Reviews

The Red Scholar's Wake by Aliette de Bodard

somethingbookishthiswaycomes's review against another edition

Okay this might sound like a weird reason to dnf, but I’m not in the best mental health space right now for neurospicy reasons and reading from the POV of a space ship that can sense everything going on inside it is stressing me out like a lot, so idk if I’m gonna have to wait to read this until I’m more regulated or if it will still bother me then. So I guess it’s a soft-DNF for now. 

ladyofthelake's review

adventurous emotional fast-paced

1.5

courtsport3000's review against another edition

tense slow-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? It's complicated

2.0

 This was a huge miss for me, which is such a bummer considering the first 20% or so had me fully convinced that I was going to be obsessed with this book. I mean, it's lesbian space pirates and kicks off with some serious action - what's not to like?? I just really wish the execution lived up to the premise.
But instead:
Characters? One-note and forgettable
Plot? Messy and unevenly paced
Romance? A struggle for most of the book
Nicknaming conventions? As ill-fitting as they are off-putting

I really wanted to like this one. I'll still be checking out some other things from this author and hoping this was just a one-off miss. 

keab42's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

4.5

livsliterarynook's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

alicejade's review against another edition

It didn’t seem like I was going to enjoy it, and after reading about some unpleasant elements (acephobia), I chose not to continue.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia

kiyajade's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

A poorly executed Sci-Fi. Here are just a few of my issues:

Xích Si is a bot maker, brought into the main plot because of her expertise. Bots are present throughout the story, crawling all over people and ‘helping them’ but their uses (and limitations) are not defined. Xích Si’s expertise is also never truly defined; shouldn’t her bots be somehow superior to the people around her to demonstrate the so called expertise?

The world building was extremely lacking. I felt as though I had missed the first episode of a series, thrown into a quickie wedding that had both of our main characters catching feelings for each other by page 27. One succinct opening chapter could have set the world up so much better. 

Xích Si is told when she joins Rice Fish, that this is her new life and her 6 year old daughter cannot be a part of it. She has already come to terms with this and accepts that she will watch her daughter from afar but as soon as her daughter is in danger… yea bring her aboard, no worries. Huh?

…overuse of the word demonstrably.

The term ‘centiday’ introduced on page 250 and used multiple times in the following 10 pages when time seemed relevant enough to the author to be measured?

The sentient ship, Rice Fish, feels immense pain when the ship is hit. Why has she been programmed to feel injury as pain? What mechanisms are causing that? She can also cry?

scribewarden's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

lucaengelhard's review against another edition

emotional slow-paced

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

3.75

riaz's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective slow-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

2.75