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scientistnathan's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Car accident and Death of parent
rbuhrke's review
mysterious
sad
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? Yes
2.0
This book was a slog to get through. The most interesting aspect of the book is Bo’s perspective and the commentary about the Raider show. It takes about half book to get to anything interesting from Brandon’s perspective or about his job at flux. In the end the answer to what he is actually doing at work is a ridiculous letdown and a bullshit hand wave of science fiction. It’s been the milk the whole fucking time. I hate it. His job is to eat cereal to “commute” through time and all he does with that is fixate on the death of his mother and Raider. We don’t even a satisfying answer as to how, why it works or what was even the whole point of their efforts.
I was hopeful with Blue’s perspective that the ending might make up for all the time wasted reading this book but that was not the case. Blue uses the show interview to go back to flux to eat his goddamn cereal one more time and through away the rest of his life. We only get to meet his daughter for the Christmas dinner to show that he does have something to lose by doing this. But that actually doesn’t matter because right before he “commutes” he gets a call from his daughter asking him to rethink things and he tells her that everything was a mistake including having her. Then he goes back in time and saves his mother only to still be alive after altering time. For a book about dealing with grief and trauma it was massively disappointing ending to have the character not change by the end and never actually work through his issues.
I was hopeful with Blue’s perspective that the ending might make up for all the time wasted reading this book but that was not the case.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Death of parent
Moderate: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Body horror, Dementia, and Car accident
jayisreading's review
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
2.75
I so desperately wanted to like this novel, but it ended up failing to meet my expectations. I think the ideas and concepts Chong was playing with were intriguing, but something about the way he delivered these through his writing style and the structural choices just didn’t work for me, and I found them a bit tedious. I was really struggling to follow what exactly was happening, and I can’t help but wonder if this was a result of not being in the headspace for a novel that clearly required a little more brain power than your average book.
I’d like to revisit Flux in the future, perhaps when I’m in the headspace to handle multiple, intertwining narratives with mind-bending details that all seem to matter. I think my biggest gripe that may or may not change on a second readthrough is that I didn’t find the characters particularly interesting, which could have also played a role in why I struggled so much with this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dementia, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Racism, Medical content, and Car accident
Minor: Drug use and Suicide
erikagibson126's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent
Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual content, Dementia, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Terminal illness, Kidnapping, Stalking, Pregnancy, and Deportation
drymice's review
challenging
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? No
1.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, and Car accident
wordsareworlds's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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
3.5
I enjoyed Flux and thought it was an interesting debut, but I think the pacing was rather off and wanted to get into more of the spec-fic and interconnectedness much sooner than the book got there.
I really liked the exploration of being mixed race, and the complicated feelings of being diaspora, specifically around language. I related so strongly to the portrayal of anger and isolation of grief after losing a parent, along with how the MC latches onto this one tv show so much that it is simultaneously embarrassing and heartbreaking. The nuance of his relationship with that fictional TV show was so good, and I saw so much of myself looking desperately for representation and connection in the media of a place that so often felt like it tolerated me at best. The last 40% or so is a whirlwind of time loop chaos, and Chong's writing really lends itself to the cinematic style there and in the TV show "recaps."
Onto the downsides. The pacing is rather choppy and slow. Some of that's on purpose but also obvious information is withheld for way too long and I think Chong could have gone further into the spec fic elements a lot sooner. There are some elements in this that felt very "written by a man," especially when it comes to Min and their relationship. Side characters overall are flat, although ymmv on how much of that is purposeful because of the MC's self-absorbtion and disconnects from reality. The main company in this book is a thinly-veiled Theranos, complete with renamed Elizabeth Holmes and Sunny Balwani. The plot hinges on the specific consequences of their actions much more than the overarching ones, and I wanted a lot more from the Blue storyline on that front.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and I'll definitely be looking for more from this author, with the hope that it gets a blurb that much better fits the actual contents.
Recommended for people who enjoy a character-driven scifi that explores grief and how much that can warp a person's life, and fans of movies like Vanilla Sky or David Lynch.
I really liked the exploration of being mixed race, and the complicated feelings of being diaspora, specifically around language. I related so strongly to the portrayal of anger and isolation of grief after losing a parent, along with how the MC latches onto this one tv show so much that it is simultaneously embarrassing and heartbreaking. The nuance of his relationship with that fictional TV show was so good, and I saw so much of myself looking desperately for representation and connection in the media of a place that so often felt like it tolerated me at best. The last 40% or so is a whirlwind of time loop chaos, and Chong's writing really lends itself to the cinematic style there and in the TV show "recaps."
Onto the downsides. The pacing is rather choppy and slow. Some of that's on purpose but also obvious information is withheld for way too long and I think Chong could have gone further into the spec fic elements a lot sooner. There are some elements in this that felt very "written by a man," especially when it comes to Min and their relationship. Side characters overall are flat, although ymmv on how much of that is purposeful because of the MC's self-absorbtion and disconnects from reality. The main company in this book is a thinly-veiled Theranos, complete with renamed Elizabeth Holmes and Sunny Balwani. The plot hinges on the specific consequences of their actions much more than the overarching ones, and I wanted a lot more from the Blue storyline on that front.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and I'll definitely be looking for more from this author, with the hope that it gets a blurb that much better fits the actual contents.
Recommended for people who enjoy a character-driven scifi that explores grief and how much that can warp a person's life, and fans of movies like Vanilla Sky or David Lynch.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Racism and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Domestic abuse
mirandyli's review
dark
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
This was a great, trippy, dystopian read with a bisexual Korean male lead. Confusing at times but quick to get through.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
melodyseestrees's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
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
4.5
If you know the movie Groundhog Day (1993) you will be familiar with the order of some events within this book. It is particularly easy to lose your place during the audiobook and then be confused until the events start to wrap up. There are some really poignant moments between characters, especially towards the end of the book. It may be easy to predict how certain characters are connected together throughout the events of the story, and the 'villain' is also very apparent well before the big reveal.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Racism, Medical content, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Drug use, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Bo has a scene where there is a stick stuck in his hand and his wrist is also broken. Brandon and his boss have a toxic faux friendship where drug use is common. Blue and his family have a history of verbal aggression, if not abuse, and he struggles to maintain/fix his connection to his family- there is a tense Christmas Dinner scene. Blue is nonverbal but this is "fixed" with some sort of implant in his neck.queergoth_reads's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
sad
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
4.0
Absolutely not what I expected but I think I had a good time. I think I wanted a big more of the sci-fi element but I thought it was well crafted (even if it did lag at points). Thought it was great as an audiobook.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dementia, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Medical content and Car accident
hamstringy's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This is definitely a really powerfully written book about grief, fandom, and tech-politics. The narrator was excellent. I don’t quite know how I feel about the ending or most of Blue’s parts—I feel like I’m missing fulfillment here.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Racism and Car accident