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ramreadsagain's review
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Thank you to Titan Books for sending me a copy of this book. Calypso is out on the 2nd of April.
This is a sci-fi story in verse about a voyage to colonise a new planet far away from Earth. Our main character Rochelle awakes from cryostasis after an unspecified number of years (but implied several centuries) and has to work out what has been happening to the crew (as things are not as she expected) while coming to terms with the fact that the family she left behind is long dead.
Reading this was a very unique experience. I have very little experience with poetry so I can't really tell you if it was "well-written" or not, though at times I did get the impression it was slightly style-over-substance. It's not 'easy' to read but usually flowed very well once you established a rhythm.
That being said, I really liked how the 4 different POVs had different verse styles in terms of metre and how it was presented on the page. Catherine's in particular was very beautiful.
In terms of the content, it's all fairly standard sci-fi; questions of ethics, religion, technology, nature vs nurture, and fundamentals of humanity.
Overall, this was enjoyable and I liked how it dealt with the above themes. I did struggle with the format a bit and wish it had delved deeper into some aspects.
This is a sci-fi story in verse about a voyage to colonise a new planet far away from Earth. Our main character Rochelle awakes from cryostasis after an unspecified number of years (but implied several centuries) and has to work out what has been happening to the crew (as things are not as she expected) while coming to terms with the fact that the family she left behind is long dead.
Reading this was a very unique experience. I have very little experience with poetry so I can't really tell you if it was "well-written" or not, though at times I did get the impression it was slightly style-over-substance. It's not 'easy' to read but usually flowed very well once you established a rhythm.
That being said, I really liked how the 4 different POVs had different verse styles in terms of metre and how it was presented on the page. Catherine's in particular was very beautiful.
In terms of the content, it's all fairly standard sci-fi; questions of ethics, religion, technology, nature vs nurture, and fundamentals of humanity.
Overall, this was enjoyable and I liked how it dealt with the above themes. I did struggle with the format a bit and wish it had delved deeper into some aspects.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Genocide, Grief, and War
Minor: Terminal illness
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