Reviews with content warning for Child death - Native Tongue

This was… okay, I guess? It’s a slow meander through a repressively patriarchal future that has enough world building holes to nag me and populated by rather flat, forced characters who seem to think they’re in a SF novel from the 1950s. The Láadan plot got distressingly little focus for something that’s nominally the thrust of the novel, while the Government Works subplot ended up feeling like farce (and I couldn’t tell if it was meant to, or if it was aiming for edgy and missing). In fact, I struggle to find anything positive to say beyond it had an intriguing premise and was distinctly female in its gaze (which made for an interesting affect given how classic SF the men all came across as).

The longer I reflect on it, the more I’m tempted to dock a star, so I better stop thinking about it!

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fiveredhens's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

definitely a product of second-wave white feminism which really imo... detracted from it... like more than once she says something like "women in this world are treated in the way that was once reserved for racial differences" and there was just no... questioning of that, at all
not really a book about linguistics so much as it is a book about people who speak multiple languages but that's just the purist in me whining
where it involved Linguistics, it leaned into weak sapir-whorf, which i just don't like
also rlly promoted the idea of the long-suffering but hard-working woman who simply cannot go on but does anyway? i wasn't sure if that was the perception of the author or the narrator though
would've liked a glimpse into how the world would have treated disability, gayness, transness, neurodivergence, etc but every woman in the novel was almost interchangeable with one another except in the degree of their linguistic and how irritating they were to men. they were all otherwise ""normal""
sometimes it went heavy on exposition
like most misogynistic dystopias it was pretty distressing to read, but in this one the distress came from the psychological abuse rather than the sexual abuse. i don't want to say it was a welcome change but it was approached well, imo. distressingly accurate. not something you should approach unless you're feeling up to it
in general the whole premise was really cool and geared to my interests though

Content Warnings

merricat_inthecastle's review against another edition

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challenging reflective medium-paced

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

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futuremsq's review

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dark inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

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holly_ey's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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