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third_bookworm's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
There's a review on the back of the hardcover copy of this book saying something like "Too Like the Lightning will stay in your head for a long time." and man. It sure will.
This book tries to do a lot, and I'm not sure it fully delivers on a lot of it. Super interesting concepts are introduced, but I think it will depend on the rest of the series whether this are really followed through on.
This book tries to do a lot, and I'm not sure it fully delivers on a lot of it. Super interesting concepts are introduced, but I think it will depend on the rest of the series whether this are really followed through on.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism, Murder, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Incest, Car accident, Death of parent, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Child death, Misogyny, and Rape
mayafelice's review against another edition
challenging
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
5.0
I read this book a few years ago and I liked it, but this time, I loved it. I think the audiobook format adds a lot to the reading experience. This book has so many interesting things to say about politics, religion, and philosophy and is not afraid to ponder humanity's big questions. The kind of book that I think very few people would be able to write but many wish that they could.
heimidal's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
rubenmaes's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
hannah1901's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
yak_attak's review against another edition
4.0
This review might feel more negative than I intend, but coming back to this book there's just so much that's on the border of totally irritating that it's hard not to nitpick and complain, despite the book being, on the whole, quite good. On the surface, Too Like the Lightning presents as a mystery/thriller, a crime has been committed and the protagonist must go around, interview suspects, make connections, come up with theories, and uncover deep secrets. In reality, a number of things stand in the way of making this work - intentionally though, let's me clear.
First, the crime is completely opaque. Ada Palmer (to her credit) throws you in the deep end, and much of this strange future/past world is left for you to discover on the way yourself. This is fine. The problem is once things do get explained, the crime is so particular to the world it's hard to see exactly how it affects things. Fine though, it's world stuff. Second, the narrator himself is intricately wrapped up in the crime himself, and a tangled web of politics we have to discover. Again, this is really cool.
But. What this means is that the structure of the book is a mystery without a mystery, a crime without a plot, and an investigation in which no characters are actually interested in solving things. Instead, we get a revolving door of characters, new ones every chapter many of whom are hard to distinguish from each other - every character is exceptionally hot (this book is horny as hell), every character has a very particular philosophy that we dive into in detail. In the end we don't get many answers or much plot has happened. We go into book two, where the real action occurs.
Instead, this feels like Palmer's personal dollhouse to show off her knowledge and writing ability, mixing in enlightenment thinkers and science fiction tech. This is a delightful book to read, Mycroft's voice is so strong, present, and vivid, and so many of the future ideas are just fantastic, how they've evolved, how they interplay with each other, and the ideas of the past revived.
But that's the end - a world built, but to what end? There's so much good here, but it feels unsatisfying. Maybe this is just due to the break in the novels, and the two really should've lived as one. We end off and... I guess I gotta read another book now.
First, the crime is completely opaque. Ada Palmer (to her credit) throws you in the deep end, and much of this strange future/past world is left for you to discover on the way yourself. This is fine. The problem is once things do get explained, the crime is so particular to the world it's hard to see exactly how it affects things. Fine though, it's world stuff. Second, the narrator himself is intricately wrapped up in the crime himself, and a tangled web of politics we have to discover. Again, this is really cool.
But. What this means is that the structure of the book is a mystery without a mystery, a crime without a plot, and an investigation in which no characters are actually interested in solving things. Instead, we get a revolving door of characters, new ones every chapter many of whom are hard to distinguish from each other - every character is exceptionally hot (this book is horny as hell), every character has a very particular philosophy that we dive into in detail. In the end we don't get many answers or much plot has happened. We go into book two, where the real action occurs.
Instead, this feels like Palmer's personal dollhouse to show off her knowledge and writing ability, mixing in enlightenment thinkers and science fiction tech. This is a delightful book to read, Mycroft's voice is so strong, present, and vivid, and so many of the future ideas are just fantastic, how they've evolved, how they interplay with each other, and the ideas of the past revived.
But that's the end - a world built, but to what end? There's so much good here, but it feels unsatisfying. Maybe this is just due to the break in the novels, and the two really should've lived as one. We end off and... I guess I gotta read another book now.
bastrat's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
tonyleachsf's review against another edition
2.0
Captivating and original in places - but also self-indulgent and banal in others. Celebrity orgy and pseudo-philosophy overbears the otherwise-interesting bits about people with phenomenal powers.
Good enough to want to read book 2 after, but maybe not more than that.
Good enough to want to read book 2 after, but maybe not more than that.
notably_bookish'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
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes