There's a lot going on with this one. At times I felt like I was missing several background chapters or passages of exposition, because it leaps around so much. You eventually can catch up, but there's some gaps and holes never really addressed and it's easier to just not think too much about it.
The setting is very atmospheric. Because the plot is focused around 'forged' objects, there's a lot of detail put into their descriptions. Sometimes the objects act as a work-around if the story needs some way to secretly record conversations or replace other tools of modern convenience. The characters are also given complicated back stories that are all very tragic, but somehow still a bit thin? Tristan and Severin's, especially, is bizarre and never quite explained enough for me.
But on the characters...there's parts I liked. Zofia's place on the spectrum is never directly named, but it's portrayed pretty well. Hypnos and Enrique's mixed-race ancestry in industrial France is a nice break from the presumed homogenous population. Laila's origins and abilities are really interesting and original to me. You could tell right away there was something up with Tristian, though, since he's the only one of the core five without a POV chapter--even Hypnos has one at the end.
But, ugh, Severin. He's the worst. I couldn't stand him. He's arrogant, entitled, controlling and grating. The way he orders around his friends, whom he considers family, talks down to Tristan and Hypnos, smashes things Enrique cares about (??) and acts possessive of Laila just made me root against him even though he's supposed to be the main protagonist. He also is the worst offender of the other two major problems I had with the characters: obnoxious amounts of sarcasm and forcing a romance on characters just for the sake of it. Also nOT TELLING ANYONE ELSE YOUR PLANS WHY DOES EVERYONE DO THIS IN BOOKS?!?!
And apparently out of a group of people with Poirot-on-steroids levels of deduction, he's also the one who gets to smirk and smugly say the answer to a puzzle before everyone else. Can you tell he bothers me??? But I refuse to let him ruin the good parts! The concept of forging and artifacts from lost cultures with hidden capabilities is a really cool one. The author also acknowledges the part colonialism played in acquiring them, as well as oppression and theft of culture.
I feel like those interested in science and history will like this book. I thought the golden ratio and Fermat/hexagons were worked into the storyline in a really clever way. Some of the expressions and language clearly aren't era-specific, but since it's fantasy I'll give it a pass on that. I read this as a stand alone, but since it seems set up for a sequel, who knows? If there's a follow-up I'll read that one as well and see if it changes any of my critiques. Probably won't make me like Severin any more, though.
The setting is very atmospheric. Because the plot is focused around 'forged' objects, there's a lot of detail put into their descriptions. Sometimes the objects act as a work-around if the story needs some way to secretly record conversations or replace other tools of modern convenience. The characters are also given complicated back stories that are all very tragic, but somehow still a bit thin? Tristan and Severin's, especially, is bizarre and never quite explained enough for me.
But on the characters...there's parts I liked. Zofia's place on the spectrum is never directly named, but it's portrayed pretty well. Hypnos and Enrique's mixed-race ancestry in industrial France is a nice break from the presumed homogenous population. Laila's origins and abilities are really interesting and original to me. You could tell right away there was something up with Tristian, though, since he's the only one of the core five without a POV chapter--even Hypnos has one at the end.
But, ugh, Severin. He's the worst. I couldn't stand him. He's arrogant, entitled, controlling and grating. The way he orders around his friends, whom he considers family, talks down to Tristan and Hypnos, smashes things Enrique cares about (??) and acts possessive of Laila just made me root against him even though he's supposed to be the main protagonist. He also is the worst offender of the other two major problems I had with the characters: obnoxious amounts of sarcasm and forcing a romance on characters just for the sake of it. Also nOT TELLING ANYONE ELSE YOUR PLANS WHY DOES EVERYONE DO THIS IN BOOKS?!?!
And apparently out of a group of people with Poirot-on-steroids levels of deduction, he's also the one who gets to smirk and smugly say the answer to a puzzle before everyone else. Can you tell he bothers me??? But I refuse to let him ruin the good parts! The concept of forging and artifacts from lost cultures with hidden capabilities is a really cool one. The author also acknowledges the part colonialism played in acquiring them, as well as oppression and theft of culture.
I feel like those interested in science and history will like this book. I thought the golden ratio and Fermat/hexagons were worked into the storyline in a really clever way. Some of the expressions and language clearly aren't era-specific, but since it's fantasy I'll give it a pass on that. I read this as a stand alone, but since it seems set up for a sequel, who knows? If there's a follow-up I'll read that one as well and see if it changes any of my critiques. Probably won't make me like Severin any more, though.