Reviews

Dropping at 10%. I appreciate how accessible this was and how extremely fast-paced, but it was too much too fast for me and I couldn't keep up. I might want to give this a second try in a couple of years.

frasersimons's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

3.5

This went by much more fast than I thought it would. Though the scope of the plot was myopic and straight-forward, the interiority of the anxiety ridden main character did a good job of keeping and ramping up tension. The parts where it was contrived felt alright to me as well, since it’s from her perspective, which is clearly altered due to her health. As someone now medicated for their own anxiety, if you expect people to think and act rationally, or interpret, to some degree, what others are doing, rationally, that’s not how it works. It’s one of the reasons why simply pointing out solutions or the problems themselves tends to be highly ineffective.

It was easy to feel for the MC and the world building was interesting, but not new. I probably would have liked this even more had I read it closer to release, since now the ideas behind the sustainability and in general, technologically, feel fairly old hat.

Very curious as to where the series goes from here. Originally picked it up because the sequel is an often labelled as cyberpunk, and I have an ongoing interest and project, where I read through a lot of that subgenre. (Even if quite a few books shelved as such end up not actually being so.)

being_b's review against another edition

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4.0

Like many other reviewers, I was delighted by the excellent portrayal of a mentally ill protagonist (anxiety! OCD!) and pleased to have a queer protagonist. The novel reminded me of [b: Crime and Punishment|7144|Crime and Punishment|Fyodor Dostoyevsky|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1382846449s/7144.jpg|3393917]: It explores how a terrible secret can warp a person and eventually an entire community, and the awful winding tension it causes in Ren's internal life as it fractures her relationships to others.

This brings us to the SFnal elements. The worldbuilding for the Earth they left behind was excellent, detailed yet lying lightly on the story rather than weighting it down with infodumpery. Unfortunately, the worldbuilding for their new planet was absolutely sparse. I think this may have been an intentional choice meant to further illustrate the isolating effect of secrets, and how the great lie at the foundation of the colony has prevented them from becoming truly part of their new world. Since the SFnal elements are primarily in the setting, however, this has the effect of divorcing the genre elements from the plot:

Spoiler

The heart of the story could easily have been told without traveling to another planet.

The ending was disappointing:

Spoiler

Ren's struggles are swept away by God's city, which seems to magically "cure" her mental illness. There's no real hint as to why Ren was able to see what the enigmatic Suh couldn't. Ren's discovery, "cure," and ascension feel tacked-on, like the author had written themselves into a corner- after a story so focused on Ren's interior life and her struggles relating to others, it felt really cheap to have an ending that takes her away from everyone else and uses an unknown mechanism to "fix" her.

Still, the first 90% of the book was fantastic.

emmaloho's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

this book never fails to absolutely crush me. the building of the plot with both past memory and present mental illness is so well done, and the ending is incredible. both times I've read it now the kick off to the climax had me breathless, shoulders locked, jaw hung open, nauseated. the scifi world building is in my opinion masterful, both the human tech to the alien gods city. anyone who enjoys scifi should read this book

Content Warnings

ericmcdaniel's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective 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

3.75

geekwayne's review against another edition

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4.0

‘Planetfall’ by Emma Newman was the July pick for my online book club.

Renata Ghali followed Lee Suh-Mi into space, but that was 22 years ago and Suh is gone and Ren is one of the few holding on to the lie behind the disappearance. When Suh’s son shows up from the other landing site on the planet, Ren fights to keep her secrets, but the past is coming unraveled.

Ren is an interesting main character who suffers from some mental illness. It’s quite unlike a lot of characters I’ve read. The story seems to speed up towards the end, and I feel like there is a lot suddenly happening in the last 20 percent of the book, but I enjoyed reading it.

bookwormmuse's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense fast-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

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