The Isle in the Silver Sea

Aw man, I wanted to like this book so much, and there is a lot I did like: the queerness, the found family, the diverse types and uses of magic and most of all the whole concept of questioning who gets to tell storys, who is listened to, how tales are a way of writing history and shaping society and how we can escape them. There was so much potential and so many great thoughts and ideas, but man was it a slow and tough read. I don't know whether it was my mood, I'm firmly convinced this is a me-problem, but I continuously had to force myself to pick this book up and not another, I found the two perspectives not really distinct, I couldn't form a deep connection with the main characters, who stayed pretty one-dimensional, and many of the relationships just felt off, shallow, not fleshed out. The writing was very dense and in parts lyrical, which made for slow reading but in some passages was very nice. Some words or senteneces seemed repetitive to me, but it was a review copy, so minor flaws can be expected. The pacing was a bit all over the place, with rather slow passages of banter and romancing and then action scenes in fights and hunts. I also felt like some events were happening off-page to then be told afterwards which I was a bit sad about. Even though the book wasn't for me (at this moment in time), I would recommend everyone to pick up this book and give it a try yourselves - especially if you like queer fantasy and would like the take of a woman of colour on narration and storytelling and how it shapes us. Thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown for the e-arc!