87. SORROW’S KNOT, BY ERIN BOW

Recommended by my coach, which was very unexpected. Frankly, the fact that I enjoyed it as much as I did was even more unexpected...

Synopsis: Otter has the power to be a binder, and has always assumed she would be one after her mother. Binders are vitally important, being the ones to craft the knots that keep the dead away from the village. Her mother, however, refuses to take her as an apprentice, clamoring that the knots feel wrong. Otter receives no training and is left semi-isolated in their society. When a White Hands (the most dangerous and feared type of dead) attacks, Otter is forced to take on responsibilities she’s not ready for.

Overall enjoyment: It blew me away. It was such a fresh concept for a fantasy world, and so beautifully executed. As much as I love the European medieval setting, it is so gratifying to see something I haven’t already read a billion times. And it was very well-written.

Plot: It could be called a magical quest, but the traveling only starts well into the book. It definitely doesn’t feel like the story drags in the beginning, though. The elements are very well constructed and connected. Nothing felt artificial. Maybe Otter’s love interest, but the romance only starts when the book is almost finished, so it didn’t spoil the whole thing for me; I didn’t feel like rolling my eyes even once while reading this. And it only feels weird because it happens so fast, it’s not implausible. I also loved the fact that she doesn’t have a love interest for most of the book, and even when she met him, the story was most definitely not about romance.

Characters: Very well constructed and balanced. Even though there were two girls and a boy, she didn’t even mention the possibility of a love triangle. All of them are very believable, with complex emotions and coherent reactions.

World/setting: The world building is flawless. She creates something very different from what we’re used to seeing, but she has no trouble in explaining to the reader how this world works. She doesn’t even need to make a great exposition, she uses the story, the speech patterns, little bits of myth and legends, and the very geography to build her world. And it was a place I definitely would like to explore more.

Writing style: It had a beautiful lyricism that made the story feel like a song of legend. She doesn’t condescend to her readers by over-explaining, repeating and making everything obvious; that is very rare in YA literature. The words flow into each other as if that was their natural order.

Representation: It feels very much like a Native American world. The cover also implies that, with the girl’s style of dress and features.

Political correctness: Once again, if you take the time to develop your characters fully, it’s very hard for you to commit great blunders in here. There are many things I’m tempted to mention, but they’re so subtle that this review would end up way too long if I were to fully explain them. (And I’m very much sure that the only reason why I picked up on them was because I liked this book so much.)

Up next: Redemption in Indigo, by Karen Lord

Um. I didn't quite get this book. Writing prose was pretty good, the characters were decent, the pacing was hell, and the story really lost me. Despite speed reading the last 140 pages at 2 am, I got that we needed to not bind the dead, but I had so many questions left over from throughout the book. This may have partially been due to the speed-reading at 2 am shush

*DISCLAIMER*: If any of these questions were answered in the book and I missed it, I take full responsibility for being a potato. Please don't hate on the potato.

Some of my questions that come to mind:

If binding the dead is such a bad thing, why were we doing it in the first place?
And if we were binding because we didn't want the dead to come back and hurt us, than what exactly are we accomplishing by not binding the dead because it's also bad?
Why exactly did the binders (Spider, Willow, and Otter) go insane?
Why did Willow bind as well as crazily unbind, sometimes without even trying to?
Why does yarn, of all things, have power?
Why, if this is a so-called all-women community, are these some guys?
Why do some guys choose to stay (or why are they allowed to) and others choose to go?
Why do only women have power?
WHY DID CRICKET HAVE TO DIE??!

See more of my reviews on The YA Kitten! My copy was an ARC I got in a swap.

 

For years, a copy of Plain Kate sat patiently on the shelf in my high school library and yet I never checked it out. The rave reviews were nearly everywhere in the blogosphere, but it took me until my last year and a half of high school to utilize our library. When I walked by it, I either said “I’ll do it later” or found too many other books I wanted to read more. I still want to read it, but my experience with Sorrow’s Knot makes me a little more hesitant. Though it’s beautifully written and very unlike other YA fantasy novels, the way the prose has to carry most of the story’s burden makes me worry Bow simply might not be a writer for me.

