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literarycavy's review
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
bitchie's review
4.0
I don't usually read sci fi, but every once in a while, a book just gets such great reviews, and it's written by someone you trust to not do you wrong, so you take a chance. I took the chance on this book because all my GR buddies seemed to love it, and I love Lisa, so how could I go wrong here?
And everyone was right! This was SO good. I see what some folks said about the ending. I normally love it when. Still, all in all, this was a wonderful story, and I'm only sorry it took me SO long to get around to reading it.
And everyone was right! This was SO good. I see what some folks said about the ending. I normally love it when
Spoiler
everything is wrapped up in a nice, happy little bow, but I do think it was rushed here. I'd really like to have known HOW they got from waking up in the pods to where they were in the last chapter. Everything else in the story was so well detailed, it just felt a bit off that this part was skipped, as well as watching Wade and his cronies get theirs.a_reader_obsessed's review
4.0
I'll keep this brief.
As a fan of sci-fi in general, this appealed to me on a lot of fronts. It was like a cross between Ender's Game and Battlestar Galactica, with the very nice bonus of some darn good romance.
Bound together by alien circumstance, it's not surprising Cam and Brady's psychic and physical connection brings about some heavy, unplanned feels. The fate of human kind hangs in the balance - will things go according to plan like Cam says or will Brady's fatalistic beliefs come true? Despite an ominous feeling, Brady seizes what little happiness he can eke out of their forced intimacy, and Cam willingly reciprocates.
Props to Henry. From the few things I've read of hers, she consistently brings great storytelling, complex feels and emotions, and some very nice UST and smex. There's not much, if anything, to complain about.
As a fan of sci-fi in general, this appealed to me on a lot of fronts. It was like a cross between Ender's Game and Battlestar Galactica, with the very nice bonus of some darn good romance.
Bound together by alien circumstance, it's not surprising Cam and Brady's psychic and physical connection brings about some heavy, unplanned feels. The fate of human kind hangs in the balance - will things go according to plan like Cam says or will Brady's fatalistic beliefs come true? Despite an ominous feeling, Brady seizes what little happiness he can eke out of their forced intimacy, and Cam willingly reciprocates.
Props to Henry. From the few things I've read of hers, she consistently brings great storytelling, complex feels and emotions, and some very nice UST and smex. There's not much, if anything, to complain about.
shinysue's review
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Wow I couldn't put this book down. Written entirely from one pov, this is a really fantastic character-centered sci-fi. I enjoyed exploring this universe, and look forward to jumping into the next book. I appreciate that the descriptions of trauma were inversely correlated with its severity; the truly heinous moments were written more abstractly instead of in detail.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Homophobia, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Murder
loustorer's review
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
mama_reads_too_much's review
3.0
Still trying to wrap my head around how I feel about this one. I really enjoyed this book, with a few exceptions. Those exceptions being what made this book, this book.
I am not sure I would have read it if I would have known about how Kai-Ren had opened communication between himself and Cam. That’s not something I like to read about. It was almost like it’s not really rape because Kai-REN doesn’t see it that way. Then for Cam to “enjoy” it, just really made me feel icky. For Cam to stand up for Brady not to not be raped by Kai-Ren, was great, but Cam didn’t say it was wrong, just that Brady wouldn’t understand. Yep, that bothers me.
Aside from that, I really enjoyed the story. The connection between Brady and Cam was interesting.
Not sure how I feel about continuing this series. I am sure I will, but this book has left me feeling a bit blah, and now I need some light and fluffy fun.
I am not sure I would have read it if I would have known about how Kai-Ren had opened communication between himself and Cam. That’s not something I like to read about. It was almost like it’s not really rape because Kai-REN doesn’t see it that way. Then for Cam to “enjoy” it, just really made me feel icky. For Cam to stand up for Brady not to not be raped by Kai-Ren, was great, but Cam didn’t say it was wrong, just that Brady wouldn’t understand. Yep, that bothers me.
Aside from that, I really enjoyed the story. The connection between Brady and Cam was interesting.
