Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeannette Ng

2 reviews

book_snail's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

If you like cosmic horror with a massive heaping of biblical allusions and a gothic romance vibe, this book is probably for you :)
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third_bookworm's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

I stuck with this book because I was expecting it to do something interesting or subversive. It did not. The plot was not good or interesting enough to make up for the deeply uncomfortable themes throughout, and the revelation at the end was boring and disappointing.
I think I would have been fine with either the glorification of Christian missionaries OR the incest plotline, but both of them at the same time was too much. The incest was deeply uncomfortable for obvious reasons, but it ended up bothering me almost as much that the entire institution of Christian missionaries working with English colonialism was treated completely without criticism. The combination made it frustrating and rather disgusting to read.

It was well-written and the worldbuilding was very fun; I especially enjoyed the excerpts at the beginnings of the chapters. It just wasn't worth it to grit my teeth through the entire plot and the  romance plotline just to enjoy the worldbuilding and writing, and I don't care enough about Christian theology to have enjoyed the commentary on that.
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