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lucardus's review
5.0
Literarische Fantasy. Poetisch, sprachlich anspruchsvoll, auf eine sehr eigenständige Weise schön. Aber nichts für Sword-and-Sorcery-Fans. Samatars zweites Buch wird definitiv auf meinem Stapel landen.
timinbc's review
2.0
Awards, shmawards. Didn't like it. Didn't finish it, and I very rarely do that.
Lookit, there are some paragraphs in there that are three-quarters of a page long.
There are elegant descriptive passages that would make Proust weep.
It is these that make me suspect the book's admirers are likely to enjoy poetry,
where sounds and rhythms and mental pictures and word choices are da bomb.
Me, I just want you should tell me a story.
The book does follow a common fantasy convention by having a protagonist whose job is to go around having things happen to him, and mostly responding by going "Der" and wandering off to the next thing.
But gosh, if the hero isn't interesting - even if fatally flawed - SOMEone has to be, and in this book no one is.
Not that there ARE many things. The plot, such as it is, zooms along like a snail with a sore foot.
I had to peek at the reviews to see if the plot ever becomes interesting. And
Your mileage may vary. It won a fantasy award and was nominated for a Nebula. Lots of people here gave it *****. But some of us didn't, and that's the way of the world.
Lookit, there are some paragraphs in there that are three-quarters of a page long.
There are elegant descriptive passages that would make Proust weep.
It is these that make me suspect the book's admirers are likely to enjoy poetry,
where sounds and rhythms and mental pictures and word choices are da bomb.
Me, I just want you should tell me a story.
The book does follow a common fantasy convention by having a protagonist whose job is to go around having things happen to him, and mostly responding by going "Der" and wandering off to the next thing.
But gosh, if the hero isn't interesting - even if fatally flawed - SOMEone has to be, and in this book no one is.
Not that there ARE many things. The plot, such as it is, zooms along like a snail with a sore foot.
I had to peek at the reviews to see if the plot ever becomes interesting. And
Spoiler
too many voices said it didn't, so I stopped reading.Your mileage may vary. It won a fantasy award and was nominated for a Nebula. Lots of people here gave it *****. But some of us didn't, and that's the way of the world.
yak_attak's review against another edition
4.0
What a beautiful, beautiful, dull book. Samatar's debut is a vivid exploration of a city, culture, wanderlust, and of course like these things always are, storytelling. Our main character begins as a young son of a noble on an island, journeys to the big city, gets into trouble over his head - you get the picture. The story isn't novel (we'll get to that), but the writing, oh man. It sucks to be as disengaged as I was, becasue Sofia Samatar can write so well. The sights of the city, the smells of the market, the sounds of the birds, and the colors of the foliage leap off the page in vivid detail. Samatar writes in a flowing, poetic style that never ceases to give you the sensation of being there, of experience, of context - poignant given the power that books hold in this story, and their ability to keep people alive (literally) after death.
The story though is an epic travelogue in a LeGuinian style (Earthsea and Left Hand of Darkness very much come to mind in many ways), but without the drive that keeps things moving and fresh. We get beautiful scene after captivating scene, but just sorta float along with the main character, inept and unable to do anything. Some of the plotting being a little bizarre (Why the main character would help certain people while not helping others is.... puzzling) doesn't help. By the end, when what Samatar is trying to accomplish comes into focus, it's quite powerful, and lovely, but it's also a message I feel like I've read and enjoyed more elsewhere - unfortunate given how well this book puts you into its world.
I'd like to try her other story, and would certainly recommend it to anyone who's a fan of great language.
The story though is an epic travelogue in a LeGuinian style (Earthsea and Left Hand of Darkness very much come to mind in many ways), but without the drive that keeps things moving and fresh. We get beautiful scene after captivating scene, but just sorta float along with the main character, inept and unable to do anything. Some of the plotting being a little bizarre (Why the main character would help certain people while not helping others is.... puzzling) doesn't help. By the end, when what Samatar is trying to accomplish comes into focus, it's quite powerful, and lovely, but it's also a message I feel like I've read and enjoyed more elsewhere - unfortunate given how well this book puts you into its world.
I'd like to try her other story, and would certainly recommend it to anyone who's a fan of great language.
xeyra1's review against another edition
2.0
This was not the book for me. I've been trying to read it for a month and persevered through most of it, but I've reached a point where I don't quite care to finish it anymore because there's nothing I'd consider a plot that I need to see through to the end of the book. I am quite sad I didn't enjoy this book past the first 20%, which gave me such high expectations: the beautiful writing was at its best, the main character's voice as he talked about his childhood and upbringing was really compelling and I devoured those first chapters.
And then the main character arrived at Olondria and things got terribly confusing to the point I wasn't understanding anything anymore. The writing I'd so enjoyed at the beginning was a detriment to the understanding of the story, too embellished, too abstract sometimes, as to perpetuate the confusion of what was happening while events were going on at a breakneck speed. In the space of a couple of chapters, Jevick, our MC, arrives at a new city, ready to adventure into trading and commerce as was his training and suddenly, without much follow-through at the beginning, he is deliriously ill, is taken by a religious sect that imprisons him because of the visions he sees while delirious (they're blasphemy) and then is contacted by a rebel religious faction who has the opposite idea, and in betwixt all this, our MC's voice is an amalgam of authors and books he has read to the point I wondered if he had any original thought himself.
By this time it was too late to grab me again because I realized early on that Jevick had no real agency in this story. People talked at him, about him, acted in accordance to their wishes, and Jevick just got dragged along constantly without having any real say. His haunting by this mysterious ghost is just another way he gets kicked in by fate and makes him even less of a character I could care about. And because of this, it ended up feeling like an effort to continue reading, reason why I've ultimately decided I'd finish at 80% without any real need to see how it ends, much to my sorrow because I was convinced I'd love this novel by those first 20-25%...
And then the main character arrived at Olondria and things got terribly confusing to the point I wasn't understanding anything anymore. The writing I'd so enjoyed at the beginning was a detriment to the understanding of the story, too embellished, too abstract sometimes, as to perpetuate the confusion of what was happening while events were going on at a breakneck speed. In the space of a couple of chapters, Jevick, our MC, arrives at a new city, ready to adventure into trading and commerce as was his training and suddenly, without much follow-through at the beginning, he is deliriously ill, is taken by a religious sect that imprisons him because of the visions he sees while delirious (they're blasphemy) and then is contacted by a rebel religious faction who has the opposite idea, and in betwixt all this, our MC's voice is an amalgam of authors and books he has read to the point I wondered if he had any original thought himself.
By this time it was too late to grab me again because I realized early on that Jevick had no real agency in this story. People talked at him, about him, acted in accordance to their wishes, and Jevick just got dragged along constantly without having any real say. His haunting by this mysterious ghost is just another way he gets kicked in by fate and makes him even less of a character I could care about. And because of this, it ended up feeling like an effort to continue reading, reason why I've ultimately decided I'd finish at 80% without any real need to see how it ends, much to my sorrow because I was convinced I'd love this novel by those first 20-25%...
steganogasaurus's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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? It's complicated
5.0
aplpaca's review
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Child abuse, and Ableism
canaanmerchant's review
4.0
Definitely a book to be sipped and savored rather than devoured. Each sentence is packed with layers and layers of meaning and the book manages to be a collection of myths, a political intrigue novel, a ghost story, and treatise on the wonders of learning all in one story.
And some of the best world building I've encountered in a while.
And some of the best world building I've encountered in a while.