Review of Once Was Willem by MR Carey

CW’s: violence, a lot of religious iconography/talk but appropriate for the era, some body horror, death, main character is raised from the dead.

My Rating: 2.25 stars

Let me start by saying I usually LOVE Orbit’s titles.

This was a huge disappointment, because I LOVE Orbit.

Honestly. I just don’t think this book was my cup of tea. I mean, it scratched a bit of an itch in that it hit similar to a history book, or a Primary source like some kind of journal. But it just didn’t evoke a lot of anything in me initially. It took a bit to get into the book and to focus on it because it had that undercurrent of a historic novel. And it is Historic Fantasy, so that makes sense.

I think the narrator really did this book a service in that he was engaging. The chapters being shorter and titled helped too.

This is definitely a book that leans into the “historical” part of “historical fantasy” and is also character driven, rather than plot driven or driven by the magic. I would definitely say it’s also relatively low-fantasy, so there’s not a lot of world building to speak of. Which really does shift the focus of this book and the kind of audience who would like it.

This book crawls at a snail’s pace, if you’re used to reading historical/non fiction books, it’s really not that slow nor does it feel out of place. The book reads similar to an autobiography, and it essentially is an ficitonal/fantastical autobiography.

There is a pretty heavy religious component, it’s time appropriate, so it isn’t out of nowhere, but there are a lot of mentions of someone’s “Spirit” as well as “God” and “Children of Adam and Eve” throughout the novel. It honestly, for me, does detract from the novel. But this is more of a personal preference than something I think is outright badly done per se. It does pull the rating down a bit, for me, but I don’t think the religious component outwardly problematic in itself. Maybe if I were more cynical or critical, I might wonder if this era was chosen on purpose to make the religious component make sense. But I don’t know.

Anna was an okay character, she wasn’t the most dynamic FMC I’ve read, and it definitely seems she’s written as a love interest rather than another character. But I think it’s hard to find really well written, fleshed out, dynamic women/girl characters written by men. It’s just the state of writing.

The writing is very stylistic, it’s this weird religious-fantasy kind of vibe to it, it feels very much like a parable mixed with historical narrative or an old fashioned fable, but again, like mentioned prior, there’s this historical edge that almost feels too boring. The pace is pretty slow going, it moves at a snail’s pace.

I also would’ve liked to see more of Bethali’s story. It would’ve been a really good opportunity for a female-rage plotline. There could have been this element of an angry woman seeking revenge on a man (Cain Caradoc) who is a genuinely awful and selfish person. And worse, the book focuses more on this man than it does on the women who deserve attention more. It kind of seems like I was supposed to like him? I couldn’t tell. I genuinely couldn’t tell if I was supposed to like the women or not, or dislike them, or find them too angry? Because I felt none of those things but they didn’t feel like they got the attention and focus and care they deserved and all of that energy and writing was poured into Willem and Cain Caradoc, who, respectively, were boring and awful. I think it’s possible to make a villainous character/anti-hero charismatic, iconic, and funny. Some examples, Rumplestiltskin and Regina from Once Upon a Time, or the MMC from The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo, which is also a good example of a FMC. More are Solomir from the For the Wolf sequel, For the Throne, all the MMC’s from The Enchanted Isles, even Sylvester from Harvest of Hearts I totally love the evil little wretch when they’re well done, this just wasn’t.

I think this book also just suffered from too many characters that are just this one-and-done kind of thing. They last a few chapters at most (many of these characters who are treated as disposable are women) and have little in the means of character arcs.

And honestly? The more I read of this book the more the writing seemed like it was trying too hard. I don’t think calling it purple prose even covers it. It just felt like the author wanted to write a novel that would become a classic or win an award. I don’t know, it just felt like this writing wasn’t organic.

Overall, I just kept hitting this problem of feeling like I could care a bit, like it a bit, and then I’d go right back to being bored of the characters, the plot, and the writing.

Honestly? I didn’t even care about the climax, about Cain Caradoc’s Cosham rising up, or his defeat. I just couldn’t bring myself to root for anyone. Even the women in the book fell flat for me. Willem felt too much like a passive observer and I was never on the edge of my seat or gripping my Kindle in anticipation. I didn’t eat this book up.

It was just meh.