Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by shellballenger
Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane
1.0
Type of read: Commuter Read.
What made me pick it up: I honestly don't remember what made me pick this one up. I think it was on one of the top LGBTQIA books published in 2022? Either way, I liked the cover art and the title.
Overall rating:
I very much wanted to DNF this book. It wasn't until about two hours into the audio narration that I finally felt like I could maybe finish it. The first four or five chapters are clunky and so chocked full of information that you find yourself trying to sift through long complicated names and places, along with relevant information, as well as potential dream sequences (I think...I'm still not sure to be honest). Even then, there is just so much smashed into this book that it's completely over and underwhelming. I mean, we go from learning about Achilles and how they became who they are today, to dolphin beauty standards (yeah, you read that right), to war, to talking with animals, to sex, and everything in between. There's a lack of focus in 'Wrath Goddess Sing' that does the overall book a huge disservice.
One of my main complaints, unfortunately, is with the narration. I want to make this clear, it's not a complaint with the narrator, I feel like they did as good of a job as they possibly could. This is with the way the words flow and the overall narration of the book. Because 'Wrath Goddess Sing' switches back and forth between simplistic writing and extremely complex names, locations, and so on, there's no really great way to keep a rhythm with the narration. Which results in the names and more - for lack of a better word I'm going to say historical words - feeling exaggerated and fake. Very much like when Giada De Laurentiis says spaghetti.
I truly believe that 'Wrath Goddess Sing' could be a good book, with a lot of attention from an editor that's not afraid of telling Deane they need to focus, take a breath, and think about how their readers are ingesting the information on the page. However; as currently written, 'Wrath Goddess Sing' feels like a time-traveling RPG where your character continually gets sidetracked by new quests in different lands. I cannot recommend this book as currently written.
All that said, it did make me want to sit down and have a coffee with Deane because if 'Wrath Goddess Sing' is any indication of how amazingly creative and continually moving their brain is, I have a feeling it'd be one of the best coffee conversations of my life.
What made me pick it up: I honestly don't remember what made me pick this one up. I think it was on one of the top LGBTQIA books published in 2022? Either way, I liked the cover art and the title.
Overall rating:
I very much wanted to DNF this book. It wasn't until about two hours into the audio narration that I finally felt like I could maybe finish it. The first four or five chapters are clunky and so chocked full of information that you find yourself trying to sift through long complicated names and places, along with relevant information, as well as potential dream sequences (I think...I'm still not sure to be honest). Even then, there is just so much smashed into this book that it's completely over and underwhelming. I mean, we go from learning about Achilles and how they became who they are today, to dolphin beauty standards (yeah, you read that right), to war, to talking with animals, to sex, and everything in between. There's a lack of focus in 'Wrath Goddess Sing' that does the overall book a huge disservice.
One of my main complaints, unfortunately, is with the narration. I want to make this clear, it's not a complaint with the narrator, I feel like they did as good of a job as they possibly could. This is with the way the words flow and the overall narration of the book. Because 'Wrath Goddess Sing' switches back and forth between simplistic writing and extremely complex names, locations, and so on, there's no really great way to keep a rhythm with the narration. Which results in the names and more - for lack of a better word I'm going to say historical words - feeling exaggerated and fake. Very much like when Giada De Laurentiis says spaghetti.
I truly believe that 'Wrath Goddess Sing' could be a good book, with a lot of attention from an editor that's not afraid of telling Deane they need to focus, take a breath, and think about how their readers are ingesting the information on the page. However; as currently written, 'Wrath Goddess Sing' feels like a time-traveling RPG where your character continually gets sidetracked by new quests in different lands. I cannot recommend this book as currently written.
All that said, it did make me want to sit down and have a coffee with Deane because if 'Wrath Goddess Sing' is any indication of how amazingly creative and continually moving their brain is, I have a feeling it'd be one of the best coffee conversations of my life.