I really wanted to like this book, but I think the speculative fiction genre is just not meant for me. And that’s okay! I was reminded heavily of This Is How You Lose The Time War, where the concept was brilliant and the overarching story was incredibly lovely, but I spent the vast majority of the time so so so confused. The time and space jumps were clear enough to generally follow that I change had occurred, but hard to keep track of where and when things were happening, and I just felt lost more often than not. Similar to TIHYLTTW, I thought the overarching love story had a fantastic arc and development, but the pacing made it challenging to stay motivated. I’m left wondering if the e-book or physical book may have been a better choice for a plot like Rakesfall.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an ARC of this audiobook.

Rakesfall by Vajra Chandresekera is a story about life and a story about death. I liked pieces of it, I struggled to grasp and understand other pieces of it. I thought the author had a very pretty writing style but I struggled with the pacing. This may be a case where I needed more world building for the pieces not Earth-like. When I finished it, I knew that I liked it but I couldn't quite put my finger on why.

Thank you Dreamscape Media for the gifted ALC.

This book was so interesting to me. I have seen mixed reviews online, but I really liked it. I need to go back and read other works by this author now.

This was such a beautiful and unique sci-fi/fantasy book. Very poetic. It felt like such an interesting blend of genres. Such a beautiful tale of the lifelong bond of two souls throughout eternity. Narration was perfect.

What was this book about? What happened in it? Who were its protagonists, were there even one or two? Was this about the multiverse? Reincarnated lives?

All questions I still could not answer despite having read the book, believe it or not. But that's not a negative!

Rakesfall is an ambitious, obscure book with stellar, truly stellar writing. I recommend the audio version because it's wonderful and it makes it harder to get frustrated with the lack of understanding. One for those who can embrace a type of narrative that is equally spell-binding and confusing.

I’m not sure I can review this. Skimmed a lot of it coz I wasn’t able to understand what was happening, though the author was trying to do something interesting.. maybe this kind of speculative fiction isn’t for me.

I did like the narration of the audiobook, which actually enabled me to progress a lot in the book but ultimately it couldn’t save me from the confusion and monotony.

Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera and narrated by Shiromi Arserio is utterly intriguing, interesting, lyrical and so very well read. However, it is an audiobook that I will likely revisit multiple times as I don't think that I imbued the entirety of it's potential due to my own lack of undivided attention at the times of listening

It was not that it did not intrigue me, it is that I felt I was not doing it justice by listening as a secondary activity. This needs, no, deserves a readers full attention for it's sheer beuty of dialogue. I will be getting the hard copy to readalong and focus as I think it is worth it

Thank you to Netgalley, Dreamscape Media | Dreamscape Lore, Vajra Chandrasekera and narrator Shiromi Arserio
for this intriguing ALC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinons are my own

I know there will be people who love this. I'm unfortunately just not one of them.

Thank you Netgalley for providing a digital ARC.

A non-linear story following two people connected over lifetimes, Rakesfall is a lyrical, poetic experience that requires a lot of attention while reading.

It takes a while to understand what is going on in terms of plot trajectory and even the characters. We’re initially set back from the story in a way that suggests the idea that stories, as a medium of connectedness, are the focus, not the people themselves. Because while the two characters are reincarnated throughout different timelines, their personalities are not exactly the same, so it’s hard to really care for them as people.

This was the hardest part of the novel for me. I had trouble connecting with the characters because they kept morphing and changing and sometimes the settings were very realistic and sometimes super surreal or almost fantastical.

Once I interpreted what I thought the novel was doing, it made more sense, but it’s also not something I’m particularly interested in. Now, I could be wrong, but I believe the novel is about
Anthroposophy posits there is a spiritual world accessible to human consciousness through inner development and that this spiritual world can provide insights into the nature of existence. More specifically, it mentions the Akashic records, which are a compendium of all human events, thoughts, words, emotions, and intent ever to have occurred in the past, present, or future. They contain, apparently, the entire history and future of every soul throughout its existence that can be accessed through spiritual means.

Now, I believe the point of this book is to show this - that humans, our essences or souls, or whatever, are all connected. I think it did accomplish this, if that was indeed the point.

Unfortunately, while I think the book did what it was trying to do, this "doing" didn’t do anything for me. I’m about as spiritual as a broken cardboard box, so this sort of “we’re all connected stuff” bores me, and I found it a bit repetitive. The different lives of Annalid and Leverit were interesting on their own, but at times, the novel felt liek a collection of short stories tenuously tied together.

Yet, the book is beautifully written - the language flows wonderfully and it’s full of beautiful metaphors and descriptions. It’s not hard to visualize what’s going on - it’s just difficult some times to understand why it was going on.

I think if you’re someone who really loves literary fiction sci-fi, loves a book that is at its core somewhat spiritual, and one that feels more episodic than continuous, you will really enjoy this. I thought it was well-done, but I didn't love it.

I went into this book not knowing what to expect - I hadn't read the blurb, and all I knew about it was that it had a beautiful, bright pink cover. I'm glad I approached it this way, because it turned out to be an absolute fever dream of a narrative, surprising and delightful. We follow a character who lives many different lives through many different timelines, and the episodic nature of the narrative keeps you guessing, as you have to piece it all together. The writing is suburb - even at the start, when I hadn't quite figured out what this story was going to be, it was enough to keep me engaged and turning the pages. Finally, since I got the audiobook ARC, I have to mention the narrator does an absolutely stellar job. An easy 5 stars.

