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cday13's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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: Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Emotional abuse, and Murder
Moderate: Classism, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, and Medical content
shrikebait's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
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
5.0
Intrigue, romance, and medical drama!
Earthflown was a great read.
I was so excited to open with well-written medical drama! Wren does a fantastic job emulating the chaos of the hospital. They also write physicians very well. Ethan's and Vegas's struggles and humor felt relatable to me as someone in medicine. Wren's characters in general are great, with complex thoughts and relationships.
I also enjoyed the mix of scifi, fantasy, and realism. Wren's worldbuilding flows seamlessly alongside the plot.
Plus the chapter art on the website is stunning! I hope it is included in the actual book in the future.
Thank you for the chance to read an advance copy of this book for free. I'm writing this review of my own accord.
Earthflown was a great read.
I was so excited to open with well-written medical drama! Wren does a fantastic job emulating the chaos of the hospital. They also write physicians very well. Ethan's and Vegas's struggles and humor felt relatable to me as someone in medicine. Wren's characters in general are great, with complex thoughts and relationships.
I also enjoyed the mix of scifi, fantasy, and realism. Wren's worldbuilding flows seamlessly alongside the plot.
Plus the chapter art on the website is stunning! I hope it is included in the actual book in the future.
Thank you for the chance to read an advance copy of this book for free. I'm writing this review of my own accord.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Car accident, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Sexual content, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Alcohol
thisnursereads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
⭐️ 4.0
Working in medicine myself, I was immediately drawn to the plot (the main character works in a Level I Trauma Hospital & has healing powers) and was so excited when I received an advance review copy for free! I am leaving this review voluntarily-
"Where there's love, there will be vice; Where there's greed, there is a price.
Sow them desperate and afraid, You'll find there's profit to be made."
TLDR: Frances Wren does an amazing job at weaving together storylines of multiple complex characters to create an engaging sci-fi mystery romance novel (can I use all those genres in one sentence...yes I can).
Earthflown started slow and then dragged me under. As the plot thickened, I found myself chasing the words as my eyes flew across the page-I needed to find out where these characters were going and what would happen next! As much as this is a book about two men swept up in their own love story, I found myself leaning into the other relationships more heavily: a strained relationship btw. a single father and his son, the power dynamic between family members and siblings, best friends whose jobs are entangled and messy. The romance in Earthflown is multi-layered as well and done prudently, but the relationships that orbit around the romance are so well written. If there is a continuation of this story, which I hope there is, I am so excited to see if/how they learn to evolve with each other!
This didn't get a 5-star rating from me because I wanted the main romantic relationship to be intoxicating and it didn't have that pull. Also, the world building was so compelling but hard for me to truly envision and personally could've been more engaging by spending much longer exploring this sci-fi world.
Trigger Warning: Medical professional viewpoint
There are moments I can pull out so vividly in my career that made me wish I had the power to heal patient's the way that Ethan's healing powers allow him to. But to then see his character portrayed in such a raw way, mirrored with how I have felt at times. To understand that medicine in any form still has its limitations, even if briefly touched upon in this novel, was heavy. I deeply felt that undercurrent within Ethan's character and the pressure he put upon himself for what he could do and who he was.
Working in medicine myself, I was immediately drawn to the plot (the main character works in a Level I Trauma Hospital & has healing powers) and was so excited when I received an advance review copy for free! I am leaving this review voluntarily-
"Where there's love, there will be vice; Where there's greed, there is a price.
Sow them desperate and afraid, You'll find there's profit to be made."
TLDR: Frances Wren does an amazing job at weaving together storylines of multiple complex characters to create an engaging sci-fi mystery romance novel (can I use all those genres in one sentence...yes I can).
Earthflown started slow and then dragged me under. As the plot thickened, I found myself chasing the words as my eyes flew across the page-I needed to find out where these characters were going and what would happen next! As much as this is a book about two men swept up in their own love story, I found myself leaning into the other relationships more heavily: a strained relationship btw. a single father and his son, the power dynamic between family members and siblings, best friends whose jobs are entangled and messy. The romance in Earthflown is multi-layered as well and done prudently, but the relationships that orbit around the romance are so well written. If there is a continuation of this story, which I hope there is, I am so excited to see if/how they learn to evolve with each other!
