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scifi_rat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Prose: 3 ★
Pace: 4★
Concept/Execution: 4.5★/4★
Characters: 3★
Worldbuilding: 4.5★
Ending: 3.25★
Moderate: Abandonment, Animal death, Eating disorder, Violence, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Blood, Grief, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Excrement, Gaslighting, Gore, Infertility, Drug use, Vomit, and Xenophobia
maeverose's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
2.75
I love her other books, but so far this series is not working for me and I’m considering dnfing it. I was so bored. I didn’t really care for Sidra’s storyline at all, even though I typically love sentient AI stories. Jane’s pov was far more interesting, but I really didn’t like her narrative voice. Her constant categorizing of things into ‘good’ ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’, saying something is ‘real ___’ over and over, her angsty teen phase… It made complete sense for her character but it was overdone and got very annoying for me to read.
As well, it really bothers me how gender is handled in this series. Becky Chambers handles it much better in the Monk and Robot series (though it’s still not perfect). I think it was probably unintentional, but in this book and in small angry planet, she always strictly ties gender to biological sex. There’s an alien species that has four sexes, so they use different pronouns for each of those sexes, but none of the characters identify as trans, and when it comes to most species it’s treated as a given that they just identify as a man or woman based on their biological sex. They always rely on someone’s physical characteristics to judge what pronouns to use.
I wish I liked this series but I just don’t
Graphic: Medical content, Child death, Death, Animal death, and Child abuse
Moderate: Vomit, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, and Blood
Minor: Excrement, Ableism, Eating disorder, Cancer, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Gore
Graphic: dog death and eating of dogs (it’s mentioned very often) Moderate: explosion (that killed people) Minor: not an actual eating disorder but someone has to skip meals to survive and ends up extremely thin and malnourished.skudiklier's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Death, Child abuse, Slavery, Cursing, Dysphoria, Animal death, Violence, and Trafficking
Moderate: Abandonment, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Animal cruelty, and Grief
Minor: Infertility, Excrement, War, Vomit, Colonisation, and Mental illness
ribbonroad's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Eating disorder, Excrement, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Excrement, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Infertility, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Self harm