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serenhybrid's review
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I was enjoying this book until the last chapter, which utterly killed it. As many reviewers have said, maybe I'm just not intelligent enough to comprehend the thread that ties everything together, but for me, throwaway references to the other narratives in the book does not make it clever!
I enjoyed the concept and I really appreciated the commentary on humanities inability to safeguard ourselves or the planet due to inherent greed and jingoism, among other things. But that message was not cleverly scattered across the various points of view but rather hammered home quite unsubtly in one chapter.
It's also worth mentioning that the misogyny of the writer is quite staggering and blatant. Almost every female character existed only to be raped, advised and taken advantage of, and most male characters inherently looked down upon any females in their life. This is not "one unlikable character", this is a theme across the entire book that reflects the authors views and not the characters. That makes it almost unreasonable for me, and I would have been a DNF if this wasn't recommended highly by two friends whose opinions I greatly value. Even in the second to last chapter, I was recommending this book to other people. Now I won't, or I might tell them to just stop before the end! Very disappointing.
I enjoyed the concept and I really appreciated the commentary on humanities inability to safeguard ourselves or the planet due to inherent greed and jingoism, among other things. But that message was not cleverly scattered across the various points of view but rather hammered home quite unsubtly in one chapter.
It's also worth mentioning that the misogyny of the writer is quite staggering and blatant. Almost every female character existed only to be raped, advised and taken advantage of, and most male characters inherently looked down upon any females in their life. This is not "one unlikable character", this is a theme across the entire book that reflects the authors views and not the characters. That makes it almost unreasonable for me, and I would have been a DNF if this wasn't recommended highly by two friends whose opinions I greatly value. Even in the second to last chapter, I was recommending this book to other people. Now I won't, or I might tell them to just stop before the end! Very disappointing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Violence, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Rape, Murder, Sexism, Misogyny, and Racism
Moderate: War
afion's review against another edition
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Sexism
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Colonisation
kliddleb's review
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
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? No
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia
Moderate: Racism, Sexism, and Toxic relationship
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