DNF Early Review – The Second Bell by Gabriela Houston (3/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 304 pages
Publisher: Angry Robot
Release Date: March 9, 2021
ISBN-13 : 978-0857668905
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley from Edelweiss for Review
Rating: 3/5 stars
“In an isolated mountain community, sometimes a child is born with two hearts. Such a child – a striga – is considered a dangerous demon, which must be abandoned on the edge of the forest to protect the community. The only choice the child’s mother can make is whether to leave her home with her infant, or stay behind and try to forget.
Miriat made her choice. She and her nineteen-year-old striga daughter, Salka, now live a life of deprivation and hardship in a remote village, where to follow the impulses of the other heart is forbidden.
But Salka is headstrong and young, and when threatened with losing everything, she is forced to explore the depths of her true nature, testing the bonds between mother and child.”
Series Info/Source: I got an eGalley of this book review through Edelweiss. This is a stand alone novel.
Story (3/5): I have always been a fan of Angry Robot publishing and was excited to see another book from them. I read the first 44% of this book. There were some things I liked about it: the isolated mountain setting, the striga and their eternal fight with their own dark heart. There was a lot I didn’t like about it: the constantly shifting POV, and the very on and off pacing. The story wanders and seems to be mostly about the striga and their way of life and their relationship to the non-striga village near them.
Characters (3/5): You feel very distanced from the characters and POV switches willy nilly. The story is supposed to be about Salka I think. However, to get to Salka’s story we wander through some of her mother’s history and read from the POVs from some of her fellow villagers. I didn’t really enjoy any of the characters because I kept being randomly bumped between them all.
Setting (4/5): I really enjoyed the isolated mountain setting here. The way the striga struggle to make a living in this harsh climate and the careful balance they have with the nearby village are intriguing.
Writing Style (3/5): Although I like the subject matter and the setting, the writing style here was just too wandering for me. Pacing was very uneven throughout and there wasn’t anything here for the reader to grab on to and engage with. The language flows fine but the abrupt changes in character POV left my head spinning at times and I ended up struggling with this book.
My Summary (3/5): Overall I realized about half way through I just didn’t care anymore and wanted to move onto something else. I have a lot of books to read right now and this one is just not engaging enough. While the subject matter of striga and the mountain setting were intriguing, the execution left quite a bit to be desired. I was really looking forward to this and ended up being pretty disappointed. In the end it just wasn’t worth my effort and time to finish it.
