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gemoone's review
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
this_one_is_blue's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
In the second book of The Kitra Saga, the crew has settled into their roles aboard the Majera - Kitra has even dutifully donned her (very important) captain's hat. It's not merely an experiment or a one-off extra credit experience for Peter, Marta, and Fareedh. Along with Pinky, they are committed. Not only is the crew more solid in their footing, Majera gets an update! The ship gains some useful new features that fit right in with its atypical configuration.
The world is expanded on, with moments that explore timekeeping between planets that have different lengths of days and years, ways culture and faiths have developed across space, and how humanity changes itself and its surroundings to adapt to vastly different environments.
The eponymous Sirena is a wonderful addition to the group. She has a mission to accomplish, but still finds ways to enjoy her time. Once you get past her initial barriers, she is an effusive and vibrant woman who brings a whimsical air to the conversation. Since the rest of the people on Majera are all from the same planet, Vatan, it gives plenty of opportunity to see how an entirely different planet would have cultural differences, beyond the range found on Vatan.
This book shows another side of Pinky, some of which was present but more subtle in "Kitra". While he's still great at relieving the tension among the group, and makes goofy jokes, he also has some of his own issues come to the front.
"Sirena" explores the budding romance between Kitra and Fareedh in "Kitra", as well as handling Kitra's still complex feelings regarding her ex, Marta. (One thing I especially like in The Kitra Saga is how even when feelings get messy, characters still know how to respect boundaries. It makes for a much better romance reading experience!)
The useful but dangerous Jump is revisited, answering some questions and prompting more. It seems like it will be an ongoing mystery in the series, and one I look forward to seeing continued.
Another piece of tech is Sirena's hoverchair, this future's equivalent of a wheelchair. Like many mobility devices, hers has a few modifications and she uses it creatively, but it doesn't "magically" make her disability go away. She is still treated as an adult and is an incredibly competent individual - she isn't just royalty! But she has limits the others don't. A hovering device was the perfect way to go, so she can navigate the ship regardless of gravity levels, and it works as an all-terrain device when she's off the ship. My own disability rarely requires that I use a mobility device, but the similarities in how accomodations are treated meant that this was a pleasant way to read about a character getting to just... be part of an adventure, without their disability being either made into a token or having it be "fixed"/erased.
The ghost ship was spooky, echoing the eerie mystery of the abandoned city from "Kitra". Discoveries on the ship lead to a tense, fast-paced series of events that I don't want to spoil but had me forgetting to breathe.
The illustrations were fantastic, my personal favorites were the final picture and one that included Pinky in a spacesuit.
The world is expanded on, with moments that explore timekeeping between planets that have different lengths of days and years, ways culture and faiths have developed across space, and how humanity changes itself and its surroundings to adapt to vastly different environments.
The eponymous Sirena is a wonderful addition to the group. She has a mission to accomplish, but still finds ways to enjoy her time. Once you get past her initial barriers, she is an effusive and vibrant woman who brings a whimsical air to the conversation. Since the rest of the people on Majera are all from the same planet, Vatan, it gives plenty of opportunity to see how an entirely different planet would have cultural differences, beyond the range found on Vatan.
This book shows another side of Pinky, some of which was present but more subtle in "Kitra". While he's still great at relieving the tension among the group, and makes goofy jokes, he also has some of his own issues come to the front.
"Sirena" explores the budding romance between Kitra and Fareedh in "Kitra", as well as handling Kitra's still complex feelings regarding her ex, Marta. (One thing I especially like in The Kitra Saga is how even when feelings get messy, characters still know how to respect boundaries. It makes for a much better romance reading experience!)
The useful but dangerous Jump is revisited, answering some questions and prompting more. It seems like it will be an ongoing mystery in the series, and one I look forward to seeing continued.
Another piece of tech is Sirena's hoverchair, this future's equivalent of a wheelchair. Like many mobility devices, hers has a few modifications and she uses it creatively, but it doesn't "magically" make her disability go away. She is still treated as an adult and is an incredibly competent individual - she isn't just royalty! But she has limits the others don't. A hovering device was the perfect way to go, so she can navigate the ship regardless of gravity levels, and it works as an all-terrain device when she's off the ship. My own disability rarely requires that I use a mobility device, but the similarities in how accomodations are treated meant that this was a pleasant way to read about a character getting to just... be part of an adventure, without their disability being either made into a token or having it be "fixed"/erased.
The ghost ship was spooky, echoing the eerie mystery of the abandoned city from "Kitra". Discoveries on the ship lead to a tense, fast-paced series of events that I don't want to spoil but had me forgetting to breathe.
The illustrations were fantastic, my personal favorites were the final picture and one that included Pinky in a spacesuit.
racheleanne06's review
adventurous
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
4.0
When I was offered this book to review I jumped at the chance. The first book in the series Kitra (you can read my review here) was a thrilling, young adult science fiction novella, and I couldn’t wait to find out what the sequel had in store for us.
One of the things I did struggle with while reading Kitra was the character development. But in this book we got to know the team a lot better, and that really helped to pull the story together.
We also have the addition of a new character, the Princess of Atlántida, and the dynamics between the princess and the group were a lot of fun to witness. To make things even more awesome, she’s in a wheelchair (well, a flying space-age version of a wheelchair), and this just added another level to an already majorly diverse set of characters. Gideon represents different races, gender, backgrounds, religions and sexual orientations in his series. And now there’s this awesome, bad-ass wheelchair bound princess too.
I did find the book a little slow to start, but as soon as the crew embarked on their quest to find the Princess a new world, the story really found it’s feet.
The world building is fantastic, I love how Gideon explains the science as we go along, it really helps us to understand the world we are exploring. Their adventures were also really exciting to read, you didn’t know what was around the corner, and the stakes were so high in this book. As the description mentions; there’s 10,000 lives in the balance, and that made for some tense, but thrilling reading.
SUMMARY
Sirena is a cross-universe novella, full of high stakes, found family and fantastic puns. It’s perfect for fans of Becky Chambers and anyone wanting a quick read that’s packed full of character and adventure.
CAWPILE: 7.86
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