to life and Smiler's is a place where he felt that he could settle and live a safe life, but when a new Patron takes a fancy to him he thinks maybe it's time to change.
Eric was one of the sweetest and most entertaining characters in the book and his story line was great too. I instantly connected with him and sympathised with his plight, he was certainly put in some rather bad situations! I think his personality and resolve was tested a lot over the course of this book and he learned a lot about the ways of the world and the cruelty of people. I think his story will be extremely interesting in book 2 and can't wait to see what happens with him!
Next we have Dae Hyo who is a member of the Dae Tribe. He's an older character and he's a very resentful and hardened character too. When he was a young boy the Chun (another tribe) came into his homeland and pillaged, raped and murdered. He was one of the few survivors of the Dae clan, and ever since that day he's wanted revenge.
Of course, revenge is all well and good, but after letting his hunger for revenge fester and grow over many years he's become a drunk and lost his way a bit. He has to come to some harsh realisations over the course of the book, and he certainly meets some very interesting people along the way who help and hinder his plight.
Whilst I liked his character for his intentions I felt he was another character who steadily grew on me and by the end I liked him. I think he's a fairly real interpretation of what such loss and grief can drive a man to do, and I loved the reality shown there.
We also follow Krish, a young goatherd who lives away from most of the Ashane society in a small village with his mother and pa. He and his father have a bad relationship due to his father's drinking problem and abuse of his mother so one day Krish decides to do something about it, and of course this leads to a lot more trouble than he could have ever anticipated.
I liked Krish as a character from the beginning too but he also developed a lot and became more interesting as the story went on. I loved seeing how he looked at the genes of his goats and worked out their lineage. I think he's a very intelligent character and with the way everything turns out in this book I look forward to seeing what more he can bring and affect in the future!
Finally we're following Marvan who lives within Smiler's fair, but is not exactly loved by the other people there because he harbours a dark secret. He's got a deadly and dark addiction to something rather grizzly, and whilst the others within the Fair know about him and his ways, they certainly don't approve and he constantly feels like an outcast.
I think his character was certainly the most ruthless and terrifying to read about, he was nasty, scary and remorseless and seeing him in the world really was great (in a terrifying way). I don't know if I'd call him a bad character because whilst he does do some really terrible things, he is a really well crafted character and I can say that his sections of the book were certainly filled with action and atrocities!
One thing I do want to mention in regards to this book is the wonderful world-building that we have going on. A large amount of this takes place in a desert but we do get hints of other landscapes such as an ice-ridden land, the plains and cliffs and the interior of Smiler's itself. I also loved that there was no hesitation within this book to use realistic language such as swearing, and address topics such as rape, murder, death and so on in a very direct and gritty way.
I love the Gods within this world too because there are so many types of people and each one has their own load of Gods who they worship. There's the Sun God and the Moon God who are a large focus for this book, yet many believe that their time has passed and they no longer rule. There's Prow Gods, an Ashane tradition of dreaming a god and carving it into a stone. There's the Gods of the Dae, the Hunter, and many many more for all the other cultures too. Of course the series is called the Hollow Gods, and I have to say that religion is something I love when it's well integrated into a book / series and I feel like this one does it very well.
The pacing, descriptions and plot for this were really fun too. Whilst some of the characters took a little while for me to get into and learn, I was constantly intrigued by the story and I loved seeing how the plotlines all interwove as the story went on. I felt like the ending of the book was explosive with a lot happening, and I really want to buy book 2 asap because I just know it's going to be great (or I hope so!). I will certainly be continuing on with this series when I can, and I can't wait! Highly recommended! 4.5*s (hopefully the next will be 5*s!)
This is a story which has been compared to The Night Circus many times, and indeed it does focus on a fair, however this is much darker, grittier and more down to earth than The Night Circus. This story features a couple of different characters whose paths all either start, pass through or end at Smiler's Fair and each of their plot's is somehow connected.
First we have Nethmi who is the daughter of a an Ashane Lord and she's being sent away to the Tribe to marry a man she's never met. Her Uncle is the one who has sent her, he's not a very nice guy (she believes he might have killed her father), and it's a political move for friendship with the Tribes on his part. Nethmi is a character who took a while to grow on me because I felt that she was a little bit naive and irritating at times, but this certainly didn't last and as the story went on she did become someone whose story I enjoyed, and who grew as a character.
