Avery (Book Deviant)'s Reviews > A Gathering of Ravens
A Gathering of Ravens (Grimnir, #1)
by
by
Hi! I don't know who's reading this review, but if you're the asshole who's been sending me anonymous messages, you can kindly fuck yourself and get the hell out of my life. The review below is MY OPINION, and the fact that you're being this childish over it is pathetic. Get over it. I will not be removing it.
Original Review:
I would like to thank the people at Thomas Dunne Books for allowing me to have an ARC of this book via NetGalley.
See more of my reviews on my blog the Book Deviant
I'll be keeping this one short, mainly because I don't want to waste much more of my time on it.
Flimsy research
Oden falls into the unfortunate category of male fantasy authors who use offensive tropes and thinks it makes him some kind of big-name fantasy author. He obviously took care in researching cultures that he doesn't belong to, but there's apparent evidence that whatever research he did was inaccurate, or that he was just using whatever sounded cool.
The names he provides for Grimnir were inaccurate, as told by another reviewer here. The Norse research was also fairly flimsy, as I found most of the information that Oden used in a single Wikipedia search.
Offensive stereotypes and queer baiting
Another thing that really bothered me was the descriptions. Anyone who wasn't Grimnir was described as white, pure, and innocent. And Grimnir himself was described as "swarthy" and "dark" and "evil". He also slaughters a multitude of people within the first hundred pages, lending to the fact that those who are "white" and "pure" call him a "savage". Can you tell me whats wrong with that? (Answer: the "dark skinned aggressor" trope is really fucking racist and it pissed me off.)
In the beginning, the Christian is a boy. And then his companion asks him "But, what if they discover your true nature? What if you fall in love with one of your brother monks and he rejects your advances? What then" - ARC page 8.
As any logical person, I took this as a boy being gay, and that he was going to the church at Roskild to hide or something. I thought I had landed on unexpected queer rep, and I was SO excited. But then it was revealed that the boy was actually a girl disguised as a boy. Were they trans? No.
No, they were called a whore and a slut over and over again when her true gender was revealed. Because apparently that's how women are treated. Multiple instances, rape is normalized, but I didn't get far enough to truly tackle that one.
one star - Overall?
Remind me to never use NetGalley in hopes of finding a new favorite. I'll only be using it to find anticipated releases that I've already heard of after this huge disappointment. (By the way, everything I listed above took place within the first hundred pages. I didn't bother with the rest, as I was sick and tired of the book, and it was causing a book slump)
Would I Recommend?
No. Not to my marginalized friends, and not to non-marginalized peoples. The writing is fairly decent, but there is a large amount of Christianity that I wasn't expecting, as well as racism, queer baiting, and slut-shaming. Trigger warnings for all in the bold, as well.
Original Review:
I would like to thank the people at Thomas Dunne Books for allowing me to have an ARC of this book via NetGalley.
See more of my reviews on my blog the Book Deviant
I'll be keeping this one short, mainly because I don't want to waste much more of my time on it.
Flimsy research
Oden falls into the unfortunate category of male fantasy authors who use offensive tropes and thinks it makes him some kind of big-name fantasy author. He obviously took care in researching cultures that he doesn't belong to, but there's apparent evidence that whatever research he did was inaccurate, or that he was just using whatever sounded cool.
The names he provides for Grimnir were inaccurate, as told by another reviewer here. The Norse research was also fairly flimsy, as I found most of the information that Oden used in a single Wikipedia search.
Offensive stereotypes and queer baiting
Another thing that really bothered me was the descriptions. Anyone who wasn't Grimnir was described as white, pure, and innocent. And Grimnir himself was described as "swarthy" and "dark" and "evil". He also slaughters a multitude of people within the first hundred pages, lending to the fact that those who are "white" and "pure" call him a "savage". Can you tell me whats wrong with that? (Answer: the "dark skinned aggressor" trope is really fucking racist and it pissed me off.)
In the beginning, the Christian is a boy. And then his companion asks him "But, what if they discover your true nature? What if you fall in love with one of your brother monks and he rejects your advances? What then" - ARC page 8.
As any logical person, I took this as a boy being gay, and that he was going to the church at Roskild to hide or something. I thought I had landed on unexpected queer rep, and I was SO excited. But then it was revealed that the boy was actually a girl disguised as a boy. Were they trans? No.
No, they were called a whore and a slut over and over again when her true gender was revealed. Because apparently that's how women are treated. Multiple instances, rape is normalized, but I didn't get far enough to truly tackle that one.
one star - Overall?
Remind me to never use NetGalley in hopes of finding a new favorite. I'll only be using it to find anticipated releases that I've already heard of after this huge disappointment. (By the way, everything I listed above took place within the first hundred pages. I didn't bother with the rest, as I was sick and tired of the book, and it was causing a book slump)
Would I Recommend?
No. Not to my marginalized friends, and not to non-marginalized peoples. The writing is fairly decent, but there is a large amount of Christianity that I wasn't expecting, as well as racism, queer baiting, and slut-shaming. Trigger warnings for all in the bold, as well.
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
A Gathering of Ravens.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
March 1, 2017
– Shelved
March 1, 2017
– Shelved as:
to-read
April 23, 2017
–
Started Reading
April 24, 2017
–
6.25%
"this whole thing with aiden is SOO confusing. he's gay one moment, a women the next, and described as a whore any chance another character gets. she's a she, the he was just a disguise, and she's NOT gay but wtf is up with the whore and slut descriptors?? seriously?"
page
21
April 27, 2017
–
14.88%
"so not only does grimnir call etain a slut/whore every time she says something, but grimnir is "swarthy" aka black and everyone else is white and pure and what the hell is the fuckery"
page
50
April 30, 2017
–
29.76%
"literally what has even happened. nothing im interested in. the fighting isnt even that good bc grimnir just slaughters them?? theres no real fight?? im skimming so much of this legit disappointment of 2k17 wtf"
page
100
May 6, 2017
– Shelved as:
dnf
May 6, 2017
–
Finished Reading