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bluejayreads's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This book definitely had an old-timey feel, what with all the flowery language, characters as drivers of plot as opposed to a person you're supposed to connect with, and the whole optimism about the future thing. The way everything shook out was extremely unsettling with strong cosmic horror vibes, made all the more horrifying by the fact that pretty much everyone in the book viewed it as an inevitability at worst, and at best the extremely positive ultimate achievement of the human race. It also left me with a nagging feeling that it didn't quite finish wrapping up. Sure, that's the end of the story, but I still have many questions. And it also feels like there's some sort of message or theme or moral or reflection on the nature or purpose of humanity that I haven't fully grasped but I'm not sure I particularly like. Perhaps the point is to make you think about the ideas rather than provide answers or express opinions about them, and admittedly some of the questions it raises are interesting. Mixed feelings overall towards this weird little book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Animal death and Death
Minor: Drug use and Alcohol
Cosmic horror, is mental body horror a thing?, child loss (not death, just taken away in a sense),lonelylooper's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping and Colonisation
Moderate: Grief and Death
Minor: Racial slurs, War, Suicide, and Infidelity
iono's review
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Genocide, Child death, Kidnapping, Confinement, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Racial slurs and Suicide
a_wren_that_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Genocide, Grief, and Death
Minor: Racism, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Abandonment, Pregnancy, and Misogyny
lukerik's review against another edition
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Beware googling before reading this book. There’s a fantastic reveal about a third of the way through that might be given away. I’ll not, but just to say that when you get to it your mind will toll as you realise that this is a book about the conflict and the brotherhood between science and religion. Here evolution and prophecy are identical. It’s so rich in allusion, so subtle in its detail, and so sweeping in its music. It was the first adult book I ever took down from my father’s bookshelf, and the one I’ve come back to more than any other over the years. It’s hard to really talk about it because it was the first book that really gave me freedom of thought and has probably made a part of me to some extent.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Kidnapping, Confinement, Racial slurs, Suicide, and Death
bookcaptivated's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Racial slurs, Infidelity, War, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death, and Racism
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