Scan barcode
sarahr15_'s review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The author took a fascinating scientific concept, but buried it too deep. A novella would have fit the plot better.
jessiejenni's review
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
mollyrmcdonough's review
4.0
I enjoyed this read- it’s got everything you want: intergalactic space travel, interplanetary colonization, and semi-murderous robotics.
Overall, 4/5 stars. It was very much a slow burn until the last 75 pages or so.
Overall, 4/5 stars. It was very much a slow burn until the last 75 pages or so.
akrachel's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
sarahhhht's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
ajyams's review
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
tense
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
5.0
legs_n_chins's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
1.5
I’m just left with a lot of questions.
The first half of the book definitely drew me in. While the writing was very dense, Nguyen is able ratchet up the tension at a slow but steady pace and lean into the mystery elements well. However, as the plot progressed, I really found myself getting less interested in what was going to happen next. I was ready to attribute this to my general lack of interest in most sci-fi, but the last several chapters really killed the whole thing for me and I don’t think it has anything to do with my feelings about the genre overall.
I found the book to be extremely overwritten. The text was dense and it seemed to contain a lot of redundancies as it went along. Chapter 21 in particular felt like a perfect example of this; all I could think was that it spent multiple pages recapping what had occurred in the chapter immediately prior. A lot of it could’ve been cut. Additionally, the flashbacks of Park’s childhood felt overly drawn out. At the start I think they did help establish aspects of her character, but toward the end I felt that they were simply interrupting the plot and the flow of the main narrative and I became very exasperated when we were transported back to New Diego. The best parts of the writing actually happened to be recordings of Taban and Daley. Though Nguyen overwrote the majority of the prose, I was very impressed with her ability to write from an objective third person POV. It worked really well and it definitely felt like I was observing the goings on and see the characters’ feelings simply through their words and actions, without being privy to anything actually happening in their heads. It was very well done and those recording were certainly my favorite parts of the book. They were very helpful in creating further tension and mystery.
I found the characters pretty lackluster. Even having the entire book from Park’s POV, I still felt at the end that I didn’t know her very well. I also didn’t like what I did know about her. I thought for a while I just wasn’t really connecting with her because I didn’t find her particularly relatable, but when her uncle came back to New Diego and tried to separate her from Glenn, all I could think was, “he’s right, I’m on his side!” And I really don’t think that’s what the author wanted. Beyond that, the side characters felt very one-dimensional, and characters like Wan Xu seemed to be entirely forgotten about for chapters on end. It didn’t feel like an ensemble cast, but I wasn’t even disappointed by not knowing more about the characters. No one was particularly likable to me and the interactions between any of them felt hollow and unconvincing. Again, Nguyen’s objective third person POV was the strongest as I actually believed Taban and Daley felt like real humans having real interactions; another reason I probably enjoyed those sections more.
The ending, like I said, really undid everything I had been enjoying about the book. I wanted to rate this higher when I was still toward the middle of the story, but the reveals at the end were so underwhelming and ultimately incredibly frustrating. I’d seen some reviews mentioning that the science was really off, but I was prepared to suspend my disbelief because I don’t have a very good grasp of quantum mechanics, however the insistant over-explaining Nguyen did in an attempt to prove she had done any research on the subject ended up actually making everything sound like complete nonsense. I don’t know if the science is at all accurate, and I was willing to simply accept that, but once she’d talked around and around it all a couple times I no longer felt as forgiving. Additionally, the secondary conflict introduced in the last several chapters felt really unnecessary and over the top. As it progressed, I felt that the characters — already shallow and flat to my eye — stopped behaving like real people altogether. I couldn’t bring myself to care about any of it because it just didn’t seem like the sort of thing any actual human would do. And don’t get me started on the final fight scene; I couldn’t follow any of the action. The conclusion felt abrupt and jarring after the commotion leading up to it, and all I ended up with were questions with no answers.(Why wasn’t any one else effected by the last bouts of unity rain???)
There was a point early on where I almost DNF’d but it felt like a bit of a petty reason at the time. Nguyen’s description of Dryads really rubbed me the wrong way, though, and I truly couldn’t tell if it was meant to be a part of Park’s character and a symptom of the socialization in her world, or if it was really awful authorial bias slipping in. I wanted to give Nguyen the benefit of the doubt, but the off-hand comment made about dyslexia much later in the book made me seriously question. If I can’t tell what's meant to be a part of the world and the society that’s been created and what’s actually just something the author themselves thinks, I don’t think the author has done their job effectively. I kind of wish that I had DNF’d then.
Also, this book gave me a paper cut and frankly, it’s lucky I didn’t take off another half star for that.
The first half of the book definitely drew me in. While the writing was very dense, Nguyen is able ratchet up the tension at a slow but steady pace and lean into the mystery elements well. However, as the plot progressed, I really found myself getting less interested in what was going to happen next. I was ready to attribute this to my general lack of interest in most sci-fi, but the last several chapters really killed the whole thing for me and I don’t think it has anything to do with my feelings about the genre overall.
I found the book to be extremely overwritten. The text was dense and it seemed to contain a lot of redundancies as it went along. Chapter 21 in particular felt like a perfect example of this; all I could think was that it spent multiple pages recapping what had occurred in the chapter immediately prior. A lot of it could’ve been cut. Additionally, the flashbacks of Park’s childhood felt overly drawn out. At the start I think they did help establish aspects of her character, but toward the end I felt that they were simply interrupting the plot and the flow of the main narrative and I became very exasperated when we were transported back to New Diego. The best parts of the writing actually happened to be recordings of Taban and Daley. Though Nguyen overwrote the majority of the prose, I was very impressed with her ability to write from an objective third person POV. It worked really well and it definitely felt like I was observing the goings on and see the characters’ feelings simply through their words and actions, without being privy to anything actually happening in their heads. It was very well done and those recording were certainly my favorite parts of the book. They were very helpful in creating further tension and mystery.
I found the characters pretty lackluster. Even having the entire book from Park’s POV, I still felt at the end that I didn’t know her very well. I also didn’t like what I did know about her. I thought for a while I just wasn’t really connecting with her because I didn’t find her particularly relatable, but when her uncle came back to New Diego and tried to separate her from Glenn, all I could think was, “he’s right, I’m on his side!” And I really don’t think that’s what the author wanted. Beyond that, the side characters felt very one-dimensional, and characters like Wan Xu seemed to be entirely forgotten about for chapters on end. It didn’t feel like an ensemble cast, but I wasn’t even disappointed by not knowing more about the characters. No one was particularly likable to me and the interactions between any of them felt hollow and unconvincing. Again, Nguyen’s objective third person POV was the strongest as I actually believed Taban and Daley felt like real humans having real interactions; another reason I probably enjoyed those sections more.
The ending, like I said, really undid everything I had been enjoying about the book. I wanted to rate this higher when I was still toward the middle of the story, but the reveals at the end were so underwhelming and ultimately incredibly frustrating. I’d seen some reviews mentioning that the science was really off, but I was prepared to suspend my disbelief because I don’t have a very good grasp of quantum mechanics, however the insistant over-explaining Nguyen did in an attempt to prove she had done any research on the subject ended up actually making everything sound like complete nonsense. I don’t know if the science is at all accurate, and I was willing to simply accept that, but once she’d talked around and around it all a couple times I no longer felt as forgiving. Additionally, the secondary conflict introduced in the last several chapters felt really unnecessary and over the top. As it progressed, I felt that the characters — already shallow and flat to my eye — stopped behaving like real people altogether. I couldn’t bring myself to care about any of it because it just didn’t seem like the sort of thing any actual human would do. And don’t get me started on the final fight scene; I couldn’t follow any of the action. The conclusion felt abrupt and jarring after the commotion leading up to it, and all I ended up with were questions with no answers.
There was a point early on where I almost DNF’d but it felt like a bit of a petty reason at the time. Nguyen’s description of Dryads really rubbed me the wrong way, though, and I truly couldn’t tell if it was meant to be a part of Park’s character and a symptom of the socialization in her world, or if it was really awful authorial bias slipping in. I wanted to give Nguyen the benefit of the doubt, but the off-hand comment made about dyslexia much later in the book made me seriously question. If I can’t tell what's meant to be a part of the world and the society that’s been created and what’s actually just something the author themselves thinks, I don’t think the author has done their job effectively. I kind of wish that I had DNF’d then.
Also, this book gave me a paper cut and frankly, it’s lucky I didn’t take off another half star for that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror and Confinement