Not sure how I feel about continuing this series. I am sure I will, but this book has left me feeling a bit blah, and now I need some light and fluffy fun.
mikibooks's review
2.0
Sé que muchos de mis contactos aquí, cuyo criterio valoro, respeto y consulto, han puntuado muy alto este libro, emitiendo halagos incluso, por lo que debo ser una minoría y mi opinión puede ser perfectamente ignorada
Habiendo dicho esto, sin lugar a dudas Dark Space ha sido una experiencia poco satisfactoria. Honestamente no me resulta convincente todo el planteo del universo que construye la autora, con elementos arrojados sin ningún criterio, ni orden, ni línea de continuidad, ni consistencia. Creer que la ciencia ficción es igual a: espacio exterior + naves espaciales + aliens, es tener muy poco conocimiento sobre el género y subestimar mucho a los lectores. Lo que les sucede a los protagonistas tampoco se explica, ni tiene siempre las mismas reglas. Algunas veces les permite saber determinados hechos útiles para la trama; en otros, en los que se podría aplicar la misma variable, esa conexión especial no funciona por arte de magia y no se comprenden entre ellos.
En cuanto a sus personalidades, no se terminan de conectar con el contexto en el que los ubica la autora (podrían perfectamente ser dos jóvenes universitarios viviendo en un departamento, o dos chicos del 1800 arriando ganado en un campo)
Muchos elementos de ese mundo postapocalíptico están tirados al azar, pero no con la intención de que el lector las suponga o imagine libremente, sino simplemente porque faltan. Como si a su autora la hubieran apurado para entregar un libro, o le hubieran editado tanto su versión inicial, que terminó quedando un menjunje.
Pero lo peor es el final. Las cosas se desarrollan con lentitud y monotonía durante el 80% del libro, para luego tirarte por la cabeza un final apresurado, desprolijo y sin sentido en la última parte.
Claramente tengo que cambiar de rubro y tomarme un respiro del género. Una pena.
Habiendo dicho esto, sin lugar a dudas Dark Space ha sido una experiencia poco satisfactoria. Honestamente no me resulta convincente todo el planteo del universo que construye la autora, con elementos arrojados sin ningún criterio, ni orden, ni línea de continuidad, ni consistencia. Creer que la ciencia ficción es igual a: espacio exterior + naves espaciales + aliens, es tener muy poco conocimiento sobre el género y subestimar mucho a los lectores. Lo que les sucede a los protagonistas tampoco se explica, ni tiene siempre las mismas reglas. Algunas veces les permite saber determinados hechos útiles para la trama; en otros, en los que se podría aplicar la misma variable, esa conexión especial no funciona por arte de magia y no se comprenden entre ellos.
En cuanto a sus personalidades, no se terminan de conectar con el contexto en el que los ubica la autora (podrían perfectamente ser dos jóvenes universitarios viviendo en un departamento, o dos chicos del 1800 arriando ganado en un campo)
Muchos elementos de ese mundo postapocalíptico están tirados al azar, pero no con la intención de que el lector las suponga o imagine libremente, sino simplemente porque faltan. Como si a su autora la hubieran apurado para entregar un libro, o le hubieran editado tanto su versión inicial, que terminó quedando un menjunje.
Pero lo peor es el final. Las cosas se desarrollan con lentitud y monotonía durante el 80% del libro, para luego tirarte por la cabeza un final apresurado, desprolijo y sin sentido en la última parte.
Claramente tengo que cambiar de rubro y tomarme un respiro del género. Una pena.
mallorypen's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Look, I was not expecting this book to have any redeeming qualities. It was a Booktok recommendation for queer sci-fi, and those tend to be either AMAZING or laughably bad. I judged this book by its cover and was betting on laughably bad but entertaining nonetheless. And though there were things I didn't like - alien rape being high on that list - there were a few elements that were thought-provoking and used the genre well.
First and foremost - the alien technology of the stasis pod. I thought the backup system of syncing the heartbeat to another, similar life form was an interesting failsafe, and it was a great device to kickstart the forced proximity trope in a way that felt critical to the plot. The alien writing on the skin, the membrane, the way the person in the pod reacted to stimuli externally ... it was a cool bit of sci-fi tech. The idea of the aliens being so technologically advanced that humanity is given all the consideration of a pest and/or pet made for an interesting dynamic.
