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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
I can’t decide entirely how I feel about this yet. On the one hand, the philosophical explorations were intriguing. The prose was good. The world was well thought out.
On the other hand, the characters didn’t really resonate with me and I had a hard time emotionally connecting with them. A me issue for sure, but we’ll see how long this story sticks.
The use of prisoner exports for space exploration was well executed, and highlighted well with lines like “being held prisoner to an authoritarian state is inherently political.”
On the other hand, the characters didn’t really resonate with me and I had a hard time emotionally connecting with them. A me issue for sure, but we’ll see how long this story sticks.
The use of prisoner exports for space exploration was well executed, and highlighted well with lines like “being held prisoner to an authoritarian state is inherently political.”
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Too much focus on politics and prison dynamics. Only got interesting in the last half.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Working my way up to one of Adrian's behemoths, starting with one of his novellas earlier in the year and now this. His writing definitely isn't flawless - this one in particular needed some editing, as the beginning and end had some meandering and repetitive philosophical sections that served little purpose other than to slow the plot down. The politics-biology intersection was cool as hell and could have spoken for itself a little more.
But his ideas and creativity are just huge, as it seems they always are. The creature descriptions had me grinning in fascination + disgust and the entire planet and ecosystem he built will live in my brain for a long time as just the coolest and most unique approach to alien life I've ever seen/read. The bulk of the book had me hooked with the desire to find out just how everything worked and, unlike most stories, finding all of that out was even more rewarding than the mystery. The fact this is considered nowhere near his best has me very excited to tackle Children of Time :) !!
But his ideas and creativity are just huge, as it seems they always are. The creature descriptions had me grinning in fascination + disgust and the entire planet and ecosystem he built will live in my brain for a long time as just the coolest and most unique approach to alien life I've ever seen/read. The bulk of the book had me hooked with the desire to find out just how everything worked and, unlike most stories, finding all of that out was even more rewarding than the mystery. The fact this is considered nowhere near his best has me very excited to tackle Children of Time :) !!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Violence, Police brutality
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Slavery, Torture, Colonisation
Minor: Animal death, Excrement, Vomit