This didn't get a 5-star rating from me because I wanted the main romantic relationship to be intoxicating and it didn't have that pull. Also, the world building was so compelling but hard for me to truly envision and personally could've been more engaging by spending much longer exploring this sci-fi world.
Trigger Warning: Medical professional viewpoint
There are moments I can pull out so vividly in my career that made me wish I had the power to heal patient's the way that Ethan's healing powers allow him to. But to then see his character portrayed in such a raw way, mirrored with how I have felt at times. To understand that medicine in any form still has its limitations, even if briefly touched upon in this novel, was heavy. I deeply felt that undercurrent within Ethan's character and the pressure he put upon himself for what he could do and who he was.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse
Minor: Death of parent and Pregnancy
marmaladereads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.5
I would rate this higher if it was the first book in a series, but as a standalone I have so many unresolved questions about it that it felt like this is only half the book - and it's a fairly long book!
In an alternate future London, climate change has led to massive flooding and water contamination. The world building in this book is intense and honestly feels like a fascinating universe, but simply far too massive and complex for a standalone book. There are people with magic powers, ghosts (???), political intrigue, a massively complex oligarch family vying for monetary and political clout. I often felt lost in the overly large cast of characters, and there was very little introduction or back story offered for many of them.
The book follows Ethan, a healer at a hospital, Javier, one of the sons of the Arden Pharma oligarchy, and Oliver, a paranoid reporter trying to uncover conspiracies (and making a bunch up in the process.) I thought with how much time was dedicated to the world building (much of which ended up being irrelevant or confusing), the romance between Javier and Ethan was sweet but somewhat underdeveloped. I would've loved to learn much more back story about these two characters as they got to know each other, but most of their relationship happened in the many time skips.
The most interesting character was Oliver - a rather unlikable social justice warrior who is obsessed with finding truth to the point of self destruction. I found myself cringing at a lot of his choices and logical jumps as he kept neglecting any real priorities in life to chase after an article that no one else seemed to care about. Unfortunately like many plots in the book, Oliver's is also unresolved. We never get to find out consequences befall his actions, I can only guess at the fallout.
The book was well written and engaging, if rather slow. The first 75% read much like a police procedural as Oliver chased down leads and interviewed random sources, then things escalated quite quickly in the last 25% of the book. But ultimately the many loose threads and missing resolutions left me feeling quite unsatisfied after finishing this story, and the ending felt incredibly abrupt.
Thank you to Book Sirens and the author for providing me with an eARC!
In an alternate future London, climate change has led to massive flooding and water contamination. The world building in this book is intense and honestly feels like a fascinating universe, but simply far too massive and complex for a standalone book. There are people with magic powers, ghosts (???), political intrigue, a massively complex oligarch family vying for monetary and political clout. I often felt lost in the overly large cast of characters, and there was very little introduction or back story offered for many of them.
The book follows Ethan, a healer at a hospital, Javier, one of the sons of the Arden Pharma oligarchy, and Oliver, a paranoid reporter trying to uncover conspiracies (and making a bunch up in the process.) I thought with how much time was dedicated to the world building (much of which ended up being irrelevant or confusing), the romance between Javier and Ethan was sweet but somewhat underdeveloped. I would've loved to learn much more back story about these two characters as they got to know each other, but most of their relationship happened in the many time skips.
The most interesting character was Oliver - a rather unlikable social justice warrior who is obsessed with finding truth to the point of self destruction. I found myself cringing at a lot of his choices and logical jumps as he kept neglecting any real priorities in life to chase after an article that no one else seemed to care about. Unfortunately like many plots in the book, Oliver's is also unresolved. We never get to find out consequences befall his actions, I can only guess at the fallout.
The book was well written and engaging, if rather slow. The first 75% read much like a police procedural as Oliver chased down leads and interviewed random sources, then things escalated quite quickly in the last 25% of the book. But ultimately the many loose threads and missing resolutions left me feeling quite unsatisfied after finishing this story, and the ending felt incredibly abrupt.
Thank you to Book Sirens and the author for providing me with an eARC!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence and Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Medical content
Minor: Body horror
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