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singalana's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I went through the five stages of grief with this book. Either I’m not smart enough, or the author is not very good at explaining complex things and what the hell is happening at any given time.
Denial. I thought this book was about space vampires! (Something like the wraith in Stargate Atlantis or something, idk!) Well, there is one, but the vampire in this book is not at all what I expected them to be. The main character is missing half of his brain, and the rest of the characters are interesting in theory (one with multiple personalities, a cyborg etc.), but man, are they confusing and even boring on paper!
Anger. There are a lot of words and terms I don’t recognise, so at first, I have to look up a few words on every page. Then I basically give up and tried to decipher from the context what the words meant.
Bargaining. This is a First Contact story, just as it says on the tin. My feelings towards that aspects were also a rollercoaster. (Mild spoilers ahead!) I liked the better when they were talking. Then the stuff that was happening was eerie, sure, but was it that interesting? Where did my interesting aliens go? Why did they stop speaking?
Depression. The book spends some time on the main character’s backstory, especially his relationship with the women in his life: his mother and his girlfriend. Are they remotely interesting? Yes. Are they relevant? I don’t know, you tell me.
Acceptance. This book sure doesn’t ‘tell’ you anything. Mind you, it doesn’t ‘show’ much, either. As to my feelings about this book, either I’m not smart enough to understand half of what is happening here, or the author might have clarified the most crucial events in this book with a few more sentences to make sure that the reader understands what is going on. It’s not a bad book, I just didn’t get it.
A quote from this book: “You rationalize, Keeton. You defend. You reject unpalatable truths, and if you can’t reject them outright you trivialize them. Incremental evidence is never enough for you. You hear rumors of holocaust; you dismiss them. You see evidence of genocide; you insist it can’t be so bad. Temperatures rise, glaciers melt—species die—and you blame sunspots and volcanoes.”
Content Warnings
Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Rape, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Terminal illness, Violence, and War
v171's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
At the end of the day, I will always be a sucker for a "small group of experts in their field go to space on a momentous mission for Earth and run into shenanigans" story, regardless of genre. To Be Taught If Fortunate, Providence, Alien... I love them all. And in that regard, Blindsight did not disappoint.
There was so much I really enjoyed about this story. The shifting perspective from present to past served as a great world building tool and character development device for Siri. I loved the character interactions and the unique character "quirks" for each of the crew (It took me a few chapters to actually realize what was going on with The Gang!). The writing was relentless with the technological terms: even from the beginning, so that took some getting used to. But the overall story was truly fascinating and kept me interested from about mid way when the forward momentum started to pick up. I loved loved loved how the aliens were described and ultimately ended up being. I found it to be the most likely case of first contact for humans, and the thesis of the over arching story was brilliantly executed.
My primary complaint with this book was just how damn preachy it grew to be! Initially, these large blocks of thematic heavy content was isolated to a few character monologues. However, toward the end of the book, whole chapters seemed to be devoted to the narrator simply info dumping philosophy to the reader without clearly tying it back into the story. I started to dread these sections of the text because they frequently occurred at the height of action. This was an..... interesting structural decision.
There was so much I really enjoyed about this story. The shifting perspective from present to past served as a great world building tool and character development device for Siri. I loved the character interactions and the unique character "quirks" for each of the crew (It took me a few chapters to actually realize what was going on with The Gang!). The writing was relentless with the technological terms: even from the beginning, so that took some getting used to. But the overall story was truly fascinating and kept me interested from about mid way when the forward momentum started to pick up. I loved loved loved how the aliens were described and ultimately ended up being. I found it to be the most likely case of first contact for humans, and the thesis of the over arching story was brilliantly executed.
My primary complaint with this book was just how damn preachy it grew to be! Initially, these large blocks of thematic heavy content was isolated to a few character monologues. However, toward the end of the book, whole chapters seemed to be devoted to the narrator simply info dumping philosophy to the reader without clearly tying it back into the story. I started to dread these sections of the text because they frequently occurred at the height of action. This was an..... interesting structural decision.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Cancer and Cursing
Minor: Child death
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