Reviews and Comments

The ending picks up and makes some interesting points but it's a fairly long-winded road to get there. The general theme around memory and forgetting is definitely the best aspect of the book, and it makes me wish that more time had been spent developing all of the other elements to make it a rich, well-rounded read. The characters were all quite bland. I don't feel like I ended up emotionally invested in any of them, and I think a lot of that was due to the dialogue. All of the characters spoke in the exact same way, and it was a bizarrely formal/polite/detached style that made them feel inhuman. The main couple talked a lot about how much they loved each other, but it didn't really come across in the rest of the writing. At first I thought maybe this was part of the magic of the mist, clouding their mind and taking away their personality and emotion but it never changes so I guess not. By the end, the world was a bit more filled out but for a lot of the time it was as bland as the people.

I think this could have been a really fantastic short story but, as it is, it's a mostly tedious meander for the first 2/3rds that delivers a good ending. I'm just not sure the ending is good enough to justify the investment.

I loved this book, could be my favourite I've ever read. The language and descriptions were very rich and visual for me, I felt like I was really immersed in te ao Māori and got a glimpse of how dramatically different it is from the western/pākehā world in which I was raised. It was full of references to Māori creation and Māori myths and legends making it feel full and unlike anything I've read before. The main character is so well written, a complex combination of naive and ruthless, powerful and fragile, detached and sensitive that works so perfectly given who she is and the experiences she has. I hope I can write a fuller review of what I love about this book but for now I'm going to have to read it again and gather my thoughts properly! All I can say for sure at this point is that this is a beautifully written book, in a world that's unlike anything I've experienced before and I hope I can find more like it.