Review: The Never Tilting World by Rin Chupeco

Generations of twin goddesses have long ruled Aeon. But seventeen years ago, one sister’s betrayal defied an ancient prophecy and split their world in two. The planet ceased to spin, and a Great Abyss now divides two realms: one cloaked in perpetual night, the other scorched by an unrelenting sun.

While one sister rules Aranth—a frozen city surrounded by a storm-wracked sea —her twin inhabits the sand-locked Golden City. Each goddess has raised a daughter, and each keeps her own secrets about her sister’s betrayal.

But when shadowy forces begin to call their daughters, Odessa and Haidee, back to the site of the Breaking, the two young goddesses —along with a powerful healer from Aranth, and a mouthy desert scavenger —set out on separate journeys across treacherous wastelands, desperate to heal their broken world. No matter the sacrifice it demands.

I have a bit of a bugbear about books written from lots of POV's, it has to be done really really well otherwise my attention span just doesn't connect and I forget who is narrating each particular chapter and it all blends in together and I just get from the book what I guest I'm meant to get from it. I class it as sort of 50% my own fault and 50% the author's. In this case, I really did try because I loved the world building and I wanted to love the story and characters - I didn't want to come away feeling unfulfilled but unfortunately I sort of did.

Firstly, let me tell you what I really enjoyed about this book. As I said above, the world building was fantastic. I would say that this book has one of the best fleshed out settings in current YA fantasy because it incorporates mythology and science and magic and I found it so rich. Despite what I'm going to say below, the author's voice was so rich and strong and the writing style was so good I would love to read more from her - I've avoided her previous novels as I struggle with horror sometimes.

That being said, my main issue is as stated above. The changing narration threw me, and I didn't feel like each character had their own voice. As a result I got bored. This is a long book at nearly 500 pages and it felt a lot longer to me. I struggled to get through it and I never connected well with any of the characters, ergo I never really connected with the plot or the story.

This is one of those books which I feel guilty for not loving, because it had so much potential and it was so well thought out, I just really struggled with the narrative and since that is what drives a story, it detracted so much from all of those good point.

I won't be continuing this series, but I will definitely be reading Chupeco's previous works and any future releases not in this story.

Book released  15th October 2019 by HarperTeen

Book received from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review