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remimicha's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Medical content, Death, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, and Abandonment
Minor: Body horror
nick13's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
What did I just read? This story had so much going on with a really amazing concept and idea and while I thought the writing to be a little not-so-well paced, i.e. a six year time jump that isn't mentioned until several chapters later, and I found the ending to be a bit lackluster imo, the world in this novel is just astounding. With that in mind, it would be criminal to give this book less than four stars and something I'd recommend to anyone who likes really weird and interesting worlds.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism and Body horror
Moderate: Grief, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Racism and Murder
cheye13's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
fast-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Gun violence, Gore, Alcoholism, Cultural appropriation, and Drug abuse
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Racism, Medical content, and Body horror
The Seep is spoken of as a drug/narcotic.inamerata's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
My memories are who I am. You take away my memories, you erase me. Existence is memory. Do you understand? You’d kill me. You’d murder Trina FastHorse Goldberg-Oneka, daughter of Rita and Samuel, a child of love. Trans woman. Artist. Doctor. Healer. Native American. Jew. You erase my memories, and you erase my lineage of ancestors—their pain, their triumphs, their passions, their dreams. No matter if the memories bring me pain. It’s my pain! Let me have it.
An interesting and sometimes frustrating read. I enjoyed the brisk writing, and the premise is neat. (How do you handle a ‘benevolent’ invasion? What do you do when your wife decides to use space magic to become a literal infant? What does utopia mean for people who don’t fall in line?) Porter digs into some interesting ideas about grief, intentions, relationships, memory, identity, etc. here.
Trina is an enjoyable protagonist; she’s dealing with internal and external angst, struggling to figure out what to keep and discard from her past, what to accept or reject from the weird new future. Sometimes she messes up, and sometimes she’s in the right railing against those around her. Honestly, I think Trina is in the right a lot more than she is not. Many other characters are pretentious, annoying, and/or just nonsensical, and it’s fun to root for her.
However, there were a few things that tripped me up. I’m still not sure how to describe my feelings toward the epilogue, where Trina’s actions made sense, but the narrative thought didn’t.
By The Seep’s own thesis, Deeba was wrong. She did kill herself by reverting to infancy, and she wanted her wife to either kill herself, too, or become her fucking mother. (Honestly, fuck Deeba.)
It is beautiful and brave to go toward a new beginning. The entire book builds toward Trina growing and moving forward with a clear head. Cursed with immortality, everyone in The Seep will have to choose when to end their current selves. So why is going "back" suddenly beautiful? How is being too chickenshit to speak plainly brave?
I also rolled my eyes at the painfully ignorant/reductive takes like "pets and eating meat are WRONG because we are all animals," especially because characters eat fish regularly. We also see carnivores, even obligate carnivores, still exist and are actively part of this society as sapient moral beings, but the story never engages with what that means for their diets. (Also, if you can see the life the wood that became your furniture...why no introspection on eating plants? Why isn’t a more holistic cycle of life brought up as at least one possible norm?)
Finally, it was odd to have a Native American protagonist whose indigenous identity is supposed to be climatically important, and then it's just never brought up outside her name and a single line. Throughout the book, we see Trina actively engage with all her other identities mentioned in the quote I pulled above, but we never even learn her tribe’s name.* In an invasion story set in North America, after the dissolution of the United States, Trina’s complicated feelings toward the Seep and its “utopian” plans never touch on what that means for her as a Native person. Which may be a good thing, as Porter is not Native American, but then why is Trina? Why in this story?
*In a 2021 Mechanical Dolphin interview, Porter confirms Trina was meant to be "Mohegan from the Connecticut area," and that she wishes she’d made that explicit. So, I guess Trina calling herself an "old wolf" might be a nod to this, but that’s not my place to decide.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, and Grief
Moderate: Racism and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Body horror and Transphobia
cms204's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I think I would have gotten more out of this if I'd read it slower. There's a lot to think about here.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
ireadinbed's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
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? Yes
4.75
Honestly after the first pages I thought I'd hate this book. I don't usually like books with this kind of style, vibe, whatever you want to call it.
But for some reason I was really drawn in by Trina. In so many ways she feels alien to me, but also very very relatable.
I got very invested in all the little elements of this story. Nothing ever really feels explained, like a Miyazaki movie, but in the end it comes together.
I cried a lot reading this book.
I think I would have given it a five if I wasn't briefly worried about the eventual end the book came to. It did work out but I kinda thought it was turning into a dystopia at one point.
