The next Hugo nominee. The book happens in a world partly based on pre-Columbian Central/South American civilizations.
The beginning of the book was partly confusing, as there were several plot lines happening at different times. At least it was clearly stated when any chapter was taking place. A young man has been blinded as a child by his mother to be a vessel of an emerging god. He gets special training while he is growing up, and he seems to already have some supernatural powers. He can control crows and use them as flying eyes.
A young woman whose roots are from a poor part of a town has gotten an important position in another god’s priesthood. There is an attempt against her life, apparently by another sect, but the evidence seems a bit TOO obvious. Her position as a leader/figurehead seems threatened.
A young woman (who might not be exactly human) who has worked at odd jobs at boats, drank a lot of booze, and had a lot of sex is asked to deliver something at a very tight time frame through a dangerous and difficult sea journey.
Those stories start at different timepoints but ultimately converge, or most likely some will really converge in the next part of the series.
The world was fascinating and the writing was pretty well executed. The plot was interesting and certainly fantastic enough, and the characters felt well-created and complex. The downside is that this book was just the beginning of the story, and it was mostly set up for the real plot and characterization of the major characters. In spite of that, this book was vastly better than the author’s earlier Hugo-nominee Trail of Lightning, with a more creative storyline and more interesting and less clichéd characters.
454 pp.
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