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maddy_eich's review
3.0
This is another 3.5 star read that I feel torn about, but I think I will round down. It was a classic fantasy adventure, with soldiers and magic and lots of traveling, but in the end it read like it was written in the 90s, which it was.
My favorite parts were following Keira on her adventures disguised as a man. This is many of my favorite fantasy tropes put together (long quest, woman disguised as man, adding strays to the crew), and I loved seeing her and her companions get themselves in and out of trouble.
I also liked Roshannon, and he goes on adventures himself, though less exciting ones than Keira. I liked both of them as protagonists, but where it really fell apart was the romance. For 80% of the book they are separated, and Keira spends most of that time dreading seeing him again and being tied to a man. I don’t know that I could really call that romance. I wish they could have had a platonic relationship and just left the soulmate stuff completely out of the story.
My other main problem is the religion element. There’s the super religious bad guys, and the “heretic” good guys, and one of their major distinctions is that the religious bad guys think women aren’t even people, and the good guys treat women as “equals.” But the problem is that even the supposed egalitarian society is still clearly gendered. I know it was probably super feminists for the 90s, but for me it made most of the good guy vs bad guy stuff fall flat.
In conclusion, I enjoyed the adventure of a classic fantasy story, but this book had nothing special or particularly engrossing to make it stand out.
My favorite parts were following Keira on her adventures disguised as a man. This is many of my favorite fantasy tropes put together (long quest, woman disguised as man, adding strays to the crew), and I loved seeing her and her companions get themselves in and out of trouble.
I also liked Roshannon, and he goes on adventures himself, though less exciting ones than Keira. I liked both of them as protagonists, but where it really fell apart was the romance. For 80% of the book they are separated, and Keira spends most of that time dreading seeing him again and being tied to a man. I don’t know that I could really call that romance. I wish they could have had a platonic relationship and just left the soulmate stuff completely out of the story.
My other main problem is the religion element. There’s the super religious bad guys, and the “heretic” good guys, and one of their major distinctions is that the religious bad guys think women aren’t even people, and the good guys treat women as “equals.” But the problem is that even the supposed egalitarian society is still clearly gendered. I know it was probably super feminists for the 90s, but for me it made most of the good guy vs bad guy stuff fall flat.
In conclusion, I enjoyed the adventure of a classic fantasy story, but this book had nothing special or particularly engrossing to make it stand out.
lauraellis's review
4.0
Very good. Fantasy about a young woman who marries to escape a repressive culture, then runs away from her husband to seek the witch city and see if there are others like her who are troubled by dreams. However, their one night together has resulted in a powerful bond which keeps them linked and ultimately reunites them. I would like to read more about this culture and by this author.
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