Mazahl's Ascent by S.V. AtlaMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
S.V. Atla’s debut novel Mazahl’s Ascent is a novel I can imagine will divide readers. As it’s a book dealing with controversial issues, this is to be expected, and I’m curious to see how readers feel about this one. As always with books I know will be controversial, I had a bit of trouble when writing my review for this one. On the one hand I want to warn people of the topics they may not wish to read about, and at the same time I have no wish to ruin the story for other people. Not to mention, I also wish to avoid comments that will result in a debate within the comment section – as is often the case with reviews of controversial books. Therefore, I apologise in advance that this review is not as detailed I would normally make my reviews.
The details of Mazahl’s Ascent had me curious about what kind of book I would be given, of what I would experience throughout, but if I’m honest it took a while before I was sucked into the story. There are lots of details given at the start, and it takes a while to work through all the information and for the book to start moving forward. The details and information are necessary, so you need to stick with this one before things really get moving.
When things do start to happen, you find yourself intrigued by what will come next. There are certain details you’re desperate to know more about, things you find yourself overly curious about when and how the information will become known, and this has you more than willing to keep turning the pages to get your answers of how the book will come together. Throughout, there is a lot to experience – and this leads back to how there are some controversial themes, and how the book will not be for everyone.
Personally, I had no issues with the themes throughout this book. I rather enjoy a controversial read, and this offered up something different to what I would usually pick up. What prevented me from giving a higher rating was a personal preference – the style of the writing. There was nothing bad about the writing – there were some great lines in there, and the story was well told – but I’m rather picky about some elements of writing. One thing I’m not crazy about is excessive descriptions of what people look like, and constantly being reminded of looks. I know it plays in with this story, but it’s a personal thing that I’m not a fan of stylistically. There were a couple of other things, as well, but the constant reminder of looks was the biggest thing for me. I know many will be perfectly fine with such a thing, but I wished to explain why I could enjoy the way issues were dealt with within the story and still give a three-star rating.
If you are a fan of controversial reads, if you’re looking for something a bit different, I would certainly give Mazahl’s Ascent a read. It’s an intriguing debut, and I’m sure S.V. Atla has plenty more hidden up their sleeve to leave people willing to read their future books.
View all my reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment