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royalraspberry's review
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Torture
Moderate: Blood, Violence, and Confinement
wandering_not_lost's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
3.0
A wonderful premise, some fun characters, all laid out on interesting worldbuilding...and still, only 3 stars, and that's on the generous side between "it was ok" and "I liked it". The characters were fun to listen to, there was a lot of interesting ideas in here, and the overall pace just kept shuffling me along. But overall...I wish I'd liked this book more. It was entertaining...but there was a lot of things that felt off, too.
This very much felt like a book (and a plot) that was not quite done baking. It lingered in some places while going way too fast in others. I loved the first half, but the last half floated, turned dark, and then the plot was wrapped up in a flash and the long denouement just felt like a mishmash of...stuff.
This very much felt like a book (and a plot) that was not quite done baking. It lingered in some places while going way too fast in others. I loved the first half, but the last half floated, turned dark, and then the plot was wrapped up in a flash and the long denouement just felt like a mishmash of...stuff.
- First, trigger warning for this book: it's got a surprising amount of torture and horrible death described in it. Like, it's not super graphic, but it is physical torture being described to the characters as part of their psychological torture, so. Reader beware.
- The plot was, frankly, kind of weak, in that the characters spent large chunks of time being trapped and shuttled from one place to another, unable to actually do anything proactive. This resulted in the main POV character, Niko, who was supposed to be a genius, never actually having a chance to show it.
Could she find a way to get them off the Thing when it trapped them? No. Was she able to thwart the not!critic's plan? No. Was she able to get them out of the pirates' hands? Nooope, that was Milly and Atlanta. And it wasn't like she tried stuff and failed...she just didn't do much of anything, held trapped and passive and waiting. This did make some sense, based on the situations, but it just doesn't make for a satisfying novel. - The plot was oddly paced - some sections felt overly long and overindulgent (Atlanta's POVs often felt like that to me, as did their time with the IAPH), while in other spots it felt like there was literally pages missing. This happened in particular toward the end, when all seems lost and they need to escape.
Their escape from the pirates seemed rather hilariously easy. Like...there's no surveillance in their cell to thwart them just walking out? There's no guards around to notice that someone is taking out two prisoners in an unauthorized manner, and then that one of those prisoners is coming back with disguises and then the others are just...walking out? .....seriously? - The weird pacing also was part and parcel of very uneven coverage of the characters - yes, it was omniscient voice, but wow did it feel forced - it was mostly Niko and Atlanta, with everyone else getting just a tiny bit of time every now and then, to the point where it felt more like an affectation than a real exploration of all these characters.
- I was left often with the feeling that I was not emotionally connecting with the characters the author meant me to.
Was I supposed to care about Atlanta's coming-of-age angst, to which so many pages were devoted? I did not. Was I supposed to be wrapped up in Niko and Petalia's bitter parting at the end? I was not. In fact, Niko's hastily-sketched backstory was so hastily sketched that that fell pretty flat for me, and Petalia came off as an utterly toxic, cruel, vindictive, and possibly dangerous person. Watching Niko obviously still be in love with them and letting them walk all over her felt grating and pointless. Instead I wished that the surviving were-lion brother's grief arc had been addressed more, or that Lassite had gotten more credit from the crew, or that the crew in general had gotten to show off their military prowess. - Also, petty, but I caught several glaring continuity errors: who was/was not in the room, how long they'd said things were supposed to take, etc. Small things, but errors that I never would have expected slipping through in a traditionally published book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, and Violence
ticktock's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Torture, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
kimalah's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
jessie_h's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
This book was fun! It took me about 50 pages to get into the omniscient narration style but once I did I didn’t want to put this book down! The idea of an ex-military squadron owning and operating a restaurant was a space opera plot I didn’t know I needed in my life! There’s a reason I love the found family trope so much. The food aspect is compared to GBBO but really there wasn’t as much food content as I expected from the tagline. It more embodies the feeling you get watching GBBO.
This book reminded me a lot of Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers series. There are some pretty heavy parts in this story but they’re infused with hope and a good dose of sarcastic wit. I laughed a lot but there are some places where I cried. It still makes me sad to think of some of the events of this book.
The other reason this reminds me of Becky’s books is that the aliens are diverse and peculiar. They act alien and not like pseudo humans. I loved the whole crew so much! The Farscape comparison is a good one.
The story is billed as a standalone and while it ended in a satisfactory way, it is open-ended enough that a whole series could be written from this book. I, for one, am hoping for some more books following this crew and their culinary and non-culinary adventures!
*ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley
This book reminded me a lot of Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers series. There are some pretty heavy parts in this story but they’re infused with hope and a good dose of sarcastic wit. I laughed a lot but there are some places where I cried. It still makes me sad to think of some of the events of this book.
The other reason this reminds me of Becky’s books is that the aliens are diverse and peculiar. They act alien and not like pseudo humans. I loved the whole crew so much! The Farscape comparison is a good one.
The story is billed as a standalone and while it ended in a satisfactory way, it is open-ended enough that a whole series could be written from this book. I, for one, am hoping for some more books following this crew and their culinary and non-culinary adventures!
*ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley
Content Warnings
Moderate: Torture, Death, Violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Grief, and Confinement
lycanhood's review
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-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? N/A
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Torture
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