layawaydragon
Written on Jan 3, 2017
Basically: Decent, entertaining read though I was really confused. It sets up the world slowly to keep you guessing and the ending has me very excited to continue the series.
Calling the Reaper opens with a pirate tale and I’ll admit I was initialing confused. I had no idea why I was reading about that given the blurb. Soon enough I went “ohhhhh” in realization.
After my initial confusion and the second story, I sped along enjoying the ride. Though I have my favorites like The Kiss and Sacrifice, each is a solid mini-story. Of the eight stories, two are about women and most are non-Western in setting.
There are stories from colonizers calling locals barbarians and savages though. While one story is set from inside such a society and shows how the invading forces is wrong in such assumptions, it doesn’t negate the harm of perpetuating colonial rhetoric.
Calling the Reaper follows eight separate stories of various people throughout the world and each story is split into three parts: backstory, set-up, and death. After each story is a glimpse at the larger picture, the players behind the chess pieces, with letters and excerpts from various texts. Which is very well done.
Again, at first, I was confused at how it all came together. It’s not until the very end when the pieces drop into place to reveal the big picture. Now THAT has me excited to continue. Too bad I can’t talk about it without spoiling it :/
Recommended for: fans of dark, bloody fantasy with a bunch of different POVs.