This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2024. I am an avid audiobook listener. Those two things being said, I absolutely could not follow the through line of the audiobook. I’ll try again once I can read it in hard copy because the premise of the book is so intriguing. I think it just failed to translate to audiobook format.
3 stars because the narrator was excellent and I fully intend to read and enjoy this book, just not in audiobook form.

I'm not going to lie this is a tough book to try and rate by traditional standards. The writing was absolutely beautiful, with almost a lyrical quality at times. I loved that the book was broken down into sections because if it had been straight through there would have been some serious confusion as it is already such a complex book. Honestly the best way that I can describe this book is that it is a VIBE. There are so many layers to each section and so many underlying messages and things to reflect on. The characters are memorable, the settings are interesting and intricate. Can I for sure tell you what happens in each part of this story? No not exactly, it's complicated. But I can tell you that I have no doubts that this will be a book that I read multiple times and that I will get something new out of it every time.

I loved the narrator on this book. I tandem read it with my ecopy and think that it made the story so much more rich and vibrant to have it come to life.

I don't know what I just listened to, to be quite honest. I may be too stupid for this novel, because even after listening to the entire thing, I didn't understand a lick of it.

I can't even give you a brief synopsis about what everything is about beyond the initial blurb says. I know that at least one character keeps getting reincarnated and we see her (them?) through many different stages of reincarnated lives, but that's about as much as I got from this. Maybe if you are smarter than I, you may like this book. There was definitely humor, and maybe if you like poetry more than I do, there might be more too it.

Overall, I did not love this BUT the cover was gorgeous and I can see other people maybe liking this one.

I fear I wasn't smart enough to understand Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera. This novel is vibrantly written with good pacing and a sense of lyricism. Chandrasekera has a skill for creating a sense of atmosphere that truly brings you into the story. While I enjoyed my time in the different worlds, I lost track of what was happening between them. With all the plot lines woven together, they occasionally came out disjointed; this novel was challenging and a bit more cerebral than I anticipated. I received the audiobook for this, which can also exacerbate these issues. The narrator herself did a great job - she had a good flow and clear intonation.

A story of stories through times, speculative fiction or sci-fi at its best. The audiobook add layers as the narrator does an excellent job
A more extensive review will follow
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This beautiful, lyrical novel is one which likely requires more than one reading to fully appreciate. I definitely understood parts of the story, but not the whole. But it is an enthralling narrative which I plan to revisit.

I failed to understand what the book was trying to communicate. While the elements individually lured me into reading this book, it was not the prominent theme (unlike the spicy lines) that kept popping up every few paragraphs. I only wish there was a disclaimer about it and all this could have been avoided. If you like spicy fantasy books only then pick this up. It's not my cup of tea.

If I could not give this a star rating, I wouldn’t. I honestly don’t know how to rate it?

I don’t know if I missed something because I listened to the audio, but I had a really difficult time following what was going on. Some of the chapters/parts were really good, but then others I truly had no idea what was going on.

I think this had a lot of potential, but it didn’t quite work. I loved the idea of an SFF book loosely let in Sri Lanka, and I think the parts that were more based in reality did work better than the more SFF parts.

I almost want to reread with my eyes to see if it makes more sense that way, but I’m not sure that it would…

Time is fluid. You are in today, but tomorrow might very well be yesterday. In Rakesfall you follow the journey of two souls through this fluid timeline. Sometimes they are symbiotic others they could be separated by the wall between worlds yet still able to feel one another's existence. Join Annelid and Leveret as they battle on earth and throughout time, but are they fighting to save one another or could one be one a solo path of vengeance?

My request for this audiobook on Netgalley was 80% cover and only about 20% the description. I absolutely love books about people searching for each other across lifetimes. My first experience with this type of story was Richelle Mead's Georgina Kincaid series, after that I was hooked. Huge thanks to Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for the advanced listener copy of this book.

"You can get high from eating small amounts of C-4, but you shouldn't."

Spoiler alert... she totally does!

Have you ever been thrown into the deep end of a pool and not fully known how to swim? The sensation from that is a bit like the start of this audiobook. Do I think I would have understood what was happening better reading a physical copy? Heck no, and I also don't believe the experience would have been as fun.

The whole point of the chaos in the beginning is to leave you off balance because as the story unfolds, you regain your balance little by little and start to come to some kind of understanding of what is going on. DO NOT expect this book to be in chronological order because the world that Vajra Chandrasekera has created, definitely does not feel as if anything happens in order.

I love me some Sci-Fi audiobooks, but at times they can be confusing because of the intensive world building that is needed to set the stage. This is not one of those times. Shiromi Arserio's voice does the stage setting for you. Her pace matches exceptionally well to both moments of chaos and those where the author is going for the emotional grab.

If you have read the Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir then you understand how a book can make you feel inside out and upside down but also be one of the most incredible rides you have ever been on. Rakesfall is just like that! I really hope that this book is a forecast of what is to come from Vajra in the future. Obviously this book was ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me!

DNF at 32%

I’m not sure I really understood what this story was about, the synopsis felt far removed from what this audiobook was and the plot seemed undetermined - this could be because it’s a character driven story, but I wasn’t able to assume one way or the other.

I do think there’s a possibility that the physical book would be a better way to read this story, because I found myself lost in who I was following and when things were happening, especially with shifting timelines.

The writing style was confusing, but the prose were lyrical and vivid, and the narrative was twisty (which I usually do enjoy), so there’s definitely potential that other readers, who prefer a much more ambiguous standing in the stories they’re reading, would find this story enjoyable. I unfortunately wasn’t able to connect with this one.

Thank you to Tor Publishing Group for providing this ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.