You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
funny
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
There were a lot of worldbuilding details given, but the setting as a whole just wasn't all that believable to me. In particular, in Chapter 2,
we see children being trained to work in the beast's heart. They are punished very harshly for making very minor mistakes, and several are allowed to die just because they didn't instinctively pick up what to do without being taught. This makes NO sense to me. It's a society with a one-child-per-family rule! Their mothers are right there watching them! You're telling me they're all so on board with societal norms that they'll let their own children die rather than give them basic instruction about how to survive in this environment? No! I don't believe it! Frankly, I think it's stupid. I won't be reading the rest of this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Blood
Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Sexism, Excrement
Minor: Suicide, Transphobia, Abortion
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
4.5 stars rounded up. This was so weird and I loved it.
It's true that very little truly original anymore and this book is the closest I've come in a long time to reading something I've never read before. It has a colony of people living inside a giant space monster, with all the gross worldbuilding of that one episode of The Magic School Bus where they go inside the kid and explore his intestines.
This book is not for pearl-clutchers. It doesn't shy away from weird topics. Like...if you want to give flowers to your girlfriend but you're a parasite living in a giant space whale, what are the flowers? The word sphincter appears several times. There are also lots of tentacles. It's both funny and dark, occasionally bordering slightly into the realm of space horror. Many of the topics and moments of the book are dark in theme, reflecting a harsh, unfair life of survival.
If you're looking for diversity, this book has it all. It's a queer-positive world with large poly families and complicated relationships. The author has written a matriarchal society with flipped gender inequality and cultural norms that are based on the echos of abandoned Earth's varied Black cultures.
I don't know who I would recommend this book to but I loved it. I'm on to Book Two now and can't wait to see what weird surprises this one has for me.
It's true that very little truly original anymore and this book is the closest I've come in a long time to reading something I've never read before. It has a colony of people living inside a giant space monster, with all the gross worldbuilding of that one episode of The Magic School Bus where they go inside the kid and explore his intestines.
This book is not for pearl-clutchers. It doesn't shy away from weird topics. Like...if you want to give flowers to your girlfriend but you're a parasite living in a giant space whale, what are the flowers? The word sphincter appears several times. There are also lots of tentacles. It's both funny and dark, occasionally bordering slightly into the realm of space horror. Many of the topics and moments of the book are dark in theme, reflecting a harsh, unfair life of survival.
If you're looking for diversity, this book has it all. It's a queer-positive world with large poly families and complicated relationships. The author has written a matriarchal society with flipped gender inequality and cultural norms that are based on the echos of abandoned Earth's varied Black cultures.
I don't know who I would recommend this book to but I loved it. I'm on to Book Two now and can't wait to see what weird surprises this one has for me.
two stars is harsh, as this book starts off strong and the worldbuilding is really good, but I am writing this review having just finished reading it, and the Frustration that the last hundred pages left me with is immense.
the good: love both their physical world, the scenes in the heart especially, having to time everything to their monster-home's heartbeat; I liked their family set up, though I absolutely did not figure out what all the roles were. And I liked Adalla generally, I think she had a good arc and a good journey.
the bad: the main character Seske. tbh all my problems with the book are rooted in her. I think she's aged ??? 11 to 13? that's how she reads. early scenes with her are 'don't spill anything on the sacred texts' 'OH NO' and then she is suddenly in charge of a huge population and she is Taking A Stand about issues she's just discovered and she's just wild and impulsive and awful. It worked when she was a spoiled child facing distant responsibility. It is so obnoxious when she has power, and keeps forgetting she has it, or suddenly makes Wise decisions because that's what the book needs. it's so all over the place. character's opinions and tone flip flop wildly to suit the story. It has the general YA problem of 'this plucky youngster is the first to notice society is Bad'. there are so many bizarre informative statements that come out of nowhere. and seske and adalla are pushed back into a romance for Some Reason,
so yeah, it's a real mix. I was vibing with it to start with but then it just completely fell apart as the plot kicked up and everything made less and less sense. A real tell-don't-show plot.
the good: love both their physical world, the scenes in the heart especially, having to time everything to their monster-home's heartbeat; I liked their family set up, though I absolutely did not figure out what all the roles were. And I liked Adalla generally, I think she had a good arc and a good journey.
the bad: the main character Seske. tbh all my problems with the book are rooted in her. I think she's aged ??? 11 to 13? that's how she reads. early scenes with her are 'don't spill anything on the sacred texts' 'OH NO' and then she is suddenly in charge of a huge population and she is Taking A Stand about issues she's just discovered and she's just wild and impulsive and awful. It worked when she was a spoiled child facing distant responsibility. It is so obnoxious when she has power, and keeps forgetting she has it, or suddenly makes Wise decisions because that's what the book needs. it's so all over the place. character's opinions and tone flip flop wildly to suit the story. It has the general YA problem of 'this plucky youngster is the first to notice society is Bad'. there are so many bizarre informative statements that come out of nowhere. and seske and adalla are pushed back into a romance for Some Reason,
Spoiler
and after BOTH other love interests CONVENIENTLY DIEso yeah, it's a real mix. I was vibing with it to start with but then it just completely fell apart as the plot kicked up and everything made less and less sense. A real tell-don't-show plot.
