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2.5 

Crossroads of Canopy

By Thoraiya Dyer
Crossroads of Canopy by Thoraiya Dyer digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

The highly-anticipated fantasy debut from Aurealis and Ditmar Award-winning author Thoraiya Dyer, set in a giant mythical rainforest controlled by living gods. Now in trade paperback.


Unar dreams of greatness.

Determined but destitute, she escapes her parents’ plot to sell her into slavery. Now she serves in the Garden of the goddess Audblayin, ruler of growth and fertility.

But when Audblayin dies, Unar sees her opportunity for glory – at the risk of descending into the unknown dangers of Understorey to look for a reincarnated newborn god. In its depths, she discovers new forms of magic, lost family connections, and murmurs of a revolution that could cost Unar her chance…or grant it by destroying the home she loves.


“I am majorly impressed with Thoraiya Dyer's Crossroads of Canopy. A unique, gorgeous, and dangerous world, a stubborn female hero, and a writer to watch!”—Tamora Pierce

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

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26 Reviews

2.5
“Rating: 2.25 Stars Did I read this entire book in a single day? Yes, I did. Do I feel like it necessarily is the highlight of my recent reading experience? No. The world I felt was interesting, and I may still continue these books by borrowing from my local library. I liked the idea of gods as physical, tangible beings, I liked the world structure as amongst the trees and the various sections of society being linked to the ecosystems of the trees (canopy, floor, and inbetween). However, when I finished reading the book, I felt... dissatisfied. Our main character is not always likable. In fact, for vast amounts of this story, she isn't likable in the least. But that sets her up for a particular type of arc, one of sacrifice and realisation and the folding away of selfishness in service to others, which is something that I can respect. People aren't born good, it is a thing we learn, either from our parents or from experiences, and becoming good later in life should be rewarded. And yet, when I came to the end, I didn't feel like this character's pain and trials came to any kind of hopeful conclusion. Even when Unar was at her worst, I could not entirely hate her, because I knew her motives and reasoning and still somehow it felt like the author did not like her. Similarly, the way that the world is set up feels like it is poised for a certain kind of arc as well, only for that to also not have the pay off it feels like it honestly deserved. I left this book feeling... saddened and slightly bitter, watching all these threads come to a pay off that I neither liked nor felt was particularly respectful of the threads themselves. It is like seeing everything go into making your favourite dish, and yet when it comes out, it is something else entirely that makes you wonder if it was even worth the cooking in the first place. It was just so entirely of a let down that I wondered if it would not have been better if the great moments of catalyst in this story had effectively never happened. It's a confusing thing to read a book like this, one with a world idea that you like, and the building of plot and narrative that you enjoy, but when it comes to the end, you are completely let down. It sours the experience. I think, truly, that if the book had had an ending more in line with what I thought was going to happen, that easily I would have had this book at a 3.5 or 4 star rating, but it didn't. It fumbled the ending of character arcs and plot arcs in such a way that I came out of it going, "is that it? Did all this need to happen for the end result?" And perhaps, there's something to be said for continuing the series, that perhaps some of these threads are picked up again and rewoven, but an ending for a book in a series should make you want to keep reading. It shouldn't make you put down the book and think, "I almost wish I hadn't read that, because I am so unhappy with where this ended". So now I sit, confused as to my rating. 2.25 stars feels valid. I did, after all, absolutely smash out this book because I did not want to put it down. But also, when it was time to put down this book, I left with such... emptiness inside of me, and that is not ringing praise either.”
Slightly Smiling Face“This book was a real mixed bag, but overall I think I feel positively about it. It was a fascinating epic fantasy/bildungsroman with unique and rich worldbuilding and a hateable protagonist. The author creates the interesting problem of a character who comes from an abusive background, develops high ambitions, and has extreme innate power, but whose ambitions are thwarted and frustrated and her talents have no outlet. The protagonist is a teenager experiencing a sexual awakening and I wish that element had not been so painfully pervasive. The middle section of the book had plenty going on, but still managed to feel listless. The protagonist's goals were always clear, but the story's goals were not, and given the strongly-forced disconnect between what the protagonist wanted and where the plot was going, this lack of directional clarity prevented my ability to form expectations and also reduced the potency of most attempts at suspense. Still, overall, I thought most of the characters were vivid and interesting (likeability aside) and the world itself was incredible.”

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