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pvp_niki's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Genocide, Colonisation, and Blood
Moderate: War
Minor: Trafficking and Suicidal thoughts
kkulhannie's review
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Death, Forced institutionalization, and War
Moderate: Trafficking, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Confinement, Genocide, Violence, Slavery, Panic attacks/disorders, and Medical content
skudiklier's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
The only Martha Wells I've read is the Murderbot series, and in a lot of ways this was quite different from that, so I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. And honestly there was a period in the beginning where I was worried I wouldn't like the book and thought about DNFing. But I'm glad I stuck with it because in the end I really enjoyed it.
You just sort of land in the middle of things without a lot of context in the beginning, so it can be hard to follow, especially with the time jumps. But I think it all came together really well and I cared about the characters and was engaged in the story. That said, I do think if I hadn't been reading an audiobook, I would have struggled more. It probably would have taken me a lot longer to read it.
All in all I'd definitely recommend this to anyone interested, especially if you like Wells's writing or if you like fantasy more broadly. However, if you're just looking for more Murderbot, you might be disappointed. I wasn't though, and I'm glad I read it.
You just sort of land in the middle of things without a lot of context in the beginning, so it can be hard to follow, especially with the time jumps. But I think it all came together really well and I cared about the characters and was engaged in the story. That said, I do think if I hadn't been reading an audiobook, I would have struggled more. It probably would have taken me a lot longer to read it.
All in all I'd definitely recommend this to anyone interested, especially if you like Wells's writing or if you like fantasy more broadly. However, if you're just looking for more Murderbot, you might be disappointed. I wasn't though, and I'm glad I read it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Violence, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Genocide
Moderate: Grief, Child death, and Slavery
piendorabox's review
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A bit hard to get into, but I grew to care for the characters that when the book ended I was sad it was a standalone. Overall it felt like watching 5 episodes of the 6th season (there are 9 seasons overall) of a very obscure tv series that isn't available on any streaming platform, and those 5 episodes are all you could find, and you could only get vague ideas of what came before from flashback scenes and was completely in the dark about what came after, but you enjoyed the watching experience nonetheless even though it was nothing like you'd ever had before. A good book. Will definitely check out Martha Wells' other works later.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Colonisation, and War
briely's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Slavery, Violence, and War
Moderate: Genocide
Minor: Body horror and Confinement
roseleebooks's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I first discovered Martha Wells through her book The Wizard Hunters. Since then I've hoped she would return to fantasy writing as that series was so beautifully written and her characters so likeably flawed. This book gave me the same feeling of discovering a world and characters that would stay with me long after I finished reading.
The story centers on Kai, a demon who has built a family in the world above the Underearth. The narrative includes both the present - in which Kai and his close friend Zeide wake up in an underwater prison - and the past when Kai first met Zeide, Tahren, and Bashasa. It's ultimately a book about keeping promises to those we love, told via a cleverly paced journey through a well-crafted world. I appreciate that Wells doesn't spend excessive time on explanations that wouldn't fit with the character's experience of the world. As a reader it takes a little more attention and intuiting but helps the story flow more smoothly.
My only wish for this book was that there was more of it. I would love another novel in the same world that followed some of the other characters introduced here. Regardless, this book is fantastic as a stand alone and will be on my reread list along with Wells' Ile-rien series.
The story centers on Kai, a demon who has built a family in the world above the Underearth. The narrative includes both the present - in which Kai and his close friend Zeide wake up in an underwater prison - and the past when Kai first met Zeide, Tahren, and Bashasa. It's ultimately a book about keeping promises to those we love, told via a cleverly paced journey through a well-crafted world. I appreciate that Wells doesn't spend excessive time on explanations that wouldn't fit with the character's experience of the world. As a reader it takes a little more attention and intuiting but helps the story flow more smoothly.
My only wish for this book was that there was more of it. I would love another novel in the same world that followed some of the other characters introduced here. Regardless, this book is fantastic as a stand alone and will be on my reread list along with Wells' Ile-rien series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Genocide
Moderate: Slavery and War
Minor: Child death
scrubsandbooks's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I thoroughly enjoyed this! This wasn't an easy book to get into. I learned pretty quickly that I had to keep tabbed the list of names and times and play really close attention to everything and everyone because Martha Wells spins a complex world in these pages and among two separate timelines that initially felt like they would be hard to follow. But the action picked up fairly quickly and you were drawn right into the conflict of the main character and his friends who have been taken captive and are trying to piece their found family and life back together to figure out how the heck it even happened.
This book felt more like an introduction to this world and to the political turmoil that is likely to play a huge role in the main character's future. While I don't see an indication on storygraph that it would be part of a series, the ending does set up a sort of an opening for a sequel and I am hoping it is because while a lot happens, it is still set up to read like a beginning of something bigger than what was in this book.
It is a pretty heavy info-packed book and it might take some tries to get into but when I stuck to it, I found the characters to be a whole mood ("I don't need rest, I'm fueled by spite"). Kai is straight up Le Tired, and Ziede wants to find her wife -- a relationship, by the way, that you get to see blossom in almost a mini arc between the two weaving timelines. The one is definitely worth a reread and I see it approaching the same level of "epic fantasy" as a lot of great ones published in the past.
This book felt more like an introduction to this world and to the political turmoil that is likely to play a huge role in the main character's future. While I don't see an indication on storygraph that it would be part of a series, the ending does set up a sort of an opening for a sequel and I am hoping it is because while a lot happens, it is still set up to read like a beginning of something bigger than what was in this book.
It is a pretty heavy info-packed book and it might take some tries to get into but when I stuck to it, I found the characters to be a whole mood ("I don't need rest, I'm fueled by spite"). Kai is straight up Le Tired, and Ziede wants to find her wife -- a relationship, by the way, that you get to see blossom in almost a mini arc between the two weaving timelines. The one is definitely worth a reread and I see it approaching the same level of "epic fantasy" as a lot of great ones published in the past.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Genocide and Confinement
Minor: Slavery
silea's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Murder, Child death, Slavery, Genocide, Kidnapping, Colonisation, and Self harm
chris_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and War
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, and Murder
Minor: Self harm, Slavery, and Trafficking
emzhay's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Definitely enjoyed this book, but I felt quite detached from it all. I like dual timeline stories, but here couldn’t quite connect with the characters. They had likeable personalities, but I never felt like I got to know them. We saw the beginning and “beginning of the end” of their storylines. There’s a good bit of character from KaiEnna since the book is told from his perspective, but I still felt detached from his journey as a reader.
The writing itself is lovely and atmospheric. I listened to the audiobook and the sentences flowed together nicely. I liked the world and world building, but sometimes the infodumps got to be a bit too long and some of the politics got lost within it all. I’m or sure this is standalone, but I wouldn’t mind reading more from these worlds and about these characters.
The writing itself is lovely and atmospheric. I listened to the audiobook and the sentences flowed together nicely. I liked the world and world building, but sometimes the infodumps got to be a bit too long and some of the politics got lost within it all. I’m or sure this is standalone, but I wouldn’t mind reading more from these worlds and about these characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, War, Slavery, Colonisation, and Violence
Moderate: Genocide