Started:
Finished:
Spoilers: No
DNF
Big thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read an early copy for review.
Unfortunately, I'm going to have to admit defeat with this one. I've read a lot of reviews for this and was glad to hear the story picks up and gets a lot better in the second half. But for me, I just can't force myself to read 50% of a book before I get to the good stuff.
I initially found this really interesting. The premise is fascinating. I was instantly drawn to the concept of two consciousnesses sharing a single body and love the idea of a day-brother and a night-brother. Super unique and original idea. Alexander, a musician, is the day-brother, and Christopher, a special inspector, is the night-brother.
I thought the chapters would alternate between one brother and the other with the turning of day and night, but instead, the first half of the book is from Christopher's POV while the second half is from Alexander's. I really wish it was written in alternating POV. As the general opinion seems unanimous that Alexander is the most interesting of the two, this may have saved me from DNFing. I struggled to connect to Christopher as a character, and unfortunately, I didn't get far enough in to read any of Alexander's chapters.
My main problem with this book is the pacing. The first few chapters are really interesting but the moment the travelling begins, the pacing drops and the plot becomes boring. It's just too slow. Not enough happened in those opening chapters to keep me interested and reading. I'm not prepared to keep reading a book if I'm still not invested by the 20% mark. That should be more than long enough to grab my attention and if a book doesn't then I know I'm just not gelling with it and it's time to move on.
I found the city of Reikova really cool and atmospheric. This was one of the reasons that kept me reading in the beginning. I loved reading all the details and descriptions of the city, with all its dark sides and slums. It really painted a gritty picture of the world in my head.
But after Christopher left Reikova and began travelling to Drekenford to investigate a mysterious witch case, I realised that the majority of the story would probably take place there, and the city I'd already grown attached to was long behind us.
As much as I initially enjoyed the world-building, there was one little thing that completely threw me off. The religion. Normally I love exploring religious beliefs in fantasy books cause they're always so creative and new, even the ones based on real-life religions. What I noticed in this book was that they were just Christians. Christopher wears a crucifix and refers to Christ and the Lord. Even his name is derived from 'Christ'. There's just something about reading a fantasy book set in a name-up secondary fantasy world in which people still worship Jesus that turns me off entirely. Now I could be wrong about this as I know I didn't read enough of it to truly learn everything I could about the religion, but those mentions of Christ and crucifixes were an immediate red flag for me. I just don't want Jesus in my fantasy. Sorry.
On a positive note, that cover is stunning and drew me to the book in the first place. I'm very pleased to see so many people enjoying this book, but this one just wasn't for me.
Comments