A review by midwinteraz
All the Windwracked Stars by Elizabeth Bear

2.0

It's an epic story beautifully told, but that wasn't enough to salvage it for me. The worldbuilding was amazing, and the characters fully realized, but none of that quite made it through to the story. The telling felt flat and distant, and like you needed to be an insider - familiar with the legends and personalities - to understand what was happening. It all seemed too bleak and hopeless. You have a wallflower (coward) main character and a need to save the world or watch it die. I was expecting a heroic transformation and salvation, but it didn't seem to happen that way. Everyone was broken or unmade (except Kasimir). This is book one of a trilogy, but I can't imagine revisting this world again.