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clar2d2 's review for:
A Song for Arbonne
by Guy Gavriel Kay
Just over halfway into this book, I already knew it was going to be one of my favorites, for a number of reasons:
1. I really enjoyed the characters. There were just so many of them, all of which were so different, and almost all of which I loved. Though majority of the main female characters were described as extremely beautiful, which is definitely something we could've done without, we had a lot of strong female characters, which was pretty great.
2. This book was kind of dramatic, possibly even soap opera-ey, which isn't normally something I like, but I liked it here. I suppose it's difficult for a book set in a place like Arbonne to not feel like one gigantic poetic song, but it was because of this that I didn't mind that some of the characters, at least a couple of the main people on the "bad" side, felt kind of exaggerated, or that some of the twists did feel soap opera-ey, because it didn't feel off while I was reading it.
3. My favorite part of a good fantasy book will almost always be the world building, and the culture in this one was so rich. I also loved how the religion introduced played a big role in molding that culture. For whatever reason, I always find fictional religions so fascinating.
4. This book hit me emotionally several times, but not in the same way other books have. Usually when I get emotional over books, it's because somebody died, almost died, or some other major event happened. This book, however, was able to make me feel strong emotions over subtler scenes - basically nothing could be happening, maybe a song is being sung, or some words are being exchanged, but by the end of it I'd just find myself thinking, "Wow."
5. The ending was both satisfying and not. It's kind of strange. Guy Gavriel Kay didn't give us this magic resolution that just fixed all the problems, that felt like the absolute ending to everyone's stories, or that left me with no questions at all. At the same time though, the ending still managed to give some sort of resolution to each of the characters' journeys, while coming full circle with the beginning so beautifully.
1. I really enjoyed the characters. There were just so many of them, all of which were so different, and almost all of which I loved. Though majority of the main female characters were described as extremely beautiful, which is definitely something we could've done without, we had a lot of strong female characters, which was pretty great.
2. This book was kind of dramatic, possibly even soap opera-ey, which isn't normally something I like, but I liked it here. I suppose it's difficult for a book set in a place like Arbonne to not feel like one gigantic poetic song, but it was because of this that I didn't mind that some of the characters, at least a couple of the main people on the "bad" side, felt kind of exaggerated, or that some of the twists did feel soap opera-ey, because it didn't feel off while I was reading it.
3. My favorite part of a good fantasy book will almost always be the world building, and the culture in this one was so rich. I also loved how the religion introduced played a big role in molding that culture. For whatever reason, I always find fictional religions so fascinating.
4. This book hit me emotionally several times, but not in the same way other books have. Usually when I get emotional over books, it's because somebody died, almost died, or some other major event happened. This book, however, was able to make me feel strong emotions over subtler scenes - basically nothing could be happening, maybe a song is being sung, or some words are being exchanged, but by the end of it I'd just find myself thinking, "Wow."
5. The ending was both satisfying and not. It's kind of strange. Guy Gavriel Kay didn't give us this magic resolution that just fixed all the problems, that felt like the absolute ending to everyone's stories, or that left me with no questions at all. At the same time though, the ending still managed to give some sort of resolution to each of the characters' journeys, while coming full circle with the beginning so beautifully.