3 Stars!

While dark fantasy is not my normal reading genre, Keeper of Sorrows seemed to call out to me. Not only is it a Flame Tree Press book, but the story summary seemed to be original and something that I could easily get into. I had high hopes when I started this novel while having no idea what I was going to find inside.

When the winds stopped blowing, the world as it was known came to an end. The ecosystem was destroyed and entire species disappeared. New life was hard to come by, and the only source of new life came from a small island in which the only remaining species of bees survived. Their ability to pollinate and spread life was crucial to the survival of the world, so whoever controlled the bees controlled the world. A ruthless contest, the Praxis, was devised to pick a worthy keeper and it was the key to power.

Noakah did not want to take part in the Praxis. In fact, she is terrified of bees and wants nothing to do with them. As the sister of the Keeper, she enters the contest as a way to try to prove that she can be better than her sister. As she moves through the challenges, though, she learns of a dark secret that could change the world. Noakah finds herself pitted against forces and people she never would have expected and must face her greatest fears to find the secret to her and her sister's salvation as well as the salvation of the entire world.

If I had to describer Keeper of Sorrows in one word, that word would have to be "intriguing." There is a lot in this book to love. The premise is original and the world-building strong. Fikes makes it easy to get lost in the details of the world and, to a large extent, the characters. It is a vivid setting for the novel, albeit bleak, and many of the characters seem to come to life. There are deadly secrets and political machinations around every corner. The premise of the Keeper becomes even stronger as the story goes along as the reader comes to realize that the Keeper does not rule the bees, but rather, is their partner in a combination of man and nature that is juxtaposed against a world that has become a perversity of nature. There is a lot of high concept in this novel and plenty to grow into a very strong read.

The reason why this book does not rise above a three-star read, however, is that the story moves slowly and just never seemed to build up the tension that it needed to become a great story. I got interested in the story, but I just could not get invested in it. It took a lot of work to make it through the story and my focus wandered at times and I had to go back to pick it up again. It is clear that Fikes has the writing talent, but the story in Keeper of Sorrows just does not live up to the concept. Still, it is a novel worth reading, especially if you are into dark fantasy, and there could be many great novels to come from this author. I would recommend it as it is well worth taking a chance on. It may not work for all readers, but it just might work for you.

I would like to thank Flame Tree Press and NetGalley for this review copy. Keeper of Sorrows is available now.

Keeper of Sorrows is a gothic sci-fantasy written by Rachel Fikes, published by Flame Tree Press. A mesmerising and emotional story that plays with parallel timelines, throwing us into an excellent gothic adventure that gets enhanced by the lyrical prose used by Fikes, in a world where ecosystems are dying, and bees are the key.

The next Keeper, ruler of the bees, Naokah's sister, has disappeared. This marks the starting point for a new Praxis, a competition to determine the next successor of the Keeper, and Naokah, despite her paralyzing fear of bees, enters, hoping to investigate what happened to her sister. But she won't only have to overcome her fear of bees (an opportunity that Fikes takes to shed a better light over a traditionally slandered insect), but also navigate and survive the whole Praxis, a dangerous task once that other aspirants start to dissappear only leaving a feather behind.

Naokah is not only an interesting main character, especially considering her fear of bees, but she's exactly the kind of brave and sassy FMC that I absolutely love. She's decided to overcome any obstacle if that means she's closer to her sister, but we can also see how she establishes a nice bond with other aspirants, sort as an answer to her lack of relationship with her sister. The rest of the aspirants play an important role in the development of the story, and also help us to see a Naokah that open herself to others.

The worldbuilding is simply stunning, combining the vibes from a post-apocalyptic dystopia with touches of ecology; the citadel perfectly fits the gothic conventions of a haunted and labyrinth place, with its own mysteries. And the humblebee is simply a brilliant addition to the plot, which Fikes uses to debunk many myths about the whole function of the bee and how important they are for the ecosystem survival.
The story is amazingly paced, playing with two parallel timelines, which might feel a bit confusing at the start, but dear reader, trust Rachel Fikes. We have some slower moments that help us to catch our breath in between tenser sections.

