So much potential, but unfortunately this one misses the mark. When it opened up in second person narrative I groaned, it's a PITA to read 2nd person and I feel like it's only real function is to have some showy reveal when it switches to first person. That's exactly what happens here, but there's only a single line at more than halfway through, and it doesn't fully switch until about 80% of the book.
The biggest sadness is that Gideon is gone, she was far and away the best part of the first book. Instead of that dialogue that was popping off the page, we get the much more restrained and boring Harrow. While I had a dozen favorite quotes from Gideon in the first book, there was only one from Harrow I liked:
It was only the fourth funeral you had ever been to where you had been responsible for the corpse.
This novel is also full-on fever-dream mode. Harrow is constantly waking up places with no idea how she got there or what is happening. For probably 60% of the book stuff just happens to her, and she has no idea why. It's almost boring to read because everything just seems random: there's always someone killing her and you don't know why.
Not only is it batshit crazy fever-dreamy, it also jumps back and forth in time, and I don't think I ever fully understood where in time I was currently supposed to be. I was not excited to pick this one up until I was at about 80% finished, it was a grind.
I'm usually on board with feeling confused and clever incremental reveals, but the balance is off here. The last chapter is basically stuffed full of reveals in a single narrative conversation. Muir held onto all of that closure for too long and dumped it on the reader all at once, in a way that was difficult to process. I'm sure it's all very cleverly constructed, but having it jammed into one chapter just makes it feel rushed and unsatisfying.
It's a shame because I think the world is good, the characters are fairly solid, the plot arc seems good, it's just the pacing is wrong.
Also still too many swords on spaceships, which even the characters acknowledge:
“Why does a Lyctor need a sword? Lord, what use can we have of one? I can control bone. I can shape flesh and evoke spirit. I no longer need outside thanergy. Why anything so crude as a sword?”
There's also way too many people called Gideon. I had no idea who the fuck was who in the final chapter.
I did kind of love the poetry-come-to-life scene. That was a surprise and I thought it was very clever: it also poked fun at the dialogue of the scene during the scene. Topped off with an eminem reference no less.
“My master in life was revenge,” said the Sleeper. “My mission is one of— Goddamn it, I’m not going to start talking like this.”
“Awake Remembrance of These Valiant Dead Kia Hua Ko Te Pai Snap Back to Reality Oops There Goes Gravity,”
This series would make an amazing TV show because they can fix the plot pacing.
2 stars
