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paperbacks_n_frybread's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
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? No
3.5
Everything about this book is wonderful. Plot. Characters. World building.
The major problem is it being a novella. It needed to be a full length novel. Not because I wanted more (I 💯 do!) but there’s a glaring plot device that’s never wrapped up at the end and it feels unfinished. As a reader I feel a bit cheated with that ending. Huge build up to just…nothing.
The major problem is it being a novella. It needed to be a full length novel. Not because I wanted more (I 💯 do!) but there’s a glaring plot device that’s never wrapped up at the end and it feels unfinished. As a reader I feel a bit cheated with that ending. Huge build up to just…nothing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Medical content, Animal death, Blood, and Death
adancewithbooks's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Ever since its release I'd heard a slight buzz around this novella. I wasn't quite sure if this was going to be one for me as dystopia so very often can be a miss for me. But I was pleasantly surprised and I ended up really liking it.
We meet Reid just as she has received her invite to a further education, a mission. She lives in an old university with her mom and a whole community. This invite means she has to leave everyone behind. There is even the question if it is even real. It is a hard decision, and where some congratulate her, others show their dislike.
What I loved about this book was how it showed how the community worked, the explanations and the idea behind the ending of our known world. And in a way it makes a lot of sense. The resources of our planet isn't going to last forever and we certainly don't have a solution for that yet. Then there is the CAD which adds a whole other dimension to their troubles. Its not bad enough that they might starve or not have enough water or the sand storms. The CAD can kill them.
But mostly what I really liked about this book were the feels. The conflict Reid had about whether or not to go. The grief for her fathers loss, the grief for having the disease of CAD, the duty she feels towards her mother and the community. The guilt that this decision brings with it. It is a very well written story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Suicide
Moderate: Gore
Animal Huntinglucystolethesky's review against another edition
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Abandonment, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Blood, Gore, and Gaslighting
raptorq's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Animal death
Moderate: Blood and Suicide attempt
Minor: Medical content and Vomit
hanz's review
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Death, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
Moderate: Suicide and Suicide attempt
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
dark
reflective
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? It's complicated
3.0
Theoretically super interesting setting and contemplation on more mundane post-apocalyptic life and bodily autonomy, but unfortunately pretty underdeveloped in practice -- definitely feel like the concepts would fit better in a longer work with more fleshed out characters and relationships.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, and Animal death
Moderate: Blood, Medical content, Violence, Gore, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Pedophilia, Ableism, Colonisation, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Abortion, and Suicide
Parasitic infection.florecita_lectora's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Confinement, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting
amandadevoursbooks's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Reid and her mother live in an old office building, post apocalypse. They both are infected with a fungus, Cad, that controls its host to keep them alive and potentially can quicken and kill the host. Reid has been accepted into one of the last universities in one of the few remaining dome cities. What follows is basically a slice of life as Reid prepares to leave her home against her mother's wishes.
This little book jams world building and character development into its pages. I love Novellas that do this. It's enough to make it a full story in a slim number of pages. Occasionally, the story gets lost in the lyrical prose.
This is hope punk, and it has been compared to the Monk and Robot series by Becky Chambers. To me it read more like Cathrynne M Valente's the Past is Red or Cherie Demaline's the Marrow Thieves. The world is bleak, and there is hope in the people left.
This little book jams world building and character development into its pages. I love Novellas that do this. It's enough to make it a full story in a slim number of pages. Occasionally, the story gets lost in the lyrical prose.
This is hope punk, and it has been compared to the Monk and Robot series by Becky Chambers. To me it read more like Cathrynne M Valente's the Past is Red or Cherie Demaline's the Marrow Thieves. The world is bleak, and there is hope in the people left.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Death and Child abuse
sheeky's review against another edition
medium-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
5.0
I'm in love with this novella. There's something so compelling about a story that leads up to a decision--I think from the start, the exact ending was fairly easy to assume, but that didn't matter one bit because this is one of those stories that is very much "about the journey." Premee Mohamed is an incredibly gifted writer, and her words ebb and flow with a stoic lyricism that mirrors both Reid's emotional journey and the throb of the fungus beneath her skin.
And that's what I mean when I say this novella is "emotional--" not that it will necessarily make you cry (though I did,) but that it fully captures the complexity of a "simple decision." It understands what leaving truly means when you're in community, the tension between the individual and the together and how and where those lines blur. It understands rings of family and left-behind mothers and growing pains and not knowing what you want. It also understands anger, the rage of being handed the remains of a world someone else failed to save. In Reid and Henryk and the rest of the town, Mohamed has written a very clear picture of what we might look like once the climate apocalypse has truly ravaged us, privileged bubbles and all.
The body horror bits of this book are also very good. I won't say too much for fear of spoiling, but: very, very good.
I tend not to buy books until after I've read them; this is 100% something I want on my shelf!
And that's what I mean when I say this novella is "emotional--" not that it will necessarily make you cry (though I did,) but that it fully captures the complexity of a "simple decision." It understands what leaving truly means when you're in community, the tension between the individual and the together and how and where those lines blur. It understands rings of family and left-behind mothers and growing pains and not knowing what you want. It also understands anger, the rage of being handed the remains of a world someone else failed to save. In Reid and Henryk and the rest of the town, Mohamed has written a very clear picture of what we might look like once the climate apocalypse has truly ravaged us, privileged bubbles and all.
The body horror bits of this book are also very good. I won't say too much for fear of spoiling, but: very, very good.
I tend not to buy books until after I've read them; this is 100% something I want on my shelf!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Animal death, Death, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Ableism and Pedophilia
maryellen's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-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
5.0
Such a lovely, hopefully book. Preme Mohamed's writing is just gorgeous.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Animal death, Child death, Death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death of parent