An interesting premise soon becomes an overly descriptive and repetitive slog. The world-building is confusing, one main character is a promiscuous egotist and the plot just starts to get interesting when it ends, leaving everything unresolved for the next book in the quartet. ( )

More real PoV characters than usual - flawed, intermittently sympathetic, understandable but not trivial. Better than most I’ve read this(2015) year, but not ‘nice’, quite dark though the telling is mostly rather light until it isn't. ( )

There was quite a hefty build-up for this debut novel, and I expected to enjoy it. As it turns out, I didn't like it at all. Anyone who has watched Futurama knows about Bender's self-reverence: "Bender is great, Bender is great, oh Bender is great!" Bender has nothing on the hero of Tabat, Bella Kanto. (And am I ever sick of that name). The character is narcissistic with a healthy side of cruel pettiness. Even had I been prone to liking the character, I would have tired of the constant praise the hero heaps upon herself (No wonder everyone wants Bella Kanto! After all, I am Bella Kanto, and so on), along with an annoying habit of justifying any and all actions taken by her, which end up with her being satisfied that it's not her fault, even when it is.

The secondary main character is Teo, a fourteen year old boy from a far village, who finds himself on his own in the city of Tabat. Naturally, his hero is Bella Kanto. (What a fucking surprise). The first part of the book alternates narratives from these two characters. I couldn't shake the feeling that reading this book was like reading a personal diary, over-laden with minutiae with no real depth.

There is an attempt to delineate a city based upon the oppression of a class of beings (in this case, those characterised as Beasts, or intelligent animals. This includes about every mythical being ever - centaurs, satyrs, minotaurs, any talking animals, dryads, etc.). A good part of this reminded me of Tad Williams's The War of the Flowers, with it's "power problem". Pretty much the same thing. Nothing wrong with that, it's a wide premise with a lot of potential. However, rather than a good grounding in a longstanding social system which relies on oppression, you get several recountings of cringe-worthy cruelty to intelligent beings. People who are sensitive to such things might want to steer clear. (They had me feeling a bit queasy.)

Everything in Beasts of Tabat is geared toward the next book in the series, which will have to get along without me. I did not like this book, and I didn't care for the writing. They will no doubt get better as they go along, but this is one world I have no wish to visit again. ( )