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A review by avelinereynard
Kirith Kirin by Jim Grimsley
5.0
4.5/5 stars
I honestly love this book, even though there's a few obvious things I took issue with: a really slow burn start, a zoomed-in focus on inconsequential details and a zoom out on the more dramatic situations, not enough time spent with the characters and a lot of very dense and elaborate worldbuilding. Looking back at it as a whole, I found that I didn't really care, and I had trouble putting it down along the way.
The worldbuilding is complex and really immersive. The prose is fantastical and almost lyrical in the way the story is woven together, and it's certainly unique. Just, you know, sometimes enters "what the heck is even happening" territory. A depth and breadth and complexity that probably could have supported a book twice as long with two sequels* (*sequels that actually followed in the style and the spirit of the original, let's not even talk about the ones we've actually gotten).
As for the characters... I'd have liked to see more attention paid to the secondary & tertiary characters, since they aren't given a lot of thought or time or depth. But at the same time, it's written as a first-person recollection, and I was never, ever bored with Jessex. He's some strange, sleeper protagonist where he seems like an ordinary farmboy but is actualy quirky and fascinating and way more than a little weird and I was totally there for that.
I honestly love this book, even though there's a few obvious things I took issue with: a really slow burn start, a zoomed-in focus on inconsequential details and a zoom out on the more dramatic situations, not enough time spent with the characters and a lot of very dense and elaborate worldbuilding. Looking back at it as a whole, I found that I didn't really care, and I had trouble putting it down along the way.
The worldbuilding is complex and really immersive. The prose is fantastical and almost lyrical in the way the story is woven together, and it's certainly unique. Just, you know, sometimes enters "what the heck is even happening" territory. A depth and breadth and complexity that probably could have supported a book twice as long with two sequels* (*sequels that actually followed in the style and the spirit of the original, let's not even talk about the ones we've actually gotten).
As for the characters... I'd have liked to see more attention paid to the secondary & tertiary characters, since they aren't given a lot of thought or time or depth. But at the same time, it's written as a first-person recollection, and I was never, ever bored with Jessex. He's some strange, sleeper protagonist where he seems like an ordinary farmboy but is actualy quirky and fascinating and way more than a little weird and I was totally there for that.