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hahanimation's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Little flavors of Doctor Who, Pathologic, and Hunger Games.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Gore, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Vomit, Grief, Trafficking, Torture, Suicide attempt, Genocide, and Alcohol
Minor: Cancer
albernikolauras's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Body horror
Moderate: Gore, Death of parent, Colonisation, Classism, Violence, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
bookcaptivated's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Child death, Pregnancy, and Murder
Moderate: Alcohol, Classism, Death, Sexual content, Sexism, Slavery, and Death of parent
Minor: Misogyny
laurareads87's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
The story follows two alternating POV characters: Seske, who is of the most privileged social class and next in line to inherit the throne, and Adalla, her friend and romantic interest who is a member of the lower beast-worker class (a skilled manual labourer). Their society has caught yet another of the space-dwelling creatures who they've learned to live inside of, and are in the process of extensively altering the insides of the creature and setting up their home (which they must do every so many years because, unsurprisingly, these animals don't live forever when they have thousands of humans inside). Of course, many things go wrong. The story is, at its heart, an exploration of rigidly unequal power relationships (of class as well as gender), extreme reproductive inequalities and restrictions (articulating important critiques of so-called 'population control'), and the possibilities of building meaningful relationships across difference. While I was several times very frustrated while reading by what to me was almost totally unbelievable naïveté on Seska's part -- like, how is it that you're just learning very basic information about how your society functions? -- I also feel like this is a valuable reflection of how privilege makes so many realities of a society harder to see + one must do the work of (un)learning to understand the injustices that one benefits from that are naturalized within a society. I'm looking forward to reading more from Nicky Drayden, including the sequel!
Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, Murder, Blood, Torture, Drug abuse, Slavery, and Gore
Moderate: Sexism
Minor: Racism
kennim's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
-Characters (Adalla, Doka, Sisterkin)
-Matriarchy (specifically that it wasn't perfect)
-Writing
-Concept
-Seske's arc (it feels like we got to see a villain origin story)
Cons:
-Sisterkin was done wrong
-Pacing was off in the ending
-Wheytt's fate
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, and Genocide
Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Drug use