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Orama is a young Prince in the Grothia Royal Family. He’s just started his training to become a warrior, and after an incredibly short time, bests his father in a sparring match. He’s hailed as a genius, a prodigy fighter, and is hated and maligned by his oldest sister. He strives to be more like his uncle – a talented fighter who can disarm and subdue an enemy with nothing more than his bare hands – and less like the other members of his family (both immediate and extended) who think that anyone not bestowed with the Grothia name and blue eyes are weaklings.
I struggled with this book, not because of its content, but more because of how it was written. I’m not the kind of person to shy away from strong swear words, but did find myself wincing when the c-bomb was dropped casually from a child’s mouth. The sentence structure was one that reminded me of a child’s book; repetitive names within one paragraph, short sentences and simple syntax, which was then juxtaposed with strong profanities. It made for a jarring, uncomfortable read – trying to work out the target audience for the content (obviously adult), when compared to the style of writing.
As a story, I found the world that Grothia Blue was set in somewhat confusing. References to ‘Mother’ were frequent, as were ‘The Child’, and it wasn’t until I was a fair way through that I realised that ‘Mother’ was a god(dess?) and ‘The Child’ the ground upon which they inhabitants lived. I was also somewhat confused by the somewhat garbled explanation of the Grothia’s eyes. There was a passing reference to someone (I think Orama’s mother) wearing a blindfold; followed by an inference that children had their eyes transplanted at a very young age (or were murdered if their eyes were not blue), but no further mention of it (unless, of course, I missed that and if so, I do apologise).
I just didn’t get on with Grothia Blue, finding it clunky and only returned to it begrudgingly for the purposes of this review.
S. A.
This book was reviewed as part of the Reedsy Discovery ARC program. You can read the original review here
You can buy Grothia Blue by clicking on the name.