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4.13 AVERAGE
4.13 AVERAGE
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I actively hated this. I don’t know if it was the audio book. But I just. Wow did not like it. The main character was so weak. I feel like none of the characters were actually fleshed out. It felt like someone was just hitting me over the head with the phrase “careful what you wish for” over and over and over again. I think this might have been fine as a short story. And even then the way it is written is not my cup of tea. But literally everything was so repetitive. It felt so devoid of character. It felt like you were reading an outline for a book. But like nothing was actually fleshed out. Not that there was really anything to be fleshed out.
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
reflective
fast-paced
I’ve really been enjoying Ursula K Le Guin’s work lately. Overall I found this one very fresh and thought provoking. George was really not what I expected from the synopsis and I thought his characterization was very interesting. I liked seeing his very honest and genuine affection for Heather, though at times it felt a bit underdeveloped. I also found the exploration of what “benevolent intentions” would mean for someone like Dr. Haber interesting.
Still, the book could be a bit stilted and awkward at times, some moments dragged on a bit, and it could be a tad on-the-nose at times. However, some of those on-the-nose bits I enjoyed—the directness and simplicity of them came across as earnestness.
Thematically speaking, I do think it suffers a bit from the natural passage of time though—some in broader ways, some in minor ways. I wouldn’t say this significantly affected my enjoyment or rating of the book, as I do think part of the interest in reading older works is having a window into the thoughts and worldview of the past. Plus, this is a risk that all sci-fi novels about the “future” carry once they age to the point that the original “future” setting (2002 here) is now in the past. But it did make it slightly more difficult for me to take one of the plot points seriously, and some of her made up throw-away references to foreign politics, while mostly minor anecdotes, sometimes took me out of the story or even rubbed me the wrong way.
Weird and interesting, but I feel like I missed the point.