WardenRed reviewed The Keeper's Six by Kate Elliott
None
4 stars
Someone had once compared the Beyond to the mortar between bricks, if bricks were material Realms like Earth and mortar was a trackless poisonous infinitely branching and changing dimension inhabited by ravenous monsters, venomous plants, and clouds of amnesia- or psychosis-inducing bugs commonly called antics.
I absolutely adored the worldbuilding here. This world—or rather, this collection of worlds and the beautiful, terrible connective tissue between them—is someplace I'd really love to hang out for a while longer. Maybe there's going to be a sequel one day, or some kind of a side story set in the same universe. I'll be super excited to read it!
The story itself was gripping and fast-paced and fit the short length of the book very well. I do kind of wish the book was longer, just so I could learn more about the universe and the characters, but the plot itself takes up …
Someone had once compared the Beyond to the mortar between bricks, if bricks were material Realms like Earth and mortar was a trackless poisonous infinitely branching and changing dimension inhabited by ravenous monsters, venomous plants, and clouds of amnesia- or psychosis-inducing bugs commonly called antics.
I absolutely adored the worldbuilding here. This world—or rather, this collection of worlds and the beautiful, terrible connective tissue between them—is someplace I'd really love to hang out for a while longer. Maybe there's going to be a sequel one day, or some kind of a side story set in the same universe. I'll be super excited to read it!
The story itself was gripping and fast-paced and fit the short length of the book very well. I do kind of wish the book was longer, just so I could learn more about the universe and the characters, but the plot itself takes up exactly as much space as it's given, all the beats are hit hard, and the tension is maintained throughout. There were maybe a couple of sections, one early on and another near the middle, where things felt like they were slowing down unnecessarily in favor of pushing some more worldbuilding details forth, but they were short.
The characters, unfortunately, felt somewhat underdeveloped, with the exception of Esther, the MC, who was awesome. I love seeing older characters kick ass and take names, instead of endlessly getting relegated to the role of wise mentors who dispense some advise and then watch from the sidelines while their kids or other younger people venture out into the wild to have adventures. Esther instead gets to rescue her son, and she's awesome at it, and her life experiences shine through in her entire character. But all the other people (and, well, representatives of other species) that surround her never felt quite as alive and developed—possibly because of the emphasis on the plot and the worldbuilding. A lot of the moments that I felt could have really showcased some of the characters if done differently got unfortunately lost in the kind of dialogue that was a bit too close to "As you know, Bob" territory. This threw me off a bit, as I'm a very character-focused reader. However, the story and the worldbuilding were really exciting in spite of the above. Also, dragons! Dragons here were super cool.
