The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan

This book was hugely popular in certain circles on BookTube. Usually I get a kick out of reading those, but either my expectations were far too high, or else my taste and some other folks' don't quite match up.

North is a circus girl, who lives on a circus boat, and who performs with a bear. She is required to marry a young man she doesn't even like. Callanish is a girl with secrets who is left repenting for something as a Gracekeeper, a water-world version of an undertaker. She was originally from the land. This book covers their lives.

I appreciated the world building. What with global warming (I come from Africa - we still believe in science here), one could see an earth covered mostly in water, land being extremely scarce, and as a result, religions changing as people either had to live on water, or cling onto their land and pray for harvests etc.. So no real stretch there. I actually enjoyed the idea.

But the pacing was so slow. Man, this book was a one way ticket to Slumberland. Not even the pretty writing could keep my eyes open. Not even the 'question' of what would happen or what had happened, could stop it. I was bored. There, I said it. I now feel tainted.

I also found the characters very distant. While I read their thought processes and read about their feelings, at no point did I feel anything for them. Which is a bit disappointing and probably explains the boredom. (There is that bad word again.)

2 stars. it was OK. Nothing to write home about.