This was an excellent book! With a riveting plot, and detailed - and realistic - character development, you will definitely enjoy reading this title!

I was looking forward to reading this, but the story did not draw me in. I not finish reading the novel.

I received this from Netgalley.com.

"Reynard must meet his destiny in a violent clash between humans and gods. "

This is a fantasy story, which is a genre I rarely read. The writing and flow of the story is good. Perhaps others more familiar with this genre and author will better enjoy this book.

2.5☆

This book is filled with dark adventure and is perfect for fantasy lovers who are also into pirate stories or tales set at sea. My favorite things about the novel were the beautiful writing style and world-building. The only thing that made the novel just a bit difficult to read that in the beginning there were a lot of Spanish sentences and it's not always very easy to guess what they're saying. However, it didn't really bother me that much. I especially enjoyed the parts with mythical creatures and the historical Elizabethan setting. Because of its writing style and a more difficult vocabulary (compared to an average YA fantasy novel), I'd say it's a fantasy book for adults or more mature YA readers.
*I received this book as an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Thank you.

The description and premises of the book sounded quite interesting but sadly, I can’t say I would've enjoyed the execution very much.

With the archaic writing style and the way a lot of things about the worldbuilding were left unexplained, I was quite clueless for most of the book. There were so many fascinating aspects of the world that could've been ventured further but it was as if the author couldn't be bothered to explain them to the reader and I felt as if I saw supposed to know what everything means beforehand.

The writing style set a cool archaic tone to the story and maybe it is to some people's tastes but the dragging style wasn't really for me, I prefer for stories to flow a bit more smoothly.

All of the characters were very interesting, though. Especially Valdis, Maeve and Guldreth were cool.

The story has a rough start for sure. The flowery, archaic language doesn't help here either (it just slowed me down even more so that I have a hard time continuing the story ... putting it down frequently). It gets a little more interesting once they get on the island and the Spanish sailors are no longer much of a factor. At that point, the world building gets more interesting and I started to enjoy the story more. To say the inhabitants (time vampires, travelers, crafters, et al) of the island were a tad eclectic would be a significant understatement, but trying to figure out exactly what was going on in this confusing puzzle of a land is about the only thing you have (not much in the way of action). Some of it I could figure out was a mashup of various Eurocentric mythos ... some of which I would have liked a bit more clarity on. Unfortunately for most of it ... the ending comes up rather abruptly and leaves a lot of things ... unfinished?

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
#TheUnfinishedLand #NetGalley

Some redeeming features but overall disappointing

I liked the setting and the era for the story, but that was it. I stopped reading about half-way through because I didn’t feel like the story was progressing and there were too many characters to keep track of. There were also several types of “supernatural” beings, but who they were or what powers they had was not explained for the most part. The story wasn’t well-paced and got bogged down in the details of world-building. I also didn’t like the antiquated English used in dialogue. The book was disappointing because I had read some of Greg Bear’s science fiction and loved it.
Disclosure: I received an advance reader copy via Netgalley for review purposes.

First of all, thank you NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review. And to the author, thank you as always for putting words on paper and coming up with something for all of us to read.
This review is not going to be easy to write. I came to this book with a lot of expectations, especially after reading the author is an award-winning one, and I was very disappointed.

The Plot:

Raynard is a British fisherman that gets stranded at sea during a war with the Spanish and on the brink of death gets picked up by a Spanish galleon, and more specifically, an old man on board of it. From there they journey to the islands of Tir Na Nog and encounter the few levels of creatures? Peoples? Who play a part in creating our world: the Eaters, who feed on time (thus. life) but can also bestow it; the Blunters, who defend the main town on the island by being paired with drakes (kind of like dragons with an insect-like twist); the Travelers, who journey the earth and collect stories and news; the Crafters, who take those stories and craft new parts for our world.
The story Revolves around its characters all knowing somehow that they need to bring Raynard to meet with a Crafter. The other supposed goal is to stop the sister queens who live on the other side of the island from waging war and killing all the Crafters and possibly other island inhabitants (and I can only assume put an end to the creation of new stuff on our world).

The Characters:

Forgive me, for I can’t even remember their names. There are Raynard and the old man, Widsith; there are a few Eaters, some Blunters, and a bunch of Travelers. Oh and a magician called (the king of) Troy. Together, they all travel deeper and deeper into the island to get Raynard to the Crafter.

