Jan Priddy’s Reviews > The House of Rust > Status Update

I have read a bit further than this, but I am done. This is simply not a good choice for me. Bajaber's imagination is impressive... but

If this were not a Le Guin Prize winner, I'd have quit reading several chapters ago. I am tired of rereading in order to figure out who is talking and the piled-on similes wear me down. Yes, some beautiful language, but also multiple similes to little effect. Characters are male unless they are girls or mothers or grandmothers. Three monsters too much alike, and why? My opinion: she needed rigorous editing. Age.

so. many. similes. It wears me out. Beautifulbut distracting sometimes.

They can call this magic realism, but it's fantasy, pure and simple.

Fascinating, some gorgeous language, though I struggle with the author's syntax and use of pronouns—when there are four female characters in a scene and two of them are called the same thing (sometimes), my confusion is understandable when all action and speakers are "she."