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callosaurus's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
emeraldletter's review
4.0
Two words.
Space. Pirates.
Sort of. They’re kind of innocent… But they’re good enough for me!
Mostly because I had no expectations or hype for this book, I just looked at the description a couple of times on BorrowBox and eventually agreed to try it. I liked the interesting characters, brilliant setting and engaging story that kept me reading the whole way through.
Nax Hall, a flunked out pilot, is the main character and POV (point of view) for the whole book. He’s a bit unstable and quick to judge, but that just makes him realistically flawed. The books starts with the poetic justice; with the fact that the only people who escaped when the space academy got taken over was the people the academy had flunked out for reasons of discrimination (mostly). Hehe!
The hijinks and heists only became funner from there with seat-of-your-pants piloting, and last minute escape plans. The world..heh-hem…GALAXY building only got better from there by displaying different planet colonies with ‘this could actually be true’ histories. And not many info dumps either. At its’ best, The Disasters was a fun space opera filled with rich world building, great action scenes and interesting character dynamics. The crew's banter was pretty funny and I particularly loved Nax’s relationship with his brother. It was realistic and I love the was it was developed and excellently foreshadowed. All this was especially brilliant coupled with the fact this was a debut novel.
At its' worst The Disasters was another YA ‘fit-as-many-under-represented-groups-as-possible’ book with too much swearing (f-bomb, b*tch, ass***, da*n etc). In the romance department as well there were too many loose threads and by the end and it ended up being a little confusing.
To give an example of the over-representation, the main character was bi, another dude was gay, one girl had anxiety, the other girl was trans, and another was islamic. I don’t really have anything against these identities but it’s kind of annoying when it feels like these labels have been put on them, not as apart of their character’s personality, but just as representation for the labels.
Anyway. Sorry ‘bout the rant.
There were a few innuendos (kind of impossible to have a YA book with any romance without them!-*sigh/eyeroll*), but nothing more explicit than kissing in actuality. All in all, I think it was a fun space opera with some fairly minor deficiencies. So, three and a half stars! I'd also probably recommend to a 16+ audience.
Thank you for reading, this is Commander Story Girl,
Signing Out.
Space. Pirates.
Sort of. They’re kind of innocent… But they’re good enough for me!
Mostly because I had no expectations or hype for this book, I just looked at the description a couple of times on BorrowBox and eventually agreed to try it. I liked the interesting characters, brilliant setting and engaging story that kept me reading the whole way through.
Nax Hall, a flunked out pilot, is the main character and POV (point of view) for the whole book. He’s a bit unstable and quick to judge, but that just makes him realistically flawed. The books starts with the poetic justice; with the fact that the only people who escaped when the space academy got taken over was the people the academy had flunked out for reasons of discrimination (mostly). Hehe!
The hijinks and heists only became funner from there with seat-of-your-pants piloting, and last minute escape plans. The world..heh-hem…GALAXY building only got better from there by displaying different planet colonies with ‘this could actually be true’ histories. And not many info dumps either. At its’ best, The Disasters was a fun space opera filled with rich world building, great action scenes and interesting character dynamics. The crew's banter was pretty funny and I particularly loved Nax’s relationship with his brother. It was realistic and I love the was it was developed and excellently foreshadowed. All this was especially brilliant coupled with the fact this was a debut novel.
At its' worst The Disasters was another YA ‘fit-as-many-under-represented-groups-as-possible’ book with too much swearing (f-bomb, b*tch, ass***, da*n etc). In the romance department as well there were too many loose threads and by the end and it ended up being a little confusing.
To give an example of the over-representation, the main character was bi, another dude was gay, one girl had anxiety, the other girl was trans, and another was islamic. I don’t really have anything against these identities but it’s kind of annoying when it feels like these labels have been put on them, not as apart of their character’s personality, but just as representation for the labels.
Anyway. Sorry ‘bout the rant.
There were a few innuendos (kind of impossible to have a YA book with any romance without them!-*sigh/eyeroll*), but nothing more explicit than kissing in actuality. All in all, I think it was a fun space opera with some fairly minor deficiencies. So, three and a half stars! I'd also probably recommend to a 16+ audience.
