Scan barcode
readingsofaslinky's review
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Death, Blood, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Colonisation, Drug use, and Grief
Minor: Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, and Sexism
wellreadandhalfdead's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Classism, Pregnancy, and Sexism
goldenslug's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexism
ren_dragon's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Such a wild ride. I loved the creativity of the world building and the commentary on how humans have a habit of destroying the environments that sustain them. I also enjoyed the casual queerness and that is built into the society. The way that their families are structured in a way that both allows and encourages polyamory in a matriarchal society was very interesting. While I enjoyed it, I found it difficult to connect with the characters very deeply. I found them to be very childish and stupid much of the time. To be fair, they are younger teenagers (though it is unclear for me how old they actually are), but as a reader I found a lot of the characters actions to be frustrating and questionable. The plot was also a bit all over the place. There was a lot that happened and lots of different subplots. Because of this, I feel that some character development was sacrificed, leading to the second half of the book feeling like the characters matured super quickly with no traceable development. It also left the main romance feel rushed in the end. I feel like Adala forgave Sesca too easily and there was not a lot of reckoning with the things that she had done on Sesca’s part. Adala just kind of decided she was willing to risk getting hurt again. Sometimes it felt like there were time skips but I couldn’t tell how much time had passed, if any. Time was an amorphous thing in this book. That being said, the pacing felt fine and kept me reading more. also, alien integration?? This girl just got her period and then she fricken gives birth??? To a tentacle alien??? Why was that necessary?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism
Minor: Alcohol and Pregnancy
obviousthings's review against another edition
There were a lot of worldbuilding details given, but the setting as a whole just wasn't all that believable to me. In particular, in Chapter 2,
we see children being trained to work in the beast's heart. They are punished very harshly for making very minor mistakes, and several are allowed to die just because they didn't instinctively pick up what to do without being taught. This makes NO sense to me. It's a society with a one-child-per-family rule! Their mothers are right there watching them! You're telling me they're all so on board with societal norms that they'll let their own children die rather than give them basic instruction about how to survive in this environment? No! I don't believe it! Frankly, I think it's stupid. I won't be reading the rest of this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Gore
Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Excrement, and Sexism
Minor: Abortion, Transphobia, and Suicide
thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- 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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Animal death, Sexism, War, and Death
Moderate: Gaslighting
nessynoname's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Pregnancy, Classism, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Sexism, Xenophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and Grief
Minor: Racism, Vomit, Drug use, and Trafficking
Almost the entirety of this book takes place within a living organism, which the humans surgically exploit for their livelihood. Body systems/functions are explicitly described and manipulated often to the harm of the creature. If bodily description/body horror is not your thing you really need to sit this one out. Furthermore, there is a sequence later on that does intersect with the whole parasite/pregnancy/tentacles trope but its... not played for horror per se? Its supposed to be unsettling but its purpose in the plot is not harmful or disturbing to the character it happens to and they are fine after the situation is dealt with. The society that primarily features in the book is matriarchal and numerous characters including the main character until she gets character development, think of men as lesser. Class struggle, whether it be sexism against men, or the upperclass oppressing the working class are strong themes in this book. Additionally, the main character becomes engaged to a man and struggles with her fear of consummating that relationship, as she seems to have exclusive preference for women partners. This never culminates in any kind of sexual assault but the main characters anxiety about the pressure to be sexually involved with her fiance is a recurring topic.musebeliever's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
I really wanted to like this. I thought the system and culture surrounding the beast was fascinating and well thought. That aspect of the world-building truly fascinated me. I loved the writing and how well the two pov narration worked to build the story.
But reading this book was frustrating and heavy for me. That is pretty much a me thing. But the highly binary reverse sexism of the matriarchal system really brought me down. It leads to a lot of toxicity in family relations, physical and psychological abuse starting from the very first chapter. And I get that it makes sense relating to the world-building, but it made ut impossible for me to like the main character who is blinded by her own privilige and make sexist and transphobic remarks. It's definitely a me thing. I need to like the characters to push enjoy reading but that aspect hit too close to home for me to enjoy it.
They are a few plots holes in the second part but I think they may be addressed by book 2.
All in all a book with amazing creativity and world-building, but which is not suited for me.
But reading this book was frustrating and heavy for me. That is pretty much a me thing. But the highly binary reverse sexism of the matriarchal system really brought me down. It leads to a lot of toxicity in family relations, physical and psychological abuse starting from the very first chapter. And I get that it makes sense relating to the world-building, but it made ut impossible for me to like the main character who is blinded by her own privilige and make sexist and transphobic remarks. It's definitely a me thing. I need to like the characters to push enjoy reading but that aspect hit too close to home for me to enjoy it.
They are a few plots holes in the second part but I think they may be addressed by book 2.
All in all a book with amazing creativity and world-building, but which is not suited for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Transphobia, and Child abuse
bookcaptivated's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
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
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