 

Its strongest selling point is how it’s so unapologetically female-centric. The residents of Westmost are almost all women and girls; the men of the village are usually either traders who are only there temporarily or boys born there who most likely end up leaving when they’re older. The women hold the power and it’s simply how it is. Most fantasy is European-based and usually has someone questioning women in power or oppressing women, so it’s unbelievably refreshing to see something different.

 

The worldbuilding is just as interesting. Bow paints a picture of a world heavily reminiscent of North American/Native American culture, though the Shadowed People aren’t meant to represent or parallel any particular culture. It’s a bit difficult to perceive some of the cords and knots they make while binding, but that didn’t stop me from thoroughly enjoying Otter’s world, trials, and enemies. Those white hands on the cover aren’t there for nothing; they’re among the most terrifying creatures the novel has to offer.

 

Bow writes like the tales she’s spinning are fairy tales and it’s absolutely gorgeous. For the first one-hundred pages, I was spellbound. After that, the magic wore off–but by no fault of the author. This has happened once before with Ash by Malinda Lo. Though I love fairy tale-esque writing as much as the next person, it’s best for me in short stories and novellas, not 200-page or 300-page or longer novels.

 

More troubling, it felt like the prose was forced to carry most of burden. The characters weren’t quite strong enough because they were so entangled in the prose and that is why I haven’t discussed the characters; there were brief moments of plotty happenings, but they resolved themselves quickly. Reading a story solely on the basic of beautiful prose isn’t doesn’t work for me.

 

I got to about page 200–over halfway through the novel–and yet it still felt like such an uphill battle to read more because it seemed their story turned into a journey and the prose really was all that drove the story forward. That kind of stress isn’t good for my already-in-trouble reading habits (I haven’t finished a single book since I started this about ten days ago due to reader apathy and outside factors), so I decided to put it down.

 

I absolutely recommend it to people who loved Ash‘s storytelling or Bow’s other novel because I hear it is the same, but if gorgeous writing can only take you so far, you might want to be wary of Sorrow’s Knot or take it slowly. Very slowly.

Catherine and I are giving away three hard copies of Sorrow's Knot by Erin Bow to three lucky winners!

To enter, just head on over to the post and use the form at the end of the post. Good luck!!

After enjoying Plain Kate by Erin Bow, I was looking forward to Sorrow's Knot. I'm so happy to say that I enjoyed it every bit as much as I did her first novel, if not a bit more!

Usually when I read novels I end up guessing how the story will go after a certain point, but in this one, the story kept surprising me with all the twists and turns it took. I legitimately gave up guessing after a while because I just did not know where the story would take me. It is a well crafted plotline that never goes where one might expect it to, and for that it was a serious joy to read. Even when it got creepy.

And wow, did it ever get creepy. I didn't expect this to be an appropriate Halloween read when I started, but it was! There were some scenes that had me huddled under my blanket and wishing I slept with a nightlight. There's no gore, but it's like a very suspenseful ghost movie, where shadows shift in a fuzzy frame and you're sitting there, waiting for something to happen, the chills going up your spine. It's a very effective, chilling read at times, but it never gets too grimdark or too overwrought. There are plenty of lighthearted moments to even it up.

As for the cast, I think Otter's one of my new favorite lady leads in a book. She's just fantastic. A lot of things happen to her, but she tries her best to move on and grow. Kestrel, one of her best friends, was also a lovely character and I loved the role she played in the book.

The world building was also very nicely done. There was obviously a lot of research done on Native Americans and the different tribes that exist in order to make Otter's world well rounded and believable. A certain other book I recently finished could have taken a few lessons. (That's the only comparison I'll make, I swear.)

If there were any downsides to it, I'd say at times the already slowish pace did drag a little. It's not an action packed story; it's one that's slowly unraveled like a piece of yarn. But it's definitely worth it to see how the whole thing untangles and then comes back together.

I loved Sorrow's Knot, and I heavily encourage anyone who loves fantasy to give it a good look.