Peng Shepherd

Very interesting premise. I feel like the author wanted to keep things like "how" and "why" vague to increase the sense of magic, but I personally would've liked more payoff by way of explanation in the end, especially for such a long book. I'm sure it was an allegory for something, but I couldn't say just what. Kept me engaged for sure. Again, for style purposes, I think the author intentionally made some events occur abruptly with little explanation, but it really made me feel lost sometimes--I've read a few other reviews and I'm not the only one who had to reread sections multiple times trying to figure out what just happened before having to give up. A little polishing and a little more explanation and this book might've been a five star. Pretty great for a first novel though!… (more)