3ish stars.
I think Mark Lawrence is a really talented writer. I appreciate his classical prose and his creative world-building. Even here, in which the “world” he builds is such a narrow, claustrophobic sliver of the planet explored fully in the Book of the Ancestor series.
Which makes me question why it was overdrawn so much as to be almost as long as the first book in that series, Red Sister, which is itself not a lightweight.
Honestly it could have been a cool side story/companion novella to offer a unique contrast to Nona’s story. And the concept is indeed cool. It’s also unnecessarily bloated to the point of bursting. And it ends on a cliffhanger. Apparently the author thinks he has enough material to justify at least a sequel (presumably a trilogy), despite the fact that (view spoiler).
As much as I love Lawrence, and as much as I’ve enjoyed my time on Abeth, I’m removing myself from this particular narrative.