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A review by crimsonsparrow
Barsk: The Elephants' Graveyard by Lawrence M. Schoen
4.0
If you can get past the ambiguity surrounding the characters' physicality, the story is solid and even sports a few bright spots. Plot development is smart and unexpected, the characters diverse, and there are intriguing moral/social issues painted with a direct but not overbearing hand. The best part, however, is a side character, an outcast / child savant, without whom the whole book would fall flat. With him, however, the decent content is made better and the not-so-good is tolerable. Well done, Schoen!
That said, as thorough as the ending is, it's a little disappointing, mainly in that the main POV character seems to abandon a conviction with little or no justification. *shrug*
With these disclaimers I can recommend the book, but wouldn't go out of my way to do so ... though it explores issues of bias and racism in an intriguing way, so I just might.
Rated PG 13 (and trigger warnings) for adult and sometimes disturbing content, including inferred torture and related trauma, kidnapping, references to and an image of mass murder/genocide (described but not overly graphic), and references to sex and sexuality (no graphic descriptions). That being said, this is a lighter read than you might expect.
That said, as thorough as the ending is, it's a little disappointing, mainly in that the main POV character seems to abandon a conviction with little or no justification. *shrug*
With these disclaimers I can recommend the book, but wouldn't go out of my way to do so ... though it explores issues of bias and racism in an intriguing way, so I just might.
Rated PG 13 (and trigger warnings) for adult and sometimes disturbing content, including inferred torture and related trauma, kidnapping, references to and an image of mass murder/genocide (described but not overly graphic), and references to sex and sexuality (no graphic descriptions). That being said, this is a lighter read than you might expect.