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wordsareworlds's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
I was so invested in this book for the first 50%, and then it felt like it went off the rails. Thompson packed so many different ideas into the book that most didn't end up having any room to breathe let alone shine. The resolution felt divorced from what had actually happened in the rest of the book, which left me feeling unsatisfied and a little bit cheated of the story the first half promised.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Gore, Colonisation, Body horror, and Blood
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, and Genocide
Minor: Cannibalism
tigger89's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This is a neat little locked room mystery set in space, with a compelling twist in the second half. I don't know what I thought was going on when I started this book, but I certainly wouldn't have guessed that! I loved the afrofuturism — the destination colony is in the Lagos system — and the attention to scientific detail, though I have to take the author's word for it that it's accurate. I also appreciated the themes surrounding AI consciousnesses.
My biggest gripe with this book is that it felt like a prequel to a different book or series. There were some aspects — the Lambers, Nightshade — that felt un-elaborated upon, and the ending of the story felt like it was setting up the kind of grand conflict that would be the main plot of a different story. There should be another story taking place five or ten years after this one, and the fact that we don't have that makes this feel incomplete somehow, despite the fact that the mystery was successfully concluded.
I usually try to note animal death content warnings in my reviews, but this is one where I'm gonna have to direct you to somewhere else. I have a note that there is such a content warning needed, but I've fallen behind on reviews and no longer recall the specific contexts well enough to warn.
My biggest gripe with this book is that it felt like a prequel to a different book or series. There were some aspects — the Lambers, Nightshade — that felt un-elaborated upon, and the ending of the story felt like it was setting up the kind of grand conflict that would be the main plot of a different story. There should be another story taking place five or ten years after this one, and the fact that we don't have that makes this feel incomplete somehow, despite the fact that the mystery was successfully concluded.
I usually try to note animal death content warnings in my reviews, but this is one where I'm gonna have to direct you to somewhere else. I have a note that there is such a content warning needed, but I've fallen behind on reviews and no longer recall the specific contexts well enough to warn.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Body horror, Slavery, Terminal illness, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Murder, Animal death, Medical content, and Genocide
antarcticsloth's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Medical content, Mental illness, Cursing, and Death of parent
Minor: Racism, Excrement, and Racial slurs
urs's review against another edition
dark
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs and Gore
Moderate: Confinement, Terminal illness, Violence, and Body horror
cerilouisereads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Torture, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
rorikae's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
'Far from the Light of Heaven' is a locked room mystery in space that incorporates some intriguing world building.
The story centers around Michelle Campion, a passenger aboard a spaceship who wakes up midflight. Campion finds that a number of the passengers have been murdered and sends out a distress signal. Rasheed Fin, an investigator, is sent to Campion's ship, Ragtime, to get to the bottom of what really happened.
My favorite aspect of this story is the worldbuilding that Thompson incorporates. There are some alien creatures with interesting abilities that I felt really fleshed out the world and drew my interest. I found the mystery engaging and the way the story wove into a larger narrative that expanded beyond the Ragtime, allowed us to learn more about the wider world.
My real issue with this book was the audiobook. It's a decent audiobook but it failed to truly capture my interest and this led me to feel like I was missing parts of the book. I would highly recommend picking up the physical copy if you have a similar experience. I would be interested to return to this story in the future as I feel that I've missed out on some crucial aspects of the story due to my issues with the audiobook.
The story centers around Michelle Campion, a passenger aboard a spaceship who wakes up midflight. Campion finds that a number of the passengers have been murdered and sends out a distress signal. Rasheed Fin, an investigator, is sent to Campion's ship, Ragtime, to get to the bottom of what really happened.
My favorite aspect of this story is the worldbuilding that Thompson incorporates. There are some alien creatures with interesting abilities that I felt really fleshed out the world and drew my interest. I found the mystery engaging and the way the story wove into a larger narrative that expanded beyond the Ragtime, allowed us to learn more about the wider world.
My real issue with this book was the audiobook. It's a decent audiobook but it failed to truly capture my interest and this led me to feel like I was missing parts of the book. I would highly recommend picking up the physical copy if you have a similar experience. I would be interested to return to this story in the future as I feel that I've missed out on some crucial aspects of the story due to my issues with the audiobook.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Murder, Blood, Body horror, and Violence
Moderate: Cannibalism
sarah984's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
I really enjoyed this one. It's a sort of a combination of space thriller and detective story with a bit of a supernatural element. There are some great action scenes, and while the characters aren't super developed, they feel unique and do the job. The romance is pretty bland though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Gore
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Cannibalism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, and Violence
Minor: Excrement, Sexual content, War, and Fatphobia
bard_the_dragon's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Murder, and Violence
bookwyrmknits's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
3.75
I love the concept for this: a locked room mystery set in space. I love locked room mysteries, and so I was excited about this one. I ended up reading it in one marathon session before bed, so while there are undoubtedly things I missed I did enjoy the book as a whole. I was certainly caught up in the mystery enough to not want to put the book down.
I really liked the writing style and the Afrofuturism aspect of the world building. The main characters were also a lot of fun, though I wanted more from the AI ship, Ragtime. (I didn't get it due to plot reasons. Alas.) There were other things I liked less, though. For example, I had hoped that the mystery side of the story would follow mystery genre conventions better, where you are able to pick up clues as to the whodunnit before the reveal. This book however, was much more rooted in the science fiction genre—where mysteries are not something that the reader could theoretically solve.
I really liked the writing style and the Afrofuturism aspect of the world building. The main characters were also a lot of fun, though I wanted more from the AI ship, Ragtime. (I didn't get it due to plot reasons. Alas.) There were other things I liked less, though. For example, I had hoped that the mystery side of the story would follow mystery genre conventions better, where you are able to pick up clues as to the whodunnit before the reveal. This book however, was much more rooted in the science fiction genre—where mysteries are not something that the reader could theoretically solve.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gore, and Violence
Minor: Racial slurs and Body horror
2treads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Thompson has written a wholly immersive space-based thriller with a touch of murder thrown in. What caught my attention is his attention to detail and the small idioms and phrases that cements the AfriFuturist aspects of this story.
With space jargon, tension, interesting characters, AI and robots on the lamb, Far from the Light of Heaven is a story about our humanity, our adaptability, fragility, hope, and tenacity.
But what Thompson does brilliantly, is give us characters with such human flaws and problems dogging their day to day and decisions: living up to a space legend, dealing with being alienated from our core family, figuring out a hybrid heritage and how one fits within it; all while existing and co-existing within a space where technological advances are premier, yet political machinations and human selfishness and hubris still abound.
The ending may seem abrupt for those who like their endings wrapped up pretty with a neat little bow, but I love an author that leaves me with food for thought and crumbs as to what our players will get up to now.
With space jargon, tension, interesting characters, AI and robots on the lamb, Far from the Light of Heaven is a story about our humanity, our adaptability, fragility, hope, and tenacity.
But what Thompson does brilliantly, is give us characters with such human flaws and problems dogging their day to day and decisions: living up to a space legend, dealing with being alienated from our core family, figuring out a hybrid heritage and how one fits within it; all while existing and co-existing within a space where technological advances are premier, yet political machinations and human selfishness and hubris still abound.
The ending may seem abrupt for those who like their endings wrapped up pretty with a neat little bow, but I love an author that leaves me with food for thought and crumbs as to what our players will get up to now.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Gore, Body horror, and Blood