Books read in April
May. 3rd, 2020 03:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
schneefinkI read more books in April than in March, which was easy because in March it was zero.
Widdershins by Jordan L. Hawk
A third of the time while reading this I was enjoying it a lot, a third of the time I was rolling my eyes because of how over the top it was (especially the romance), and a third of the time it was both. I did like the tropes, but the execution was sometimes a bit, uh, much. I loved Christine though.
Bonds of Brass by Emily Skrutskie
Someone on Goodreads called it a Finn/Poe AU and I can definitely see where they come from ^^
I enjoyed a lot of this story, but it's also a good illustration of the problems with a narrator (especially in first person!) keeping secrets from the reader. I've seen it before and sometimes it worked better than other times: in "The Thief" I did not suspect Gen, and once it came out it only recontextualized everything, but nothing so drastic that it felt like a lie. Near the end of "Crooked Kingdom" I was already expecting that the close third-person narration was hiding things from me to make the twists more shocking because it happened a few times before, but then it turned out that the third-person narration was actively lying to me and that just felt like cheap cheating.
In "Bonds of Brass" it's pretty clear early on that Ettian is hiding something about his past, probably related to his family. I did think that it was likely he was from a noble family, but didn't put too much thought into it and him being the heir to the kingdom was quite the surprise. It was a fun twist and I really enjoyed the consequences – Gal being forced to crown Ettian was a great moment – and I bet it'll make the sequel very interesting.
However, while Ettian never lied or even hide that he had a secret, there were so many important omissions that I still felt kind of like a lie. It also weakened certain aspects of the story. For example, I thought from the start that to make Ettian's struggles about where his loyalty should lie, which were after all a core element of his entire story, affecting I'd need more about his feelings on Archon, but of course that would have been difficult without revealing his position as the secret heir to the Archon Empire. It made it much harder for me to connect to him, and maybe also explains why I didn't get that invested in the relationship. Ettian's thoughts on Gal's role as heir to an empire and someone hiding a huge secret were also missing a lot of context, and in hindsight his anger that Gal was hiding a secret like that makes him look like a hypocrite.
The worldbuilding could have used a bit more depth, and the writing isn't a major strength of this book, but it was entertaining.
Race the Sands by Sarah Beth Durst
When I read the description I thought that this sounds like a classic horse girl story – even though I barely know anything about that genre – but with monsters, and that was part of the book and I enjoyed it a lot. Racing across the desert on a powerful friendly lion monster, yess.
But there were also other parts, and I maybe enjoyed those even more.
Tamra is so great! Taking charge of an army of kehok to save her daughter, yess. I'm sorry that she thinks Yorbel betrayed her – she does doubt but she can't be sure – but at least her daughters are safe. It wasn't entirely out of nowhere, it's come up several times that Tamra can take control of several kehok, which very few other people can and Tamra uses different methods to control kehoks than other trainers, and that kehoks are more likely to obey if given directions they're not directly opposed to. I did also like that she struggled with it in the aftermath, despite people telling her that she saved the country. And I liked Tamra's relationship with her daughter Shalla a lot, and with Raia too, and then with Yorbel.
At first I didn't think Yorbel would be very interesting, but I changed my mind around halfway through. To be honest I don't think he entirely makes sense as a character: on the one hand he taught a prince and seems to be well-read, on the other hand he seems too naïve when it comes to some aspects of life outside of theoretical exercises. I liked how much he enjoyed Tamra challenging his worldview, even when I rolled my eyes that this was apparently all new to him.
But my favorite part was his relationship with Gissa, as little as we saw of it, because of all the things the reader knows but they don't. Yorbel confessing to her that he's probably in love with Tamra, and Gissa being so relieved because she thought he was keeping secrets about uncovering the conspiracy around Zarin – which he was but right at this moment was not focused on – was fun. Yorbel lying to Gissa so she doesn't need to lie and darken her soul was both tragic and hilarious. And as sad as it was, it was fitting that in the end Gissa did feel forced to kill him.
I liked Dar too, and I did not see it coming who did betray him in the end, though as always in hindsight I feel like I possibly should have. His and Raia's storyline felt more like a YA novel, which isn't bad but it was a weird mix with Tamra's story at times.
I'm a bit worried about Raia's position at the end, she's pretty much bound to the court and Zarin and Dar now, and while it was her choices that led her here she never made the decision for this and she really wanted her freedom. But she'll figure something out. I don't really ship her with Dar, also because I doubt Raia would be happy about what it would mean in political consequences, but they could make great friends and allies.
