As usual, readers who broadly enjoy the genre and styles of stories/authors will have a higher chance of loving the collection overall. But the book would also serve as a great entry point for people wanting to try out more from the genre, particularly with the cohesive strength and interesting dichotomy that this anthology holds.
I do highly recommend The Captive for anyone who can get onboard with the premise and can stand the sometimes graphic and often violent plot.
It’s a short, sharp, biting read, and thoroughly engrossing; I highly recommend it for lovers of history, linguistics, politics, and truth.
Given this is the final book of a trilogy, I’m breaking this review into two sections: one for readers who have already started the series, but first one for readers who haven’t dived into any of it yet.
There is a strong layer of familiarity underlying it all, particularly in its vaguely Medieval European setting and fairy story folklore inspirations. But Starling takes these basic ingredients or flavors and cooks them into something unexpected and astounding.
You see, the protagonist/narrator is a shapeshifting monster who keeps rebuilding her body from the remnants of defeated enemies, but a lot of the people she deals with are monstrous in their own ways. … and when she meets a uniquely likeable and caring woman, Homily, and tries to help her and communicate with her instead of just eating her, readers like me end up cheering for both of them.