Secondly, Brady. I'm not going to list him as a top favorite character of all time, but his motivations were crystalline the entire book. He was a coward, consistently, and in a way that made me sympathetic towards his character while still getting frustrated with his behavior. Even after he'd fallen in love, his terror of the Faceless was strong and consistent enough that his not-exactly-a-romantic-hero actions on the bridge were completely understandable. He was smarter than he thought - strategizing the best way to keep his head down, get back to his sister, using his connections to Doc to better his experiences while being drafted, etc. - but his brains weren't amazing or Hermione Granger-ish; Brady just had street smarts that were a great reflection of his upbringing. He was also very much so a young man in a deeply stressful situation where he was being forced to confront all the things he didn't like about himself and things he had never been given the tools or emotional room to deal with before.
And that's about where my list of "things I liked" stops. The sexual abuse - ESPECIALLY WHEREIN CAM LIKED IT?!- the weirdly paternal vibes that sometimes came across between Brady and Cam, the clunky dialogue that swung between locker-room talk and poetry ... in some ways, the book seemed to realize that the plot was a vehicle for forced proximity tropey sex and that was it. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that most of the cool things about the alien worldbuilding might be ruined in book two, since it seems like the author is angling for there to be more rape-fantasy in the plot.
I will not be reading on - I will take my mild surprise at this not being hot garbage through and through and move on with my life.
First and foremost - the alien technology of the stasis pod. I thought the backup system of syncing the heartbeat to another, similar life form was an interesting failsafe, and it was a great device to kickstart the forced proximity trope in a way that felt critical to the plot. The alien writing on the skin, the membrane, the way the person in the pod reacted to stimuli externally ... it was a cool bit of sci-fi tech. The idea of the aliens being so technologically advanced that humanity is given all the consideration of a pest and/or pet made for an interesting dynamic.
Secondly, Brady. I'm not going to list him as a top favorite character of all time, but his motivations were crystalline the entire book. He was a coward, consistently, and in a way that made me sympathetic towards his character while still getting frustrated with his behavior. Even after he'd fallen in love, his terror of the Faceless was strong and consistent enough that his not-exactly-a-romantic-hero actions on the bridge were completely understandable. He was smarter than he thought - strategizing the best way to keep his head down, get back to his sister, using his connections to Doc to better his experiences while being drafted, etc. - but his brains weren't amazing or Hermione Granger-ish; Brady just had street smarts that were a great reflection of his upbringing. He was also very much so a young man in a deeply stressful situation where he was being forced to confront all the things he didn't like about himself and things he had never been given the tools or emotional room to deal with before.
And that's about where my list of "things I liked" stops. The sexual abuse - ESPECIALLY WHEREIN CAM LIKED IT?!- the weirdly paternal vibes that sometimes came across between Brady and Cam, the clunky dialogue that swung between locker-room talk and poetry ... in some ways, the book seemed to realize that the plot was a vehicle for forced proximity tropey sex and that was it. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that most of the cool things about the alien worldbuilding might be ruined in book two, since it seems like the author is angling for there to be more rape-fantasy in the plot.
I will not be reading on - I will take my mild surprise at this not being hot garbage through and through and move on with my life.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Rape, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault, Body horror, and Vomit
xi_mi's review
4.0
3.5 rounded
Kinks, world building, character development, hot aliens, space, more side characters, more action, more edge more boom baam; This book lacked all that. No wait, 'lacked' isn't the right word, as it would imply it was lacking as a whole. Even though there was so much to be missed here, it didn't prevent me from enjoying this book. It was good and left me thirsty for more.
Why did I like this book? Brady Garrett was real, that's why. Not saying it's the only reason, but rather the one I could put my finger on. I don't care if he was an ink on paper; he sure as heck felt real to me. His fear, his misery, his helplessness.
Diving straight into book two.
Kinks, world building, character development, hot aliens, space, more side characters, more action, more edge more boom baam; This book lacked all that. No wait, 'lacked' isn't the right word, as it would imply it was lacking as a whole. Even though there was so much to be missed here, it didn't prevent me from enjoying this book. It was good and left me thirsty for more.
Why did I like this book? Brady Garrett was real, that's why. Not saying it's the only reason, but rather the one I could put my finger on. I don't care if he was an ink on paper; he sure as heck felt real to me. His fear, his misery, his helplessness.
Diving straight into book two.