The West Passage

This was a very strange book. I would put it under the subgenre of weird fantasy. The author throws a multitude of strange characters at the reader, some very large, some small, some with rabbit ears, square heads, four arms, three legs, tentacles, many eyes, one eye, scales, feathers. Needless to say, the world building is simply unbelievable, which leads me to my general feeling about the book. It was overwhelming for me. I couldn't keep up with all the characters and their characteristics. I had trouble visualizing the layout of the land. And I never got the significance of the title location. A lot of work and imagination went into this story and I can acknowledge that it was well written. It was simply just too much for me. This book has been nominated for the 2026 Mythopoeic Award, but I read it because the author is nominated for the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, presented at the Hugo Awards ceremony. Since I've already read three of the authors nominated, I decided I would finish out this category and vote on it this year.

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