Longer review to come, but in summation I need everyone I know to read this, I want more books in this universe, and I officially have a book hangover. I can't believe it's over.

EDIT

Readers, it has happened at last: I have read Cait Spivey’s fantasy epic From Under the Mountain. Now that I have done so, I simply cannot recommend it enough. In fact, I haven’t had this intense of a book hangover since I finished Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy, after which I was listless for a whole week with the knowledge that it was over and I couldn’t live in that world anymore unless I read it again. This book hangover, however, has filled me with excitement and drive – excitement because I know Spivey is actively working on another volume in the same universe and drive because, for the first time in almost a year, I feel the yearning to occupy the world I’ve been trying to build for so long. So Cait, thank you, thank you, thank you. I cannot repeat it enough. Your world is inspiring.

From Under the Mountain’s universe is wonderfully built and feels complete; it overflows with the kind of small details that make a fantasy world both immersive and deeply convincing. From its magic to its economy to its social prejudices (and the ones from our world that are pointedly missing), the story never fails to provide information that flushes out the setting to its fullest extent.

While I am a sucker for sweeping landscapes and immersive worlds, characters are what make me stick with a book. From Under the Mountain’s cast is beautifully diverse and full of complex, well-rounded people who it is hard not to have emotional reactions to, whether it’s attachment, wariness, or revulsion. And while I don’t want to give anything away, yes, character-related things absolutely did make me cry.

But the biggest hook perhaps of all was the pace. From Under the Mountain starts and simply does not stop until its conclusion. Even then, like most good books, it leaves doors open. Not everything is tied up in ribbons. Frankly, I’d like to read a direct sequel that picks up precisely where From Under the Mountain left off.

So whatever you read for, From Under the Mountain has something for you, even more so if you tend to enjoy witches, monsters, underworld narratives, dragons, shapeshifting gods, queers, and unexpected heroines. Like what you’re hearing yet? Visit caitspivey.com for more, and get your copy at Another Read Through, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon!

I CANT COME UP WITH WORDS TO DESCRIBE HOW HYPED AND WEEPY I AM RIGHT NOW. BUT READ THIS BOOK OKAY? OKAY. Full review to come when I'm done screaming???

So I really was looking forward to this book. Knowing it was on the Asexual book club list, I expected more sexual diversity than your typical fantasy novel and was not disappointed. Except I also was? Being that it's stated in the bio that the author is asexual, I was definitely awaiting a prominent asexual character to make an appearance, but that never happened. As far as I could tell, none of the characters were, or at least not that it was mentioned or really implied. I've heard tell that this is the first book in a series, so maybe some characters will be revealed later, but it was kind of surprising me to find that lack in this novel. There were other non-heterosexualities in this book though, lesbians being the most prominent, including the main character, Guerline.

(EDIT: Okay, so I looked into this a bit more, and found a post here, where the author talks about her writing and the importance of representation. In it she states clearly that in From Under the Mountain there is no explicit representation of asexual people, but that some characters were canonically asexual (Theodor for example), which might be explored more in the sequel.)

I enjoyed the plot of the story a lot though. The witches and political set-up are fairly unique, I think, at least to my reading history. It got a bit convoluted and open-ended at the end though, possibly because there might be a sequel, or possibly because the author was going for a moral-grey area type thing, which I don't think she quite achieved if that was the case.

Spoiler

One of the major issues I had with it was some of the character relationships. Specifically - Desmond. What the hay?! You're seriously going to make a move on your crush while she is literally crying over the body of her recently, violently dead lover? WAT? And I mean, okay, he's a douchebag. Clearly. So at some point there's going to be some conspiracy going on and he's going to turn evil and he'll die at the end like he deserves, right? Right?? Nope! Not only does he survive, but he's still a "good guy" and stays friends with Guerline. The only saving grace is that there wasn't any indication of them even vaguely getting together at the end like I feared when he kept not turning evil and dying.

Anyway, I did enjoy it for the most part. The writing wasn't great some of the time, but the action was good enough to keep me reading and interested. I also really liked the idea of magic being a finite resource, and would be interested to see how that continues if there is a sequel.

LOVED. IT.

I loved it

It would have been a four or five star book but unfortunately I was unable to connect with the characters until near the end.

I sat for a while after reading it and decided that even though I had trouble connecting with the characters the book was still an absolute joy to read and reading it has put in a good mood.

the first half of this was a mess i wish we had gotten more of Guerline's pov instead of basically every other person in this world. the end was compelling but i have pretty mixed feelings overall

I very much enjoyed this from a world building perspective. I'm very much looking forward to the reading the sequel.
A few things bothered me about this though. Will try to talk about them both without spoilers.
Firstly, this book was on a list of books with ace rep and the ace rep was so slight (and I don't even know for sure if the characters I think were ace actually were) that it may as well not have been there at all. Side character rep is great, but I was looking for more than just a character who happened to be ace but where that was not explored in any way.
The other thing that bugged me was the (extremely quick and casual) death of a queer character. There was a lot of potential for that character and the relationship they were a part of in terms of conflict and growth. Their death felt unnecessary and I don't see how it furthered the story at all.

Fucking brilliant. A fantasy novel that kicks ass at world-building and wraps up the story in one book. No need for a trilogy when it's great writing. Loved its sense of real diversity.

ETA: Did a re-read to read the prequel-ish that came out. Loved that prequel and loved this even more. Even though I sort-of remembered what happened, I still was super worried and upset about the characters.