Ahoy there me mateys! I have enjoyed Greg Bear's work before and the concept of this book sounded so good.
I love stories about shipwrecks and survival on weird islands. I did enjoy the beginning but once the boy reached the island it went downhill from there. The plot was nonsensical and actually rather boring. I abandoned ship at 38% and was relieved to do so. Arrr!

The book description for The Unfinished Land sounded compelling and I looked forward to following Reynard’s journey. Unfortunately, some of what’s referenced in the description occurs before the first chapter starts, and The Unfinished Land fails to develop a cohesive narrative arc that makes this journey worthwhile.

This book was billed as YA, and I feel it’s incorrectly categorized. Most of the characters are adults or mythical beings that are ancient by human standards. And while the book description suggests Reynard is on a quest to fulfill his destiny, he’s a character without agency. Reynard has no particular memories or knowledge that could change the course of events that unfold during his time on the island. He doesn’t develop convictions and act on them to save lives or alter the outcomes. For most of the story he meanders at the mercy and direction of others. For example, we start with Reynard clinging to what’s left of his uncle’s ship after everyone else on board has died. The first part of the book is saturated with flashbacks to give us Reynard’s history, but there’s no action. Reynard lays there, essentially dying, until another ship comes along and he’s rescued by a Spanish ship. As an enemy of the Spanish, Reynard’s prospects don’t look good, but Manuel sees some quality in Reynard and takes care of him.

The ship is damaged near an island, and when most of its occupants go ashore strange things happen while they sleep. The rest of the men are afraid and this causes a rift, with some fixing the ship and launching it as soon as possible and others going off in search of conquest on the island. Reynard and Manuel are left with some occupants of the island and go with them. This might not have been a terrible start, but it fills the first fifth of the book, and little time is spent on any of the key events.

Instead of focusing on plot and character development, the author concentrates on excessive descriptions. An example is a point in the book where a full page is spent on describing the scene while Reynard’s group is sleeping. The author does create vivid descriptions (“In the shadow of the headland, they came upon the mouth of a deep black cave, its upper lip hung with dry moss, like a green and gray mustache.”) but the excessive detail of the description ensures the plot, such as it is, progresses as a glacial pace. Very little time is spent developing characters in a way that makes you empathize with them. In fact, many characters are only part of the story for a short period and then disappear for long periods or never return, and new characters are still being introduced late in the book.

The author also jumps between character perspectives within the same scene, sometimes sentence to sentence. The story is presented in third person, and the POV jumps prevent us from being solidly anchored in Reynard’s perspective. While I was never confused about whose perspective I was getting, these shifts added no pertinent information to the story. All they did was undermine the connection to Reynard that the book struggled and failed to fully develop. This is another reason I think YA readers won’t be drawn to the story.

The writing style is another potential deterrent for readers. The language style can be hard to follow at times. (Kaiholo was not easily assuaged. “I feel my mistress’s time clean and sweet, like silver. What is in this old sailor’s added years, I wonder? What borrowed or traded memories? Some of mine own, mayhap?” Manual stared him down but did not answer. Did the tattooed man pose a danger?) Passages like this one add nothing to the narrative. They don’t develop a subplot or add to the primary plot, thin as it is. They just add to the bloat of a narrative that doesn’t have clear focus on the story it’s telling or protagonist.

It feels like nothing much happens for long portions of the book. When there are significant events, such as when the Spanish attack the town, the protagonist is off scene for most of those developments. A subsequent battle happens entirely offscreen, and Reynard and Manual are simply told about it. And for good measure, it’s mentioned three times, although it has no real bearing upon them at that point in the story.

Now, there is this cool mythology hinted at and some really interesting characters. This book could have been amazing if it had centered around these mythical beings and actually had a plot. For a book that had so much vivid description, there was sometimes very little attention paid to the characters we did spend time with. One example is when Reynard traveled with a giant. There was never a sense that the giant strained to hear Reynard speak or had to bend over to see things Reynard, Manuel, and the others were referencing. Ultimately, although the giant was regularly referred to as a giant, it seemed like perhaps he was just a few inches taller than everyone else, because I had no sense of his size impeding his ability to walk on the same paths or interact with the group.

