Hey there, bookworms. Today we have a guest post from Yaroslav Barsukov, author of the newly released Tower of Mud and Straw. It’s a tight and polished and highly unique debut, and I think fantasy fans will find it to be a breath of fresh air. In celebration of his recent publication, here is a post Barsukov wrote for Novel Notions discussing a bit of the inspiration behind his debut. Enjoy! …
Tower of Mud and Straw by Yaroslav Barsukov
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
I received a galley of this book from the author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
There’s something about the novella as an art form that is so different from its bookend siblings, the novel and the short story. Not as sharp and snappy as a short story, but without as much room for deep dives into development as novels, it can be a difficult and strangely unwieldy medium, for both author and audience. That being said, novellas can also pack an incredible amount of power into a scant few pages when done correctly. It’s a medium full of both promise and pitfalls. In the case of Tower of Mud and Straw, I think that the promise is that Barsukov himself shows a lot of promise as an author, and the main pitfall is the lack of development that would have deepened the story he penned. …