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historyoftape's review
challenging
dark
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I liked this book in the sense that it told a unique and creative story that touches on thems like the cost of starting over, bioengineering what it means to be human, colonization and what it means to be creator, created. It took me a while to grasp what was going on, but perhaps that was the intent of the style. I really enjoyed reading an entire book of verse, it's rarely done and I find it added to the somewhat detached but etherial mood. The different styles for different characters were great. I think what made me rate this less though is how the relationships between the characters are not really developed much in the present. They all heavily rely on the past. But maybe that was intentional too, a group of people so heavily reliant on the past trying to create a people with no ties to any past whatsoever. I struggled to connect with the characters, was shocked by the ending though there was foreshadowing in every POV by Sigmund. Liked it overall.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Abandonment, and Colonisation
Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Medical content, Murder, and War
pm_me_book_recs's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
This wasn't quite for me. I was excited to get into a SciFi prose novel, but it was really tough to read some sections due to the formatting clashing with my dyslexia. The cadence was off and the meter non-existent, it read like a novel with excessive sentence breaks.
The story itself felt cold and the characters never really grabbed me. The main character was hard to relate to for me, and the big religious shift in the middle was off-putting and, I don't know... contrived? It felt weird to have the MC be a body purist, but then be fine and dandy with hundreds of years of cryo-sleep?
I did like the bit from Catherine's perspective; it drug on for a bit too long, but the wrap up at the end of the chapter was really beautiful. The artwork within is lichen or mold focused and fit the mood wonderfully. There were some big David Lynch vibes during the more horror oriented parts, and I just wanted the whole thing to hold that energy.
I would recommend this to readers who enjoy nature writing and poetry, that can also dig a little weirdness and horror, who don't shy away from big Christian questions and themes.
Thank you NetGalley for approving me for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The story itself felt cold and the characters never really grabbed me. The main character was hard to relate to for me, and the big religious shift in the middle was off-putting and, I don't know... contrived? It felt weird to have the MC be a body purist, but then be fine and dandy with hundreds of years of cryo-sleep?
I did like the bit from Catherine's perspective; it drug on for a bit too long, but the wrap up at the end of the chapter was really beautiful. The artwork within is lichen or mold focused and fit the mood wonderfully. There were some big David Lynch vibes during the more horror oriented parts, and I just wanted the whole thing to hold that energy.
I would recommend this to readers who enjoy nature writing and poetry, that can also dig a little weirdness and horror, who don't shy away from big Christian questions and themes.
Thank you NetGalley for approving me for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Abandonment
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