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A review by sofia_bookishwanderess
The Alchemists of Loom by Elise Kova
4.0
*3,8 stars*
This review was originally posted on Bookish Wanderess
I had a bit of trouble getting into this book and it has to do with the fact that the descriptions are not that great and, because of that, I had a hard time picturing what was happening in any given scene but specially WHERE it was happening because the descriptions of places, weapons and creatures are really vague, so it gets a bit confusing. That issue continues throughout the book, I did get used to the writing style and I was able to picture things more clearly, but never as well as I would have liked.
One of the most interesting aspect of the book is that there are no humans in this world, there are two main species, the fenthri and the dragons, which both resemble humans but their skin color, their hair color, the shape of their fingers and of their ears are different. To be clear, in this world humans don’t exist at all and I had never read a book where that was the case before.
In this book, there are two societies in this book that have completely different structures and value different things and it was fascinating to see what happened when those two societies came into contact with each other and the way the book disscusses colonialism in a very organic way within the story was very thought-provoking. Also, it was interesting to read a steampunk fantasy and see how the steampunk elements were mixed with the magic and the consequences that has, which leads to a discussion about progress and how sometimes the things we create can have unexpected results, which was really insightful.
The main plot of this book revolves around a journey to the Alchemists Guild and throughout that journey the author gets to show us the world, or at least the Fenthri world and some of the five guilds that exist in that society, which was enteratining to read about. My only problem is that I don’t feel like Elise Kova managed to create enough tension, so, when the characters had troubles throughout their journey I was never really worried or scared for them, I felt like they were gonna be fine. So, as much as I was entertained the entire time, I was never completly engaged by the plot.
What I was captivated by when I was reading this book were the characters. This book has four perspectives and I liked all of them. One of the POVs is actually one of the antagonists and, at the beginning, I didn’t understand why it was included but it ended up beign my favorite perspective to read from, because she was so ruthless and loyal. Another perspective was the main character’s friend, Florence, and I loved how observant and kind she was as well as the role she played in the groups dynamic. As for the main characters, Arianna and Cvareh, I really liked them as individuals and enjoyed their dynamic that went from hate and mistrust to the opposite.
If you are someone who likes character-driven fantasy books I think you would enjoy this one and if you like fantasy that it’s light on the descriptions, this may also be for you.
This review was originally posted on Bookish Wanderess
I had a bit of trouble getting into this book and it has to do with the fact that the descriptions are not that great and, because of that, I had a hard time picturing what was happening in any given scene but specially WHERE it was happening because the descriptions of places, weapons and creatures are really vague, so it gets a bit confusing. That issue continues throughout the book, I did get used to the writing style and I was able to picture things more clearly, but never as well as I would have liked.
One of the most interesting aspect of the book is that there are no humans in this world, there are two main species, the fenthri and the dragons, which both resemble humans but their skin color, their hair color, the shape of their fingers and of their ears are different. To be clear, in this world humans don’t exist at all and I had never read a book where that was the case before.
In this book, there are two societies in this book that have completely different structures and value different things and it was fascinating to see what happened when those two societies came into contact with each other and the way the book disscusses colonialism in a very organic way within the story was very thought-provoking. Also, it was interesting to read a steampunk fantasy and see how the steampunk elements were mixed with the magic and the consequences that has, which leads to a discussion about progress and how sometimes the things we create can have unexpected results, which was really insightful.
The main plot of this book revolves around a journey to the Alchemists Guild and throughout that journey the author gets to show us the world, or at least the Fenthri world and some of the five guilds that exist in that society, which was enteratining to read about. My only problem is that I don’t feel like Elise Kova managed to create enough tension, so, when the characters had troubles throughout their journey I was never really worried or scared for them, I felt like they were gonna be fine. So, as much as I was entertained the entire time, I was never completly engaged by the plot.
What I was captivated by when I was reading this book were the characters. This book has four perspectives and I liked all of them. One of the POVs is actually one of the antagonists and, at the beginning, I didn’t understand why it was included but it ended up beign my favorite perspective to read from, because she was so ruthless and loyal. Another perspective was the main character’s friend, Florence, and I loved how observant and kind she was as well as the role she played in the groups dynamic. As for the main characters, Arianna and Cvareh, I really liked them as individuals and enjoyed their dynamic that went from hate and mistrust to the opposite.
If you are someone who likes character-driven fantasy books I think you would enjoy this one and if you like fantasy that it’s light on the descriptions, this may also be for you.