Tumblr backup: Thornfruit review
Dec. 16th, 2017 06:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
minutia_rI picked up Thornfruit by Felicia Davin last week when it was available for free. I was afraid of the standard things you’re afraid of with self-published books–that the writing and editing would be bad, the plot flimsy, the characterization and worldbuilding shallow. On the other hand, it seemed to be bringing a lot of tropes I adore, so I figured as long as the other stuff wasn’t too bad, I’d enjoy wallowing in the iddiness.
I got just about the opposite of what I expected. The writing is solid if not flashy, carrying you through the story effortlessly; the world is unusual–a tidally-locked planet where Night and Day are locations rather than times, and where waves are horrifying natural disasters–but developed well enough to feel like a real place, while still giving you that familiar ah-yes-I’m-in-Fantasyland feeling. The characters, especially the two heroines, Alizhan and Ev, are likable and engaging, and the plot moves forward briskly, with several twists and moments of high tension.
And yet, despite the promising premise–There’s a prickly, amoral waif whose psychic powers have isolated her from the rest of humanity! Her beautiful, noble benefactor, who is (almost) the only one who has ever treated her with kindness, is harboring dark secrets and is really exploiting her! But! She has a stalwart, pure-hearted friend, who longs for adventure and is big and strong but naive in the ways of the world! In turns drawn to and exasperated by the psychic waif and her prickly ways, the warrior girl is nevertheless committed to standing by her side and protecting her from all harm! OH AND DID I MENTION that the waif’s psychic powers mean that she can’t touch anyone else without both parties suffering excruciating pain?–it never quite delivered on the feels the way I was hoping for.
Nevertheless, I’m not too disappointed, given the book’s aforementioned other virtues. I’m definitely interested enough in Ev and Alizhan’s continued adventures, so I’ll probably be checking out the sequels. And if you want a light-hearted, fast-paced fantasy adventure with a sweet f/f romance plot that could almost–but not quite–be the story of a developing platonic friendship, you could do a lot worse than read this one.
I got just about the opposite of what I expected. The writing is solid if not flashy, carrying you through the story effortlessly; the world is unusual–a tidally-locked planet where Night and Day are locations rather than times, and where waves are horrifying natural disasters–but developed well enough to feel like a real place, while still giving you that familiar ah-yes-I’m-in-Fantasyland feeling. The characters, especially the two heroines, Alizhan and Ev, are likable and engaging, and the plot moves forward briskly, with several twists and moments of high tension.
And yet, despite the promising premise–There’s a prickly, amoral waif whose psychic powers have isolated her from the rest of humanity! Her beautiful, noble benefactor, who is (almost) the only one who has ever treated her with kindness, is harboring dark secrets and is really exploiting her! But! She has a stalwart, pure-hearted friend, who longs for adventure and is big and strong but naive in the ways of the world! In turns drawn to and exasperated by the psychic waif and her prickly ways, the warrior girl is nevertheless committed to standing by her side and protecting her from all harm! OH AND DID I MENTION that the waif’s psychic powers mean that she can’t touch anyone else without both parties suffering excruciating pain?–it never quite delivered on the feels the way I was hoping for.
Nevertheless, I’m not too disappointed, given the book’s aforementioned other virtues. I’m definitely interested enough in Ev and Alizhan’s continued adventures, so I’ll probably be checking out the sequels. And if you want a light-hearted, fast-paced fantasy adventure with a sweet f/f romance plot that could almost–but not quite–be the story of a developing platonic friendship, you could do a lot worse than read this one.