The Good:

Unfortunately not much. The idea of our land as unfinished and creatures molding, taking apart, experimenting, and ultimately drafting our world until it works is a really good one. Exciting one even. At times, the writing really overtook me and I got it and enjoyed it. Especially the final chapter.

The Bad:

A whole lot. My overview here is so shallow since I kept falling asleep 10 minutes into reading (I read in bed) Every. Single. Night. So take this with a grain of salt, because maybe as I was drifting asleep I was missing key elements that make this *yawn* story a really good one?
Here’s the impression I did get:
1. Too much was left untold and by the time you get what’s going on in the story it’s too late—you’re already so lost you are no longer interested. The author drops hints here and there on the workings of this world and the characters within it, but most of the time you’re just trying to catch up, piece it together, and figure out what the hell is going on.
2. The use of old, archaic English. I did not like it, did not connect to it, did not enjoy trudging through it. The end.
3. The stakes. The stakes are too damn low. I did not feel for this tale because I didn’t get a sense of why it’s so important to get Raynard to the Crafter and to stop the sister queens. Even when I got to the end the most I felt was “it’s too late” but no sense or urgency or, ultimately, involvement or care.
4. The characters: For me they were too flat, too generally sketched, and therefore not engaging. Why have dragon-like creatures when they don’t do any epic things? Why have time/life sucking creatures when they don’t really do anything to move the plot? What is the deal with Troy and his unclear (barely used yet oft mentioned) magic? And I could go on and on. It’s like they all kind of hover around one another, not really doing anything grand, and no one really makes me want to love them, hate them, root for them or against them. Just a real shame and a missed opportunity. If I had to make a comparison: imagine Frodo traveling to Mt. Doom, but there’s no ring, and all the Orcs and Elves are gone. Oh and Sauron is almost gone anyway. Shrug.

The Ugly:

The Drakes. Dragonfly-like dragons that just fly around (yes and eat, like any other bird of prey) and you have to drink their amniotic fluid to bond with them? Pass, thanks.

The Bottom Line:
Bland. I’d pass, unless you have insomnia.

i always look forward to Mr. Bear's writing, the characters were great and I really enjoyed the scifi novel. I look forward to more from Mr. Bear.

This book was not my favorite, I was intrigued by the cover and description but forgot that I don’t typically love books about sailors, fisherman, and life at sea. I have yet to find a book about those things that I really enjoyed although I know others love them. So I think this book was maybe just not for me.

I have not read anything by Greg Bear in ages, so was quite excited when I managed to snag a Netgalley ARC of ‘The Unfinished Land’. Bear is a seminal writer of the genre, with classics such as ‘Blood Music’, ‘Eon’ and ‘Slant’ under his belt. I think his most recent SF series was the ‘War Dogs’ books (2014 to 2016), so it is great to see a new book from this 69-year-old veteran.

Reading ‘The Unfinished Land’ reminded me how uncompromisingly intelligent and innovative a writer Bear has always been. Here in particular I am thinking of ‘City at the End of Time’ (2009), a novel guaranteed to bend any reader’s mind into quantum knots. I would venture that his latest is even more dizzying, even though it reads as a fairly straightforward fantasy quest narrative, replete with faux Elizabethan English.

As I said, the plot itself is quite straightforward: Young apprentice Reynard, working for his fisherman uncle in the English village of Southwold, suddenly finds the village’s fleet commandeered for the fight against the Spanish Armada. He is soon shipwrecked and finds himself a lone survivor. But Reynard’s journey into the deep mysteries underpinning his world is only beginning. And here be there dragons.

Reading this I was reminded of Clarke’s First Law that ‘any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic’. I think the same applies to world-building. Bear uses the old Gene Wolfe trick of setting his ‘world’ so far into the future that it appears to be both medieval and eldritch. Or is it the deep past? Mmm, it could be a totally different planet altogether. See what I mean?

Ultimately this is a rather meticulous SF novel masquerading as somewhat pedestrian fantasy. If that sounds like a total contradiction, Bear has the chutzpah to pull it off, both from a technical point of view, the quality of his writing, the precision of his world-building … and the impish delight he takes in wrong-footing the poor reader and setting his tale off in some completely unanticipated directions.

Did I know what was going on at all times? Definitely not. I think I kind of know what happened in the end: It’s not that the resolution is overly complex, but that Bear obscures it in mist and magic. I do think a lot of non-genre readers will be supremely frustrated by the slow pace and sheer strangeness on display here, much of which is inferred and has to be worked out by the reader him- or herself, rather than be spoon-fed by the author. I for one prefer this approach, as it makes for a much more immersive reading experience. I think ‘The Unfinished Land’ is destined to become a future Bear classic.