Thank you for reading, this is Commander Story Girl,
Signing Out.
multeapod's review
4.0
https://multipodvoyager.wixsite.com/multipodvoyager/forum/welcome-to-the-book-nook/audiobook-review-the-distasters-by-m-k-england
ominouslilraven's review
4.0
This was a fun little ride! Lots of sass and swag.
PLOT SUMMARY: Nasir Alexander, Nax, and a bunch of other space Academy washouts are homebound, still raw from their rejection into the Academy when the school is commandeered by fear based oppressors. After a hearing escape from the school, they are considered wanted fugitive and decide that have to spread reality about the assault. Nax and his kindred disappointments must execute a risky heist to not only save face but space as well.
REVIEW: I am a big fan of Jay and Amie’s Illuminae series. I lived for the sass and tension. This book breathed so much of that. Granted, a lot of the book takes place on terra-formed colonies, it still had the space vibe. The sass level of the characters made my dark heart flutter, the tone of the book overall is humorous even with the seriousness of the situation. I know this isn’t really significant but the names of the characters were kinda pointless/annoying, (Nax, Rion, Zee, Case) I am all for unique names but these ones just felt cheap.
Overall I really liked this book and wouldn't mind another story with this cast of outcasts. Their dialogue alone gave me life.
SUBJECT HEADINGS: Space, space colonies, robbery, losers, terrorism, heroes and heroines.
APPEAL: Not only is this a sci-fi space adventure but also rather humorous book. It’s filled with a diverse cast (culturally diverse, LGBTQIA diverse, religiously diverse) thrown together that takes them from zeros to heroes. The writing style is compelling and the story is action-packed.
PLOT SUMMARY: Nasir Alexander, Nax, and a bunch of other space Academy washouts are homebound, still raw from their rejection into the Academy when the school is commandeered by fear based oppressors. After a hearing escape from the school, they are considered wanted fugitive and decide that have to spread reality about the assault. Nax and his kindred disappointments must execute a risky heist to not only save face but space as well.
REVIEW: I am a big fan of Jay and Amie’s Illuminae series. I lived for the sass and tension. This book breathed so much of that. Granted, a lot of the book takes place on terra-formed colonies, it still had the space vibe. The sass level of the characters made my dark heart flutter, the tone of the book overall is humorous even with the seriousness of the situation. I know this isn’t really significant but the names of the characters were kinda pointless/annoying, (Nax, Rion, Zee, Case) I am all for unique names but these ones just felt cheap.
Overall I really liked this book and wouldn't mind another story with this cast of outcasts. Their dialogue alone gave me life.
SUBJECT HEADINGS: Space, space colonies, robbery, losers, terrorism, heroes and heroines.
APPEAL: Not only is this a sci-fi space adventure but also rather humorous book. It’s filled with a diverse cast (culturally diverse, LGBTQIA diverse, religiously diverse) thrown together that takes them from zeros to heroes. The writing style is compelling and the story is action-packed.
s_l's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
kamkanga's review
3.0
Very cliche, fast read. Decent for teens who are starting to date, lots of cute chemistry.
elfinwizard's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
ajb24's review against another edition
5.0
My rating might be closer to 4.5 stars? Nax's feelings of being a complete failure to his family were...idk kind of annoying? Or at least felt undeveloped like, I had a hard time sympathizing with him because he just gave vague generalizations like "oh OBVIOUSLY my family hates me because i'm SO bad" but what actually happened didn't seem...like it would cause that much drama??? IDK other than that this book was really fun!! I LOVED the concept of space colonies and the surrounding politics that comes with it. The world-building was really cool and interesting and I loved all the tech. PLUS, we love proper diversity! That was really cool! Ugh this was just a fun adventure book with enough action, emotional parts, and futuristic landscapes to keep me entertained the whole time :)
stardust_heidi's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-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
OKAaaaaaayyyyyyyyy!!!!!! This is a fucking delight, and I would like more, please. Queer. DIVERSE SPACE EXPLORATION!!!!!!!!!!!! Universe ending bad guys. A bunch of space school rejects who save the universe. Much hijinks. Much suspending of belief (BUT I MEAN, IT’S FUTURISTIC SCIFI, SO I HAD A FUCKING GREAT TIME DOING IT). The audiobook is delightful.