Keeper of Sorrows is an absolute banger of a debut, a perfect piece if you like authors like Silvia Moreno Garcia; part gothic, part adventure, you will find yourself craving to read one more page. And trust me, Rachel Fikes is a name to keep a tab on.

The writing in this book is really pretty. I loved that. I just did not bond with the protagonist and I can't say why. I just didn't. It is still a good book. I would love this in a graphic novel.

Sadly I didn’t get too far into this before I had to stop. The prose was way too flowery for me to ever really enjoy it. Some people may like it because there is some beautiful writing in here and an interesting idea.

Note: ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

There’s something really great in here, but it’s lost under unpolished prose, which just got worse and worse until I couldn’t take it any more.

(It’s also exhausting to read. I was reading it this morning, as I write this, and my head got so sluggish and my eyes so heavy that I had to stop after a few chapters and go take a nap. NOT GREAT.)

To be clear, the prose isn’t constantly bad. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that the ideas in this story are sumptuous, and often gorgeous; there’s something very luxurious about it, and very Gothic indeed. And that comes through for a page or two, in lovely, rich writing…up until I’m slapped with an unbearably awkward sentence that jerks me out of the story.

>eyes greedily combing over her damp skin<

You can’t comb damp skin???

>only caved me in more<

I get what you’re trying to say, but…

>“Steady,” pressed a husky voice.<

How does a voice ‘press’?

>One of them had to know what happened to Lenita. Maybe more. Maybe helped vanish her too.<

>The hum deepened to a resounding growl, vibrating the stone<

That use of ‘vibrating’ sounds awful, although I’m not sure whether it’s grammatically incorrect …

>Thousands of bees collected on the Keeper’s long train. So thick, one couldn’t tell it was even red.<

‘one couldn’t tell it was even red’? really?

The worldbuilding is really interesting – post climate-collapse, the world is now divided into just seven countries, and also the wind is gone, which as you might guess makes pollinators even more important. A crevasse has opened up in the ocean, and monsters come out of it sometimes. There seems to be a whole new religion, with new figures that don’t map onto any I’m familiar with. Flocks of birds are harnessed to pull ships now? Some bits weren’t clear, but I think that was because I DNFed it so soon; I’m not faulting Keeper for that.

There’s also, in the only first-person narration in the book, a gargoyle…or a being currently trapped inside a gargoyle?…who has lost their memory and is desperate to find out who and what they are, since they are not of the same kind as the other sentient gargoyles. I don’t know how this was going to fit together with everything else, but what I’m saying is, there’s plenty here to like, and lots of little details to catch your interest on.

>Memories were a heap of stained glass, shattered and shapeless without time’s brace.<

>heads clacking, long, crimson train frothing over cobbles like rapids of blood<

See? Beautiful!

Not that every writing decision makes sense: Naokah, the mc, is afraid of bees. Okay, that’s fine – she only takes part in the Praxis to find her sister, right? NOPE. Turns out she competed in the previous Praxis with her sister, specifically against her sister…despite being terrified of bees. She was that desperate to prove she could do something better than her sister! And was disappointed that her sister won instead! Even though it would have meant…living the next 50 years surrounded by bees??? I’m sorry, what? Do you really think you could have been a great Keeper while terrified of the beasties you’re keeping? That is the dumbest thing. And immediately turns me against our main character – not so much for wanting to prove she was as good or better than her universally-adored older sister, I can understand that. But this is the hill you decided to die on? When so much depends on the Keeper doing their duties WELL? It was irresponsible and selfish as well as fucking stupid.

I probably would have stuck with Keeper despite Naokah, just for the worldbuilding and mostly-lovely writing. But I just couldn’t deal with those verbal slaps, and the sentences that didn’t make sense, and why are you calling foxgloves ‘cones’ at every opportunity??? They’re not cone-shaped!

Is this horribly nit-picky of me? Yes, it is, and if the excerpts I quoted don’t bother you, then I encourage you to give this one a try, because if you don’t mind the writing (and can ignore Naokah being an idiot in this one respect) then you might like it. Keeper is very original, very different, and even in the tiny bit I read was already shaping up to be something noteworthy. I may even try it again in the future (although no promises). It’s not that it’s a bad book; it’s that I’m overly critical/sensitive when it comes to prose. People who are normal about writing will have a much more positive experience, I suspect.