Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - The Seep

Interesting premise, deeply lackluster execution. I really wanted to love this, the blurb had me sold, but it kind of let me down. This book would have benefitted so much from stronger worldbuilding - the impact of The Seep feels almost too abstract to achieve what the author wants it to. If you want weird post-apocalyptic fiction, you’d be better off with Jeff VanderMeer’s Borne or Dead Astronauts.

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talasterism's review against another edition

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challenging funny inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

"How have we never met before? they asked again and again, but what they were really saying was, How have I only just begun to love you?"

not much of a review per se, but this book was delightful, delightful. funny and smart and easy and breezy. I really loved Trina but mostly here are my favourite quotes:

it was funny - "Trina didnt know what kind of revolution she wanted; she had trouble deciding what to eat for breakfast" and beautful - "I'm still married to her memory" "No love to keep her tethered to a form or place" "Deeba was full of life, and Trina was courting death" "The image of light reflected over water. A profound, life-aletering kiss" but also deep - "Eistance is memory" "and forever was a long time, especially now that death was an opt-in procedure."

"Trina and Deeba enacted the same circular argument until it felt like they were actors in a play going through the same performance night after night, their words hollow, their crying choreographed." THEIR CRYING CHREOGRAPHED IS SO GOOD ACTUALLY.

also special egg: inert - gay - ennie - wordle - love

"They could cycle through together endlessly, learning how to love each other in different permutations of being, in something bigger and grander and stranger than pure romance. Love as a verb, an action, an adventure in knowing. But Trina just couldn’t hack it. She was old-fashioned that way. Simultaneously, this broke both of their hearts."

"She wanted to learn how to speak again, perhaps in another language, in a land far away from the wounds of her past. " "These were the things The Seep gave us, and what it took away. "

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dododenise's review

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challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This was so interesting and yet so confusing. I’m not entirely sure I even got all the themes right. But yet it was all very intriguing.
It was mainly about grief, but also toxic positivity, the flaws in absolute kindness.

The concept of the Seep was so interesting. I love a good dystopia/utopia, and this certainly intrigued me.

Nonetheless, I seemed to float above the story, barely ever really entering it. I think that was due to it’s odd pace. It made the book unique, but also a very different experience which I’m not sure how to judge.

Unfortunately I didn’t like the main character all that much. It wasn’t like I couldn’t sympathise with her, but I didn’t just float over the plot, but I also floated over her. I had a hard time entering her mind.

The last quarter of the story properly confused me. I think I kind of understood what was happening and somehow it made it all so much better. It was weird and abstract, and I loved that.

It was weird but I strangely liked it. And if anything, the main concept was really cool, which is the most important part in dystopia for me.

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