To be honest I almost DNFd this one. First couple of chapters were shallow and seemed forced, but at about the 1/4 mark it really took off and fleshed out. By the end I was hooked and it ripped at my heart. Definitely reading the sequel.
*3.5* This book has a really interesting premise. The world Nicky Drayden has created is so unique and weird and fun. The plot does lean a little too far into body-horror for me to love it, but that is a personal preference so if you do like that then I'd definitely recommend it. As far as the space opera, generation ship elements I am very on board and would love to read more about this world. The cast of characters is incredibly diverse and most are well-developed.
I love it when you pick up a book on a whim and it turns out to be nothing like you've ever read, and everything you (not so secretly) want in a novel. It's here! It's queer! It's in space and inside a beast and outside a beast and full of BEAST STUFF.
I just, I love this. It's Dune - with all the details and the politics and intrigue and worldbuilding - but they're INSIDE the beasties, only it's not a slog, and it's fun, and oh, I want to know more about the other beasts, but I'm also very ok if this is it. I'm so, so looking forward to what Drayden does in the future.
I just, I love this. It's Dune - with all the details and the politics and intrigue and worldbuilding - but they're INSIDE the beasties, only it's not a slog, and it's fun, and oh, I want to know more about the other beasts, but I'm also very ok if this is it. I'm so, so looking forward to what Drayden does in the future.
3.5 stars
I absolutely adore Nicky Drayden's books, each one so utterly unlike anything else (even other Nicky Drayden books). Escaping Exodus is no exception, a seething mass of tradition, technology, tentacles, and badass women doing their thing.
Carving out life (literally) on a space-travelling creature, Seske's people keep their matriarchal class system alive by clearly delineating family lines and everyone's places and tasks. When Seske is raised to the seat of power far before she was anticipating, she must not only lead her people, sort out her feelings for her beastworker best friend, navigate both the political scene and actual space, but also determine whether the long-standing traditions that she has been raised to uphold are harming not only her own people, but the very life they travel upon. Full of political maneuverings, space travel, Drayden's incredible knack for worldbuilding, and generations of female characters, Escaping Exodus crafts a space in the sci-fi scene as deftly as a beastworker crafts from bone or sinew.
I did feel that the pacing of this novel was ever so slightly off. It veered in a couple directions and then rapidly picked up speed in the final quarter, sending us tumbling toward a finish that felt a bit rushed. I would have liked more of a sense of where we ultimately ended up, and where the characters that I had come to care for were headed. The Prey of Gods is still my favorite Drayden novel, but Escaping Exodus is another example of excellent worldbuilding and character development, and I will continue to autobuy anything and everything Drayden publishes.
Also [vague spoiler below]
.
.
she is able to use the term "tentacle-cooch" effectively. If that doesn't convince you to read this book, I don't even know what we're doing here.
I absolutely adore Nicky Drayden's books, each one so utterly unlike anything else (even other Nicky Drayden books). Escaping Exodus is no exception, a seething mass of tradition, technology, tentacles, and badass women doing their thing.
Carving out life (literally) on a space-travelling creature, Seske's people keep their matriarchal class system alive by clearly delineating family lines and everyone's places and tasks. When Seske is raised to the seat of power far before she was anticipating, she must not only lead her people, sort out her feelings for her beastworker best friend, navigate both the political scene and actual space, but also determine whether the long-standing traditions that she has been raised to uphold are harming not only her own people, but the very life they travel upon. Full of political maneuverings, space travel, Drayden's incredible knack for worldbuilding, and generations of female characters, Escaping Exodus crafts a space in the sci-fi scene as deftly as a beastworker crafts from bone or sinew.
I did feel that the pacing of this novel was ever so slightly off. It veered in a couple directions and then rapidly picked up speed in the final quarter, sending us tumbling toward a finish that felt a bit rushed. I would have liked more of a sense of where we ultimately ended up, and where the characters that I had come to care for were headed. The Prey of Gods is still my favorite Drayden novel, but Escaping Exodus is another example of excellent worldbuilding and character development, and I will continue to autobuy anything and everything Drayden publishes.
Also [vague spoiler below]
.
.
she is able to use the term "tentacle-cooch" effectively. If that doesn't convince you to read this book, I don't even know what we're doing here.