Reviews with content warning for Violence - You Sexy Thing

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

You Sexy Thing by Cat Rambo

11 reviews

sparklefarm's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

foundfamilyspacepirateslonglostlove <deep breath> omg this was SO. MUCH. DANG. FUN. <thor smash> ANOTHER!

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sarah984's review against another edition

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adventurous dark slow-paced

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

2.0

I feel like there's a sort of tone you expect from a novel titled "You Sexy Thing" in a series titled "Disco Space Opera" that has a GBBO comp on the cover, and this book does not have that tone. It is extremely dark and graphic, as well as staggeringly cruel to one of the characters for seemingly no reason. Most of the characters feel like cardboard cutouts (the Firefly references are a mile a minute) and traits seem to spring up as required by the narrative. Most of the characters have no initiative at all and are simply shunted here and there by the plot. It's only getting 2 stars because I thought the cooking stuff was fun and the ship at least had a personality.

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mossgoblins's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

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carolined314's review

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes

3.75

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uranaishi's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.25

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pattertwig's review

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dark tense medium-paced

2.5

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royalraspberry's review

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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

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wandering_not_lost's review

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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.

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.

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writer_of_minds's review

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adventurous dark funny fast-paced

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

2.5

This book charmed me with its opening, but developed into a middle that was borderline painful to read (see below). And it didn't end up delivering anything that felt very deep or interesting. I would put it in the "decent light popcorn reading" category, were it not for how dark it gets.

Things I liked about this book: it has a wacky, likeable ensemble cast of mostly non-humans. It has a living spaceship, which is effectively an AI character despite being biological, and spends a lot of time trying to understand its own emotions. It's a science fantasy which blends magic and the paranormal into its technology. And the whole premise is quirky and funny, while still presenting significant stakes: there are reasons why the restaurant venture really *needs* to succeed.

I also appreciated the book's take on cooking in space. Culinary skill in this setting isn't an indulgent attempt to find the most luxurious and alien ingredients possible; it's about dressing up what comes out of the replicator so it tastes more homey and nuanced. Also, points for at least some characters not eating animal products (I can't see any excuse for animal slaughter in a space-age future that has replicators).

Things I didn't care for: The book is written from an omniscient point-of-view that spreads across its ensemble cast. It can't quite decide what or who it wants to be about. And since it's a short book, this means we don't get a lot of time with any particular character - especially the titular bioship, whom I found the most interesting. There's also a fair bit of "backstory told through flashbacks," which I didn't mind so much, but it may have gotten a little excessive.

There's a long section in the book's middle during which the protagonists slide toward utter disaster, while doing almost nothing about it. Rather than making serious bids for escape, they wait passively while bad things happen to them. There's little hope in this part of the plot, the protagonists' degree of resignation doesn't quite make sense, and they aren't being protagonists - they're being victims. Victimhood happens to real people, and I'm not trying to insult anyone who's experienced it - it's just not something I want to read about in fiction. I don't enjoy pages and pages of watching characters helplessly suffer.

It seemed like the kind of book that would have a happy ending, even though the text was giving me no reason to expect one, so I kept reading. The break finally came when one person did something that everyone else considered "selfish" ...

even though it was calculated to save two of the characters, and incidentally ended up saving all of them. Captain Nico didn't like it, but what alternative was she offering? She'd already let one of her people die, and she had no apparent plan for saving the others or herself.

The ending was open and messy, but offered *enough* closure that I was satisfied with it. This book could definitely have a sequel, but also doesn't need to.

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jessie_h's review

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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

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