By this time, I have not completed The Shadow King and I am not sure if I’ll be able to. In my previous posts, I have highlighted how much of a struggle this book has been for me which is VERY rare. This assignment had us look at other’s reading logs to see how they were feeling about the book so far. Libby’s first entry stuck out to me the most. She says, “While this book is taking me a bit longer to get through… I think it is beautifully written so far, and there is a great incorporation of historical context and character-driven plot”. This has helped me see the novel in a different light. One of my main criticisms of The New Wilderness was its constant disposal of its multitude of characters. However, Mengiste does a great job incorporating everyone and actually making them useful to the plot. Also, the novel is very well written. Though there are mainly complaints about the long stretches of narrative, reading Libby’s reading log made me realize that my persistence to finish the novel is because it is so well written. And I haven’t given up yet because there is some part of me that is interested in what Mengiste has to offer.