I liked seeing the way that she was forced to make decisions she;d never envisioned, the way that she had to conquer her fears, and how she became a stronger character for the things she went through.
Next we have Eric who is my favourite character, Eric is a molly, or a male whore, at Smiler's and he's pretty happy with his life, but there's a new whore who's a bit better than him, and he's not too happy about that. He has had a hard beginning to life and Smiler's is a place where he felt that he could settle and live a safe life, but when a new Patron takes a fancy to him he thinks maybe it's time to change.
Eric was one of the sweetest and most entertaining characters in the book and his story line was great too. I instantly connected with him and sympathised with his plight, he was certainly put in some rather bad situations! I think his personality and resolve was tested a lot over the course of this book and he learned a lot about the ways of the world and the cruelty of people. I think his story will be extremely interesting in book 2 and can't wait to see what happens with him!
Next we have Dae Hyo who is a member of the Dae Tribe. He's an older character and he's a very resentful and hardened character too. When he was a young boy the Chun (another tribe) came into his homeland and pillaged, raped and murdered. He was one of the few survivors of the Dae clan, and ever since that day he's wanted revenge.
Of course, revenge is all well and good, but after letting his hunger for revenge fester and grow over many years he's become a drunk and lost his way a bit. He has to come to some harsh realisations over the course of the book, and he certainly meets some very interesting people along the way who help and hinder his plight.
Whilst I liked his character for his intentions I felt he was another character who steadily grew on me and by the end I liked him. I think he's a fairly real interpretation of what such loss and grief can drive a man to do, and I loved the reality shown there.
We also follow Krish, a young goatherd who lives away from most of the Ashane society in a small village with his mother and pa. He and his father have a bad relationship due to his father's drinking problem and abuse of his mother so one day Krish decides to do something about it, and of course this leads to a lot more trouble than he could have ever anticipated.
I liked Krish as a character from the beginning too but he also developed a lot and became more interesting as the story went on. I loved seeing how he looked at the genes of his goats and worked out their lineage. I think he's a very intelligent character and with the way everything turns out in this book I look forward to seeing what more he can bring and affect in the future!
Finally we're following Marvan who lives within Smiler's fair, but is not exactly loved by the other people there because he harbours a dark secret. He's got a deadly and dark addiction to something rather grizzly, and whilst the others within the Fair know about him and his ways, they certainly don't approve and he constantly feels like an outcast.
I think his character was certainly the most ruthless and terrifying to read about, he was nasty, scary and remorseless and seeing him in the world really was great (in a terrifying way). I don't know if I'd call him a bad character because whilst he does do some really terrible things, he is a really well crafted character and I can say that his sections of the book were certainly filled with action and atrocities!
One thing I do want to mention in regards to this book is the wonderful world-building that we have going on. A large amount of this takes place in a desert but we do get hints of other landscapes such as an ice-ridden land, the plains and cliffs and the interior of Smiler's itself. I also loved that there was no hesitation within this book to use realistic language such as swearing, and address topics such as rape, murder, death and so on in a very direct and gritty way.
I love the Gods within this world too because there are so many types of people and each one has their own load of Gods who they worship. There's the Sun God and the Moon God who are a large focus for this book, yet many believe that their time has passed and they no longer rule. There's Prow Gods, an Ashane tradition of dreaming a god and carving it into a stone. There's the Gods of the Dae, the Hunter, and many many more for all the other cultures too. Of course the series is called the Hollow Gods, and I have to say that religion is something I love when it's well integrated into a book / series and I feel like this one does it very well.
The pacing, descriptions and plot for this were really fun too. Whilst some of the characters took a little while for me to get into and learn, I was constantly intrigued by the story and I loved seeing how the plotlines all interwove as the story went on. I felt like the ending of the book was explosive with a lot happening, and I really want to buy book 2 asap because I just know it's going to be great (or I hope so!). I will certainly be continuing on with this series when I can, and I can't wait! Highly recommended! 4.5*s (hopefully the next will be 5*s!)
—1 star—
This book shall now be know as the dead chicken book.
————about the book————
Age: Adult
Genres: Fantasy
Cliffhanger: meh
Writing: 2/10
Quotes: 1/10
World building: 2/10
Characters: 2/10
Romance: 1/10
My rating: 1/10
‼️spoilers below‼️
———my feelings———
I did it. I finished it. I don’t know how.
