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A review by jesiki
The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley
4.0
The world-building is lush, provocative, and a cultural anthropologist's delight. Alternate universes, carniverous plants and walking trees, star magic, diverging skies and histories... It's fun, even if I'm now jaded about multiverses after years of Marvel and Sanderson content.
The prose is dialogue and action-heavy, but is also filled with unfamiliar terminology and world-building related jargon. This results in a text that is simultaneously fast-paced yet challenging to immerse in initially. It admittedly feels clunky in spots.
The character work, though... I consider this to be one of Kameron Hurley's weaknesses across her works, but it's more pronounced here. This is a grimdark series - or a rebuttal/reversal of the misogyny found in grimdark. I have a hard time imagining the large, unlikable cast developing in a direction in future instalments that I find particularly compelling or enjoyable. However, I'll probably continue on when I'm in that special mood that allows me to bask in a storyline consisting of terrible people making terrible choices.
3.5 stars, rounded up — even though it's not my favourite of her works, Hurley writes excellent dark fantasy, grimdark, and worldbuilding SFF. She incorporates perspectives (ex - queer, women, people with disabilities, poc, etc) and socio-political systems that most authors in the subgenre fail to consider - especially around the time of this book's publication (2014).
The prose is dialogue and action-heavy, but is also filled with unfamiliar terminology and world-building related jargon. This results in a text that is simultaneously fast-paced yet challenging to immerse in initially. It admittedly feels clunky in spots.
The character work, though... I consider this to be one of Kameron Hurley's weaknesses across her works, but it's more pronounced here. This is a grimdark series - or a rebuttal/reversal of the misogyny found in grimdark. I have a hard time imagining the large, unlikable cast developing in a direction in future instalments that I find particularly compelling or enjoyable. However, I'll probably continue on when I'm in that special mood that allows me to bask in a storyline consisting of terrible people making terrible choices.
3.5 stars, rounded up — even though it's not my favourite of her works, Hurley writes excellent dark fantasy, grimdark, and worldbuilding SFF. She incorporates perspectives (ex - queer, women, people with disabilities, poc, etc) and socio-political systems that most authors in the subgenre fail to consider - especially around the time of this book's publication (2014).