But for some reason I was really drawn in by Trina. In so many ways she feels alien to me, but also very very relatable.
I got very invested in all the little elements of this story. Nothing ever really feels explained, like a Miyazaki movie, but in the end it comes together.
I cried a lot reading this book.
I think I would have given it a five if I wasn't briefly worried about the eventual end the book came to. It did work out but I kinda thought it was turning into a dystopia at one point.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Body horror
Moderate: Cultural appropriation
maiagaia's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
What a beautiful meditation on grief, pain, relationships, and humanity. The protagonist is a trans woman which brings up some interesting ideas/questions surrounding the scifi elements.
This is a very allegorical story, so I would really only recommend reading it if you're interested in that sort of experience as opposed to a more action-y or cerebral scifi.
This is a very allegorical story, so I would really only recommend reading it if you're interested in that sort of experience as opposed to a more action-y or cerebral scifi.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts
valpyre's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
fast-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? It's complicated
4.0
This concept was so intensely interesting to me, and I think Porter really executed it well. I was really intrigued by the balance of this ideal, seemingly equal world for everyone, along with the underlying fear of what that seems to cost people. Everything felt so fluid and well-integrated in terms of worldbuilding -- I never felt completely lost when new jargon was used, and I was pleasantly surprised at some of the ideas/abilities of the aliens.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Racism, and Body horror
clovelatte's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, Death, Racism, Medical content, Colonisation, and Body horror
v171's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This was a great read that explored the ideas of what culture would look like if the hippies won. I loved the hyper focus on one woman's story and how she explored this new way of life as she grieved the "passing on" of her wife. I felt the focus at the micro level rather than the macro was an interesting structural decision that really paid off in its execution as we learned about the full extent of the world through the limited lens of the jaded protagonist. However if you like alien invasion books, this probably isn't the one for you. This is a book about grief and dealing with one's place in the world with an alien invasion backdrop. Don't go into this expecting a full exploration of the "soft invasion."
I have complicated feelings about the themes of the book, which could be boiled down to the fact that there is value in the preservation of "historical" ideals such as gender, race, age, and sexuality, especially in a post gender, race, age, and sexuality world. That in a society where no one is left in need, we are still benefit from the lessons that were learned in hardship rather than leaving those lessons behind since we have finally achieved true harmony in the universe. I ultimately agree with this overall theme, but I couldn't help but feel that there were undertones of "kids these days" sentimentality that would really make me pause to consider what message the author was trying to portray. Those who might be considered "progressive" in the book are painted to be the ones out of touch while the the traditionalists who often speak about the good ole days (before the world was literally living in paradise) were the ones painted as rational and down to earth. Sometimes I agreed with this sentiment (blackface is bad and should always be considered bad y'all). And sometimes I didn't (your community taking an active interest in your wellbeing is actually good probably).
The writing was fantastic, surreal, and dreamy. The side characters were hit or miss, being written as one note lovable/hateable while the main character has consistent ideals but oddly inconsistent behaviors. The pacing of the book was good considering how short it is, and while there is a loose plot, it takes a backseat to the social commentary which I think works in the books favor. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and it definitely lends itself to a reread.
I have complicated feelings about the themes of the book, which could be boiled down to the fact that there is value in the preservation of "historical" ideals such as gender, race, age, and sexuality, especially in a post gender, race, age, and sexuality world. That in a society where no one is left in need, we are still benefit from the lessons that were learned in hardship rather than leaving those lessons behind since we have finally achieved true harmony in the universe. I ultimately agree with this overall theme, but I couldn't help but feel that there were undertones of "kids these days" sentimentality that would really make me pause to consider what message the author was trying to portray. Those who might be considered "progressive" in the book are painted to be the ones out of touch while the the traditionalists who often speak about the good ole days (before the world was literally living in paradise) were the ones painted as rational and down to earth. Sometimes I agreed with this sentiment (blackface is bad and should always be considered bad y'all). And sometimes I didn't (your community taking an active interest in your wellbeing is actually good probably).
The writing was fantastic, surreal, and dreamy. The side characters were hit or miss, being written as one note lovable/hateable while the main character has consistent ideals but oddly inconsistent behaviors. The pacing of the book was good considering how short it is, and while there is a loose plot, it takes a backseat to the social commentary which I think works in the books favor. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and it definitely lends itself to a reread.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, and Grief