There were some great ideas behind this manuscript, but they never came together in a cohesive and compelling way, and ultimately this book was a disappointment for me.

Honestly, after so many awesome books by Greg Bear, I had high expectations from this book, but in the end I ended up being very disapointed.
Firstly, the old English that has been used it this book, made it really difficult to read.
Secondly, I felt that all the travelling bit was simply too play. Main characters were not standing out at all. It was just too boring for my liking.

A gripping premise and a well-built world that's a mixture of history and fantasy. Sea battles and magic really do mix! I probably would have liked the mythological elements explored a bit more, or even a whole lot more.

The one aspect of the book that makes it an unconventional read is that the protagonist doesn't influence the story's progression. Without giving too much away, it has to be this way plot-wise, but the book would have been stronger if things didn't "just happen" to him.

Sadly DNF’ed this. It really just isn’t for me. The characters are too flat, I have no idea what is going on and the writing style isn’t helping matters either. And it isn’t just the old English that makes it a struggle, but the sentences are too long and it all feels very monotonous (the ‘boring’ bits and the exciting bits all have the same tone). I like the premise, but it’s not enough to keep me going.

I was really looking forward to this book, and the first few pages seemed promising - quality prose, and a compelling young hero trying his best to survive.

Unfortunately, it went downhill from there. I really wish this book had been enjoyable since the Elizabethan era is sorely underused as a fantasy setting, but I couldn't get past the awful ye olde English dialogue (interspersed with random Spanish I didn't understand), the constant jumping from one new character to the rest, or the passive way our once plucky hero got dragged on a quest without any sense of purpose.

Thanks for the opportunity to read and review, I only wish I had made it past the 20% mark.

I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley.

Greg Bear’s latest novel, The Unfinished Land, probably falls under the subgenre of historical fantasy, though it’s a more complex story than that designation would suggest. Reynard finds himself unwillingly thrust into important events when his uncle’s fishing boat (on which he is a crewmember) is conscripted into battle against the Spanish Armada. As one might expect, a fishing boat doesn’t do so well against warships, and Reynard is the only survivor. Against all his expectations, it’s a Spanish ship that rescues him, on the advice of an “old salt” named Manuel. The ship is lost in a dense fog, and when they make landfall on a strange island, it quickly becomes clear that Manuel is more than he appears to be. For that matter, Reynard might be too, even though he himself isn’t sure why.

As he travels around the island, Reynard meets a number of characters from different regions, cultures, and even species. In this sense, The Unfinished Land is reminiscent of Bear’s sci-fi novel Hull Zero Three. There are other thematic similarities, too. The main characters in both books are on not only a physical journey, but a journey of self-knowledge. Reading The Unfinished Land relatively soon after Hull Zero Three was an interesting experience because of these similarities. The novels are in completely different genres, so it didn’t feel repetitive, but it does make me curious about whether these are elements Bear returns to often in his work.

The two books are alike in another way as well: both put Bear’s prodigious imagination on display. Like the Ship in HZT, the mysterious island of Land is full of bizarre creatures, puzzling artifacts, and fascinating mega-structures. I absolutely loved Bear’s drakes, and the descriptions of the bone-wives and story-mirrors were evocative.

My one criticism of the book has to do with its pacing. Reynard—and by extension, the reader—is kept almost completely in the dark until very close to the end of the book. Because of that, the plot felt like it didn’t progress for long stretches of the book, and instead of the conflict gradually ramping up, it felt as though it stayed level until taking a sudden jump near the end. There was also one major plot element that felt unsatisfying for reasons I can’t explain without delving into spoilers (see below). Overall, however, this was an enjoyable read.

