Elle’s Reviews > Burn the Sea > Status Update

At 72%, Abbakka finally "discovers" a plot that was obvious since the 20% mark. This is why I say this novel doesn't work as a political fantasy: the villains are only winning because everyone else is operating with negative IQ. The villain brags too much, shows his hand constantly, is the most cartoonishly evil advisor since Disney's Jafar, but I'm meant to believe he's some political mastermind. (He is not.)

All the "twists" are so far very easy to see coming, I can tell many, many chapters (sometimes 10+) before the protag works it out--or gets told by someone else. Political novels need to have more subtlety than this, and the ability to hide things from the reader. When machinations are this blatant, there is no enjoyment in watching it unfold. There is no mystery or surprise.

This has individual aspects I love, but it just isn't coming together to make a whole that I care about. There are snippets of prose so beautiful I have to copy them down, I adore the fantasy creatures, Abbakka remains very sympathetic. Yet the focus keeps shifting to marriage issues, & to politics but never long or deep enough to scratch my political fantasy itch. It's doing too many things to do any of them well.

I have a sinking feeling that this is going to be less fantasy than I hoped & more politics + war + toxic families + women surviving horrible marriages. Which aren't necessarily bad in a novel, but they're not what the first 12-15% of THIS one made me think it was going to be, when it started with flying lion allies and human-sea-snake enemies. I'll give it longer, but my enthusiasm just took a big hit.

Excellent start. Love the prologue instantly establishing the mythological beasts in this world, and Spirits as part-god part-ancestors religion. I struggle to remember the names, but protag Abbakka is relatable & likable from the get-go, as a child & as an adult. She's hard-working and cares deeply about others, & I can already foresee problems when duty and love start demanding opposing sacrifices.