joratrang
3/2/2014
I listened to this book as an audiobook - which I feel may have possibly taken away from my experience with the prose of this author that many appear to like so much. Maybe I didn't like the narrator of the audiobook - but that has never stopped me before. I ahve read amazing narrators that I loved and knew that the story underlying it was not to my liking and vice versa. I think in this case I neither liked the audiobook actor nor the underlying story, sadly.
I, unfortunately, did not like this book very much - thogh I really really wanted to like it. The ending was beautiful, some of the discussion of Yeine Darr's world was interestting since it was a matriarchal society, and over all Yeine appeared to be a strong female character - these were all things about the books which should have made me like it.
But I did not like it. Despite the fact that gods were held captive and slave in it - that was somewhat interesting - but the relationships between the gods and Yeine, the twist at the end, all of it just seemed - "meh" to me.
I'm not sure why - there were multiople times in the beginning of the book where I felt like just putting the book down. But I pushed myself because I wanted to see this writer's style and how she worked out her story. The main character was on a sort of quest to find out more about the mysteries of her mother - but the world in which she lived seemed odd and one dimensional despite the fact that there were layers to it.
The role of class and royalty and hierarchy and inheritance was a big part of this story. Maybe that's why I didn't like it. I'm not really into those types of stories - and although the author kept the main character out of those hierarchies - struggling against them even - they still existed - the ruling class of the fair skinned people vs. the darker skinned Darrs, etc. Their whole struggle towrads succession and the fact that Yeine had to die confused me - why did she have to die?
But the sad part was - I just didn't even care - whether she lived or died. I didn't root for her, I didn't find myself caring. Her mother's story was intriguing but even that seemed a bit one dimensionsal.
I don't know - i rarely leave reviews like this. I'm just sad I didn't like it. I didn't like the second book either. I'm not reading the third book.