This book was complete fucking TORTURE. It was far too slow, too many side plots, and NOTHING HAPPENED!!!
It was far too grisly and gruesome (I had to put it down when I was reading at lunch). And don’t even get me started on the awkwardly written sex scenes. I don’t think I’ve ever cringed as much in my life.
———Characters ———
Nethmi: meh
Dae hyo: hate him
Marvan: Dead chicken man. Also meh
Eric: won the award of most annoying character THREE times!
Krish: t h e. M o s t B o r i n g. O n e
————Quotes————
(I had to put it in)
“Marvan woke to see the glazed eye of a dead chicken staring back at him from his pillow.”
WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THIS BOOK
———Random extra thoughts———
WHY
JUST WHY DID SOMEONE WRITE THIS???
Thanks for reading ❤️
This book shall now be know as the dead chicken book.
————about the book————
Age: Adult
Genres: Fantasy
Cliffhanger: meh
Writing: 2/10
Quotes: 1/10
World building: 2/10
Characters: 2/10
Romance: 1/10
My rating: 1/10
‼️spoilers below‼️
———my feelings———
I did it. I finished it. I don’t know how.
This book was complete fucking TORTURE. It was far too slow, too many side plots, and NOTHING HAPPENED!!!
It was far too grisly and gruesome (I had to put it down when I was reading at lunch). And don’t even get me started on the awkwardly written sex scenes. I don’t think I’ve ever cringed as much in my life.
———Characters ———
Nethmi: meh
Dae hyo: hate him
Marvan: Dead chicken man. Also meh
Eric: won the award of most annoying character THREE times!
Krish: t h e. M o s t B o r i n g. O n e
————Quotes————
(I had to put it in)
“Marvan woke to see the glazed eye of a dead chicken staring back at him from his pillow.”
WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THIS BOOK
———Random extra thoughts———
WHY
JUST WHY DID SOMEONE WRITE THIS???
Thanks for reading ❤️
Solid grimdark fantasy. I enjoyed it, and I'll read the next one.
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I've been really excited about this read because it contains everything that I'm excited about in a Fantasy, a genre that I'm very quickly rediscovering my love for! The writing was amazing, Levine sure is talented. I was gripped by every single word of hers and completely devoured this story. I enjoyed the world that she built, and the story-line was pretty well thought out. I liked the characters too, I grew a bit of a soft spot for Eric and was so glad for his character because it provided a twist on the fairly common 'forbidden love' trope that I've not seen before! I was so rooting for him and am intrigued to see even more development to his character and story-line on book two. I liked Krish and Dae Hyo as characters too. The thing that stopped me from giving it 5 stars, despite all of this amazing stuff to be found inside, was the fact that I felt there were too many characters. During the story we hear from a variety of viewpoints and I didn't feel they were all completely necessary. Certainly at the start when I was still name learning, things got a tad confusing. I did manage to keep up with the story, but I feel like some of the individual viewpoints were not needed and perhaps meant some story-lines were rushed due to the addition of various new characters. Don't let that put you off though, for me it was a minor niggle that I just felt worth mentioning!
For a full review, see here: http://chasedbymyimagination.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/book-review-smilers-fair-rebecca-levene.html
I've been really excited about this read because it contains everything that I'm excited about in a Fantasy, a genre that I'm very quickly rediscovering my love for! The writing was amazing, Levine sure is talented. I was gripped by every single word of hers and completely devoured this story. I enjoyed the world that she built, and the story-line was pretty well thought out. I liked the characters too, I grew a bit of a soft spot for Eric and was so glad for his character because it provided a twist on the fairly common 'forbidden love' trope that I've not seen before! I was so rooting for him and am intrigued to see even more development to his character and story-line on book two. I liked Krish and Dae Hyo as characters too. The thing that stopped me from giving it 5 stars, despite all of this amazing stuff to be found inside, was the fact that I felt there were too many characters. During the story we hear from a variety of viewpoints and I didn't feel they were all completely necessary. Certainly at the start when I was still name learning, things got a tad confusing. I did manage to keep up with the story, but I feel like some of the individual viewpoints were not needed and perhaps meant some story-lines were rushed due to the addition of various new characters. Don't let that put you off though, for me it was a minor niggle that I just felt worth mentioning!
For a full review, see here: http://chasedbymyimagination.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/book-review-smilers-fair-rebecca-levene.html