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

The Sister Queens’ war against Hel’s rule obviously had major effects on the characters and seems to have substantially changed the status quo on the island. But since Hel has been absent for millennia anyway, I wasn’t clear on whether they actually achieved their goal. Did they truly overthrow her, or was everything that happened part of her overarching plan? I also wasn’t really sure why they wanted to overthrow Hel. There may have been some hardship on the island, but I didn’t really see any evidence for the Zodiako villagers, Travelers, or Eaters being truly oppressed. (Surely a real tyrant wouldn’t have stood for the King of Troy just hanging out in the woods, doing his own thing and calling himself a king?) I rooted against them because they were on the opposite side from the protagonists, whom I generally liked, but I didn’t have a good sense of what their larger motivations were and how I was meant to feel about them.

I was interested to see a historical fantasy book from a distinguished author like Greg Bear, who is more known for his hard sci-fi novels. I find hard sci-fi a bit dry, but love historical fantasy. And while the premise was intriguing, I have to admit I am struggling with the plot here. I think this just isn't the book for me.

this was my first Greg Bear's book so i didn't know what to expect from it.
while i enjoyed some aspects of the story, like the setting, the journey, the creatures, i felt like i never really grasped the story whole. specially, i really struggled to connect with the characters, even the mc i felt like i never got to know completely. the tone also felt weird, maybe it's the author's style or just something about this particular book, but i wasn't for me.

I don't things like this, but I honestly cannot put into words how much I didn't enjoy this. Olde English is not something I signed up for, and spoiled it from the outset.

Secondly, I was just...bored. It was slow, and tedious.

DNF

I thought the description of this book mentioned somewhere that this book is great for fans of The Bear and the Nightingale but I don't see it anywhere anymore so I don't know if I'm making this up, but it was one of the reasons why I was interested in this book. I tend to like historical fantasies with fairytale/mythological elements so I was convinced that I was going to love this book.

Well... I can tell you that I don't think fans of Katherine Arden's story will enjoy this book. The atmosphere isn't there, it's not engaging and it's confusing for no reason. Whoever compared this book to The Bear and the Nightingale did this novel a disservice and I'm glad it isn't in the description anymore.

I think a lot of faults I find in this book are due to the author's writing style, it's definitely for a niche audience. Unfortunately, I'm not a part of it and it did not work for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for a copy of the eARC in exchange for an honest review. I've read several Greg Bear traditional sci-fi titles over the years. I knew what I was getting into hear was a fantasy novel, but this book flounders in what seems like new territory for an experienced writer. I got fifty or so pages that I felt were engaging and interesting, and 300+ that fell off considerably. I should've DNF'd the book early on and walked away. Instead I grew overly critical of a book others may really enjoy.

This book book was a major disappointment. The author is known for science fiction and this foray into fantasy left a great deal to be desired. It is a bit of a slog read with characters that were left undeveloped and uninteresting along with new terminology for the fantasy world that made reading confusing as they were not clearly defined. I would recommend sticking with the author’s science fiction works and skip this one.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my nonfiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook page.

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing me with the e-arc of The Unfinished Land by Greg Bear in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

The Unfinished Land appears to be an historical fantasy, that introduces us to Reynard Shotwood. Reynard is a young apprentice fisherman on his uncle’s fishing boat, that has been commandeered by Queen Elizabeth to help the English fleet defend the island against King Philip's Spanish Armada.

Reynard finds himself the sole survivor on the floating ruins of his uncle’s boat and after many days adrift is pulled to relative safety aboard a Spanish warship. However, the ship is list, low on supplies and unable to fight the tides dragging it northwards to a string of seven islands.

Land does not bring succour and safety, instead vampire like night time attacks that steal days, months, years from their lives. As Reynard struggles to survive, he finds out that is arrival on the islands is a sign of change and he begins a magic-filled journey of self-discovery.

There is a lot to be said for the premise and promise of this story. The smorgasbord of mythology and folklore and fantasy are a wonder to behold, but for me the pace and Reynard’s reticence and reluctance to participate in the story made it a long and at times arduous read.

