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laurareads87's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- 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
I've had Escaping Exodus on my 'to read' list for quite a while, so I was thrilled when it was chosen for the #Blackathon2022 readathon's Team SFF group book!
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!
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!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, Murder, Blood, Torture, Drug abuse, Slavery, and Gore
Moderate: Sexism
Minor: Racism
tonysipsandreads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This book says its a sci-fi/fantasy, but it's horror. A very dark horror. It's probably one of the most disturbing things I've read in a long time. I honestly can't put together a coherent sentence to describe how I feel about this book. Read at your own risk!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, and Violence
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