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supertatox's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
mattp3's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
elusivity's review against another edition
2.0
Really not a fan of this one. The description lead me to expect some type of mystery solving, but the story itself is utterly straight forward: MC is akin to an Amazon delivery person traveling through interstellar space, each of her rounds taking 1,000 years from start to finish, delivering generations of outer system people's memories for casual entertainment at the final world.
TWENTY-SIX THOUSAND YEARS apparently went by like no time. She doesn't gain in wisdom nor a sense of perspective either from her age alone, nor from binging on thousands of people's life-time memories. Her quotes and references are from circa 20th century earth (hanging out in a 1960s mansion recreated in her spaceship and quoting Sherlock Holmes wtf).
In fact, there is no character growth at all. She gets a bunch of messages from the equivalent of a bunch of videos and all her memories conveniently comes back. There should've been more exploration of her conflict--personal conflict: I've been duped all these years! (she is depressed for some years, but the authors went with description of external action versus more in-depth working-out of her actual mental thoughts or emotions during this time) or, I love this luxurious immortal life that the maybe-treacherous AI provides; moral conflict: should I destroy the peace of MILLENNIA on the thousands of human worlds just for some unknown evolution? What's so great about evolving, anyway? (Lots of things, actually, but the book just expected the reader to agree without providing any of its own reasoning that isn't Carloman preaching.) The idea that humans, when allowed to freely develop, DID and DO end up in wars and violence, is brushed over in one sentence.
Finally, how are those other aliens worse than MC and Carloman? who are ALSO beings from out of the time-space who introject themselves into the material universe, inhabiting human lives for their own entertainment? Is it just that those aliens want safe and stable "immersion game play" versus the freedom that MC and her dude think "humans should have"?
I spent the second half of this story expecting a twist ending: maybe MC developed a mental illness from her long life and has gang-stalking type hallucinations, and her destroying the universe will turn out to be a mistake. Maybe Carloman is actually from some End Times cult with secret nefarious purpose and she will find out too late.
But no. It is just straight up a story about reincarnating soul mates who find each other through time and space, meet in person after being parted for TWENTY-SIX THOUSAND YEARS and becomes a perfect couple instantly, united in their goals, explodes the universe, and reincarnates immediately. They are off to the good times of being human-playable-entities now that these other boring bland aliens are destroyed. Bleh.
TWO STARS for being well written and having such an interesting set-up, but I kinda hate the second half of this book for being so disappointing.
TWENTY-SIX THOUSAND YEARS apparently went by like no time. She doesn't gain in wisdom nor a sense of perspective either from her age alone, nor from binging on thousands of people's life-time memories. Her quotes and references are from circa 20th century earth (hanging out in a 1960s mansion recreated in her spaceship and quoting Sherlock Holmes wtf).
In fact, there is no character growth at all. She gets a bunch of messages from the equivalent of a bunch of videos and all her memories conveniently comes back. There should've been more exploration of her conflict--personal conflict: I've been duped all these years! (she is depressed for some years, but the authors went with description of external action versus more in-depth working-out of her actual mental thoughts or emotions during this time) or, I love this luxurious immortal life that the maybe-treacherous AI provides; moral conflict: should I destroy the peace of MILLENNIA on the thousands of human worlds just for some unknown evolution? What's so great about evolving, anyway? (Lots of things, actually, but the book just expected the reader to agree without providing any of its own reasoning that isn't Carloman preaching.) The idea that humans, when allowed to freely develop, DID and DO end up in wars and violence, is brushed over in one sentence.
Finally, how are those other aliens worse than MC and Carloman? who are ALSO beings from out of the time-space who introject themselves into the material universe, inhabiting human lives for their own entertainment? Is it just that those aliens want safe and stable "immersion game play" versus the freedom that MC and her dude think "humans should have"?
I spent the second half of this story expecting a twist ending: maybe MC developed a mental illness from her long life and has gang-stalking type hallucinations, and her destroying the universe will turn out to be a mistake. Maybe Carloman is actually from some End Times cult with secret nefarious purpose and she will find out too late.
But no. It is just straight up a story about reincarnating soul mates who find each other through time and space, meet in person after being parted for TWENTY-SIX THOUSAND YEARS and becomes a perfect couple instantly, united in their goals, explodes the universe, and reincarnates immediately. They are off to the good times of being human-playable-entities now that these other boring bland aliens are destroyed. Bleh.
TWO STARS for being well written and having such an interesting set-up, but I kinda hate the second half of this book for being so disappointing.
t4ngo's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
ginnikin's review against another edition
1.0
This felt like an attempt to recreate the magic of THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR without understanding the magic of that book.
lmetcalfe23's review against another edition
4.0
This was a great story. I do wish it had been longer though. I gasped out loud few times and loved the ending. Would recomend
d_audy's review against another edition
4.0
Don’t let the length fool you, this is a fully realized space opera universe that comes to life in this novella that interweaves in a compelling way hard sci-fi world building and themes with a rather unique and touching love story between two intriguing and loveable characters. At its core there are ideas about stasis vs. evolution that is a very classical sci-fi theme (going at least way back to Frank Herbert, but no doubt even older), but Hamilton and Powell give those ideas a modern twist (readers of either authors or Alastair Reynolds will feel right at home) and execute the story really well with a surprising depth of detail for such a concise format, with many well realized vignettes about different worlds and human societies.
The main plot is perhaps a little predictable, but that doesn’t hurt much the overall enjoyment.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and a half
The main plot is perhaps a little predictable, but that doesn’t hurt much the overall enjoyment.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and a half
wynnz's review against another edition
4.0
Basically a love story throughout the millenniums. Interesting concept. Enjoyable enough, to keep turning the pages.
melkarth's review against another edition
4.0
Novela cortita de SciFi de la buena, con tiempo para presentar varios planetas completamente distintos (aunque solo sea de pasada). La trama me ha parecido muy interesante, aunque no creo que tenga capacidad para alargarse más de lo que tiene ya, con lo que hay ya puedes entender a los antagonistas y empatizar con la protagonista, y hasta conocer secundarios bien esbozados.
uncreativeoops's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
The premise was interesting and I liked the sudden switches from space opera-universe to a medieval world. But I couldn't really connect to the characters and the conflict felt too black and white. Like I get it, there are evil overlords with no redeeming qualities that have to be destroyed, I don't need to be told again and again. I was more interested in the stories of the characters with the memory collars which were all cut short (for a reason, and I get why you don't need their whole life for this story, I just found theirs more engaging)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Terminal illness, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Animal death, and Cancer