If I have a purpose in this life, it's to tell everyone how good this book is.

I was very intimidated by the size at first. This book is huge. A lot of times, or I would even say usually, when I read a very large book I get hung up on just getting through the next part so I can measure my progress and finish it. With this book, I was so absorbed with everything happening I didn't have energy to think about whether or not I was making progress. I was locked into Kyrra's struggles and the political machinations of the nobility.

I don't think I can write an effective review that isn't just gushing, because I loved every minute of this 26 hour long audiobook. Boord doesnt shy away from current issues, like abortion or disability, and she does it in a way that feels so real for the setting. I found the use of imagery very nice throughout the book. I was too engaged to take any notes but there were a few really apt metaphors that made me pause to appreciate them without feeling overly flowery.

I didn't love Arsenault as a deuteragonist/love interest because he's just so closed off, I didn't really feel the excitement that Kyrra was feeling. But this was all very intentional by Boord and we did crack through some of his shell by the end, and figuring out the overall mystery of him was really the main hook.

I thought I'd be sick of this hostage plot but it was so engaging. I thought Boord spent the perfect amount of time in the split narrative in the past/present, and I really thought it was clever that we started with large portions of the past and progressed to mostly being in the present as the story went on. Split narratives are tricky because there is always one narrative that someone prefers, but somehow Boord manipulated me perfectly by giving me the exact right information at the exact right time so I got what what I want basically when I wanted it.

The lack of tropes in this book felt so nice. I have been feeling like everything I'm reading lately is just a list of tropes, sometimes with awkward dialogue or nonsensical plot as very transparent scaffolding between tropes. I wouldn't say this book had 0 tropes, because it's impossible to do that, but the story felt very intentional in its path.

This book is not perfect. There were too many reveals packed into the last 15-20% in my opinion, and with all the action loaded in, too, it felt a little jumbled and confusing. Some things were talked about or alluded to too much for me to feel invested in them, like Arsenault's past reveals. I got to them and I was like, what, didn't we know that already? I don't feel we really got enough information about the gods, which I actually didn't mind while reading it but it seems like the focus will be on them more going forward. This is not egregious and I feel it's because Kyrra doesn't actually know that much about the gods herself. There was enough nuggets of information given to glean some things by the end.

That being said, I do think this book is perfect for me. I loved Kyrra and the way she struggled through her problems. I loved getting to know her. I loved her metal arm. I loved the Renaissance Italy feel at a time when guns were emerging in the world. I loved the hint of romance that wasn't really genre defining but was character-defining. I loved the political strategizing. I LOVED THIS BOOK. The audiobook is FREE on audible if you have a membership and I HIGHLY recommend checking it out if you like low fantasy with meddling gods and hints of magic that is not being used constantly.

If Fortune's Fool has a million fans, I'm one of them. If Fortune's Fool has 1 fan, it's me. If Fortune's fool has 0 fans, I am dead. Thank you and please read or listen to this book.

I didn't really anticipate liking this book, but I found that it was an okay way to spend my time! I think remembering that Jack Black made a movie about this made me think that this was a kid's book, and I guess it could be byt there is a lot in here for adults.

Obviously a lot of the referential humor and some of the satire went over my head because this book is about 300 years old. This is kind of crazy, that there are works from 300 years ago that we can still read and enjoy. I think that's part of what made me enjoy it, it really felt like I was participating in something significant. I've been trying to read at least one older classic a month, but this one is, I think, the oldest one that I'm interested in.

I listened to the audiobook, and I thought the narrator was really doing a good job with the tone and making it feel humorous but not dumb, and then I realized that it was David Hyde Pierce. That also really elevated my enjoyment. Once I realized that, in my head I was picturing Niles Crane doing all this stuff and it felt even sillier.

Some of the themes that I picked up on by myself were industrialization vs. the older way of things, silly political strife (I'm not very interested in or educated on what the Whigs and Tories were up to at this time but I did recognize that a lot of this, especially in the first part, was referencing quibbles in the main political parties), criticism of war and the conflict between England and Ireland, and a philosophically negative take on mankind. I did enjoy the read so I perused the Wikipedia article on the book just to go over some of the things I missed and I was able to pick up on criticisms of Queen Anne, overall comments on political systems, and more philosophy about the nature of mankind.

I really liked the last portion. This seems controversial but I thought it was very self-aware of Swift to realize how terrible human beings are to each other and to other creatures on the planet. He also brings this up with the Brobdignagians, where the King is bemused by his tales of war and whatnot, but in the last part Hulliver comes to realize that Others are good. He does flip into ostracizing himself from his fellow man, which I think is a real problem, especially in this current age of social justice and outrage. I actually thought that this was the most relevant part of the story to today's issues. Obviously Gulliver wasn't right to have such a low opinion if mankind, but it's almost understandable that he would have a cognitive dissonance about it based on his experiences. This part really solidified my enjoyment of the story.

I also really appreciated some concepts that have become popular in science fiction/fantasy stories, for example gloating islands. The large/small thing obviously wasn't invented by Swift, but that's been done a lot since his time. The concept of an exploration that goes wrong leading the focal character to wake up suddenly somewhere else is also familiar. Also, I didn't know Swoft invented the term yahoo! That was kind of interesting to learn.

I don't know if I would really recommend this story. It's no Jane Eyre or Pride and Prejudice, but I do think it's the kind of book everyone should read at least once. I had fun with it.