Widdershins by Jordan L. Hawk
A third of the time while reading this I was enjoying it a lot, a third of the time I was rolling my eyes because of how over the top it was (especially the romance), and a third of the time it was both. I did like the tropes, but the execution was sometimes a bit, uh, much. I loved Christine though.
Bonds of Brass by Emily Skrutskie
Someone on Goodreads called it a Finn/Poe AU and I can definitely see where they come from ^^
I enjoyed a lot of this story, but it's also a good illustration of the problems with a narrator (especially in first person!) keeping secrets from the reader. I've seen it before and sometimes it worked better than other times: in "The Thief" I did not suspect Gen, and once it came out it only recontextualized everything, but nothing so drastic that it felt like a lie. Near the end of "Crooked Kingdom" I was already expecting that the close third-person narration was hiding things from me to make the twists more shocking because it happened a few times before, but then it turned out that the third-person narration was actively lying to me and that just felt like cheap cheating.
In "Bonds of Brass" it's pretty clear early on that Ettian is hiding something about his past, probably related to his family. I did think that it was likely he was from a noble family, but didn't put too much thought into it and him being the heir to the kingdom was quite the surprise. It was a fun twist and I really enjoyed the consequences – Gal being forced to crown Ettian was a great moment – and I bet it'll make the sequel very interesting.
However, while Ettian never lied or even hide that he had a secret, there were so many important omissions that I still felt kind of like a lie. It also weakened certain aspects of the story. For example, I thought from the start that to make Ettian's struggles about where his loyalty should lie, which were after all a core element of his entire story, affecting I'd need more about his feelings on Archon, but of course that would have been difficult without revealing his position as the secret heir to the Archon Empire. It made it much harder for me to connect to him, and maybe also explains why I didn't get that invested in the relationship. Ettian's thoughts on Gal's role as heir to an empire and someone hiding a huge secret were also missing a lot of context, and in hindsight his anger that Gal was hiding a secret like that makes him look like a hypocrite.
The worldbuilding could have used a bit more depth, and the writing isn't a major strength of this book, but it was entertaining.
Race the Sands by Sarah Beth Durst
When I read the description I thought that this sounds like a classic horse girl story – even though I barely know anything about that genre – but with monsters, and that was part of the book and I enjoyed it a lot. Racing across the desert on a powerful friendly lion monster, yess.
But there were also other parts, and I maybe enjoyed those even more.
Tamra is so great! Taking charge of an army of kehok to save her daughter, yess. I'm sorry that she thinks Yorbel betrayed her – she does doubt but she can't be sure – but at least her daughters are safe. It wasn't entirely out of nowhere, it's come up several times that Tamra can take control of several kehok, which very few other people can and Tamra uses different methods to control kehoks than other trainers, and that kehoks are more likely to obey if given directions they're not directly opposed to. I did also like that she struggled with it in the aftermath, despite people telling her that she saved the country. And I liked Tamra's relationship with her daughter Shalla a lot, and with Raia too, and then with Yorbel.
At first I didn't think Yorbel would be very interesting, but I changed my mind around halfway through. To be honest I don't think he entirely makes sense as a character: on the one hand he taught a prince and seems to be well-read, on the other hand he seems too naïve when it comes to some aspects of life outside of theoretical exercises. I liked how much he enjoyed Tamra challenging his worldview, even when I rolled my eyes that this was apparently all new to him.
But my favorite part was his relationship with Gissa, as little as we saw of it, because of all the things the reader knows but they don't. Yorbel confessing to her that he's probably in love with Tamra, and Gissa being so relieved because she thought he was keeping secrets about uncovering the conspiracy around Zarin – which he was but right at this moment was not focused on – was fun. Yorbel lying to Gissa so she doesn't need to lie and darken her soul was both tragic and hilarious. And as sad as it was, it was fitting that in the end Gissa did feel forced to kill him.
I liked Dar too, and I did not see it coming who did betray him in the end, though as always in hindsight I feel like I possibly should have. His and Raia's storyline felt more like a YA novel, which isn't bad but it was a weird mix with Tamra's story at times.
I'm a bit worried about Raia's position at the end, she's pretty much bound to the court and Zarin and Dar now, and while it was her choices that led her here she never made the decision for this and she really wanted her freedom. But she'll figure something out. I don't really ship her with Dar, also because I doubt Raia would be happy about what it would mean in political consequences, but they could make great friends and allies.
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Date: 2020-05-04 07:44 am (UTC)Bonds of Brass looks fun to read and while I didn't read below the cut, I guess I can just surrender my mind and see what happens. I'm more ad hoc with my YA reads these days!
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