I did persist and was rewarded by the finale to the story, but even that with all it’s strength wasn’t enough to make this a go to read for me.

I really REALLY wanted to like this book. The synopsis sounded like something I would enjoy. The book had potential but I just could not get into it. There was too much detail in areas I could do without and not enough character development for me. The world building was decent but the writing style would bring me right back out of the story.

A unique fantasy - not quite like anything else I've read. The "world" incorporates elements of various mythologies along with a bunch of other stuff that I guess just came out of Greg Bear's head. It reminds me a little of Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur in tone, language, and the pervading sense of the weird - plus the story is set in the time of the Spanish Armada, so the spoken language is a bit archaic. The main character has no idea of what is happening to him or why, and there are none of the expository devices common to fantasy that might bring him up to speed. Readers know a little bit more, since the viewpoint shifts occasionally to other characters.

It's a fun read, entertaining and thoughtful, with well-drawn characters and top-drawer world-building. There is plenty of action - just not of the epic fantasy battle-with-orcs type. But if you trust the author and go along for the ride, it's an enjoyable experience.

The synopsis for this novel sounded like something I would really enjoy - strange encounters, battles between man and gods all wrapped up in an interesting way. However, what I didn't realise was the amount of olde world Englsh used - nothing wrong with thy and thou etc but, for me, I found it brought me out of the story a little. The worldbuilding was well done, with intriguing set pieces and so, whilst the novel wasn't for me, I will admit it was well written. For fans of olde world fantasy this is something you may enjoy!

I unfortunately just couldn't get into this one, simply for the writing style. Leaving a decent star rating as I could see huge potential in the story, but understand it's just not my cup of tea.

The Good: A dreamy travelogue in a world that's not fully formed
The Bad: Lacking in character and story development
The Literary: Faux historical-English prose

Reynard, a young apprentice fisherman, is the only survivor of a Spanish attack of his ship. After days of drifting, an old man aboard a Spanish galleon finds and rescues Reynard, and together they follow the currents north to the island of Thule and eventually Tir Na Nog.

I love the eclectic nature of this scifi-fantasy mashup. Reynard meets all sorts of magical creatures, from the terrifying Eaters (vampires who feed on time and life) to the brave Blunters (defenders of cities who have a special connection with their brilliantly colored giant dragonflies). The Travelers, well, travel, collecting stories that they bring back to the Crafters, who make the world, and are rushing to finish it before the Sister Queens wage war against creation. Along with all these imaginative fantasy characters are the traditional giants and gods, but also Vikings and Spaniards.

But even more exciting is the premise that Reynard's world is a work in progress, and the Crafters are creating, rearranging, experimenting, and trying to make something beautiful. It's a unique and imaginative concept that has the potential to be used as an appealing plot device as well as a critique on the creative process.

Sadly, the story is never really all that engaging. The world is unveiled to the reader very slowly, so it's unclear who all these creatures are and what part they play. And whereas the creatures are imaginative, the individual characters are forgettable. When a mysterious and powerful god on Tir Na Nog sets Reynard and his companions on their nebulously defined quest, Reynard himself does not understand his purpose or why everyone wants to get him to a Crafter, so as a reader you feel no urgency. The dialogue is an Elizabethan-ish English which is supports the Eurocentric (sometimes Norse, sometimes Celtic) mythology but doesn't make for an easy reading experience.

Recommended for fans of atmospheric and challenging world-building!

The Unfinished Land is an adventure fantasy book, by the legendary Greg Bear. The book centers around Raynard, who is a British fisherman who is working on his uncle's boat when it is destroyed by a Spanish fleet. He's stranded at sea, and rescued by a stranger on a Spanish Galleon, and the adventure begins: he meets the various groups that populate the land: crafters, eaters, blunters, travellers. The magical land Raynard finds himself in is interesting, but not completely enthralling; for some reason, I found myself having difficulty connecting to Raynard. I enjoyed the book as a whole, but I'm not sure I would recommend it to others.