I had this book for so long. I apologize for the delay. Life has been busy!!

I really enjoy it even if it had taken me a long time to read. The characters were amazing and memorable. i will think about them for a long time. A book i will recommend and an author I want to read more from.

This book started out well, but then became sort of a mess.
I was really interested in the general concept, I don't think the way it was developed was my cup of tea; I found this book hard to read. Also the worldbuilding and the set was confusing in some parts.
Probably someone else would liked it!

The Unfinished Land is filled with beautiful writing and an immersive, atmospheric setting to provoke a sense of wonder. It's definitely a slow burn, caring more exploring the world Reynard finds himself in than a fast-paced adventure. It's the exact opposite of the kinds of books I typically like (plot heavy epics), but Greg Bear does all all he sets out to do well!

I had a hard time following the story and the events. It started out interesting but became unreadable near the middle. I can tell a lot of hard work went into this book, but it just wasn't interesting to me. Anyone who has deep interests in folktales or the history surrounding the events will likely be more able to be entertained.

I thank Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing me with an ARC of this book to review.

Greg Bear's "The Unfinished Land" starts out feeling very familiar to readers of the historical naval classics such as the Hornblower tales by C. S. Forester or books such as "Treasure Island" or "Kidnapped" by Robert Lewis Stevenson. Bear's novel immediately plunges the reader into a life and death survival situation on the ocean. The protagonist, a young man named Reynard, is stranded alone on the wreckage of a British ship destroyed by the Spanish Armada. He is rescued into an uncertain fate by a chance encounter with a floundering Spanish ship from the same armada. Then Reynard's journey of survival quickly becomes nebulously defined quest at the order of mysterious and powerful deities on one of the islands of Tir Na Nog. But first Reynard must learn why he is important to these deities and what the goal of quest is while avoiding dragons, deadly environment, marauding armies, and evacuating magical creatures. The quest part of the tale is reminiscent of adventuresome fantasy stories such as "The Odyssey", "The NeverEnding Story", and "The Lord of the Ring" with a bit more uncertainty since the quest is not as straight forward as simply tossing a ring into a volcano.

Overall, this was an enjoyable book to read. The plot flows nicely, engaging the reader throughout. The conclusion tightly wrapped up the key points and leaves the reader with a very satisfying explanation. Even better, there is room for many future tales without being an abrupt cliffhanger.

•I was provided with this free ARC to read in exchange for an honest review•

I have no experience with this author, but I have heard great things, so I was very interested in this book. This book unfortunately wasn’t my cup of tea, but I’m sure it will hit home with a wide range of fantasy lovers!

The cover is so beautiful, and the title very interesting and intriguing, which draws you in. It’s “old timey”, so the language is quite beautiful and flowery, with lots of “thy” and “thou”.

There are too many characters, which makes things very confusing, as it’s not actually revealed what each character is there for really, and the scenes with Spanish scattered throughout are a little frustrating, as there is no translation, which is difficult to read if one doesn’t understand Spanish.

It’s a very creative book, full of beautiful world building, mythology, and “magical creatures”, but there are not enough answers to questions created, making it quite a confusing read

Reynard of Elizabethan Britain is rescued at sea by Spanish sailors. Seeing he is only a poor fisherman, they spare him. Soon they descend upon a strange island with people from all over the globe, and also from fantasy. Reynard will soon face his destiny in a struggle between gods and man.

I really liked the general concept of this book.
The world and the setting were really fun, I liked the characters, and the story itself was really intriguing and interesting. I loved the chapter titles specifically. I really enjoyed the fantastical elements and how new ideas were combined with the fairytale elements.
However, I found this book sort of hard to read. The pacing was off and I wasn't invested until half of the book was over. The worldbuilding was really confusing and some parts of it I didn't understand at all, not even after finishing the book. There were so many characters that made the story confusing and it was really hard for me to get through the chapters, although they were fairly short.
I also wasn't a fan of the writing style and the Old English, so I needed a while to fully get into that as well and it kept interrupting the reading flow for me.
Overall I think that this is a pretty good book, it's just not for me personally.

In theory, this should have been the perfect book for me. I love creative fantasy novels. However, it didn't quite work out in practice. While the lush descriptions are beautiful, reading this book just became a chore.