Scan barcode
tigger89's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The most impressive non-spoilery thing the book accomplished was managing to keep the reader just slightly more clued-in than the main character is. It's tricky to keep that balance with the reveals, between the reader knowing everything too early and the main character essentially narrating every logical step. I also enjoyed the setting, particularly the aliens and their sufficiently-advanced-technology, and the way the characters were developed as the plot went on.
I will warn you that you're not going to like the main character. She's a real piece of work when we first meet her. I promise, she gets better. Much better. Ordinarily such massive transformations over the course of one book ring hollow, but due to the spoilers I actually believed it this time. I also want to say that, if you're anything like me, you're probably going to be wondering around the 15-20% mark if you can trust the author with what this book seems to be taking on. The answer is yes. Again avoiding spoilers, but the things that are making you raise your eyebrows are intentional and serve the plot.
My biggest point of contention with the book was with the ending. It was foreshadowed pretty early on, so it wasn't deus ex machina. It's fair enough, I guess. It just felt a little too convenient for my tastes. Like, the bow shouldn't have tied up so neatly, if that makes sense? But I'm not really mad at it.
Does the tiger die?
Graphic: Violence, Genocide, Bullying, Animal death, Death, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and War
pineapple_queen'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
Graphic: Sexism, Physical abuse, Bullying, Xenophobia, War, Violence, Suicide, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Grief, Death, Death of parent, and Child abuse
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, and Torture
the_lesbrarian's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Murder
Minor: Xenophobia, Gaslighting, Genocide, Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, War, Death of parent, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Torture
callmekt's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Spoilering my review because I want to talk about later plot developments.
<Spoiler> Overall, I liked the first half over the second. Kyr's slow realizations were much more interesting than the timey-whimey shenanigans of the second half.
<Spoiler>I am not big into stories where time travel is a major plot development. I think things start to go off the rails in Part 3 when Kyr gets to the Wisdom node on Chrysothemis and both Magnus and Avi conveniently show up. Without prior understanding of a Wisdom node's security measures, it felt a little farcicle.
<Spoiler>If Part 4 had been a longer segment, I would have DNF'd right there, but Tesh seemed to understand that would have been a stopping point for a lot of readers and brought back the main timeline to keep us going. I was worried that the last part would be another jump away from the original timeline of the first half, but it didn't. Thankfully.
<Spoiler>Part 5 had the most adventure and action. That made it fun and engaging, though I would have liked another moment between Kyr and Lisabel. I think they make a cute couple.
This book talks about sexual subjugation of women, and I was a little worried we would see a graphic rape scene. We did not. I am grateful that this is a book where sexual assault is a central talking point without being graphically depicted.
For readers like me who want to know exactly how a book handles/talks about sexual assault, here is a spoiled list of the mentions:
<Spoiler>
- Serious talk of Ursula, Kyr's sister, getting raped by Aulus Jole. This includes Kyr's thoughts going from "Jole hurt my sister" to "Jole raped my sister." This is brought up a lot.
- Allusions to the women assigned to Nursery at Gaea Station being raped regularly, and this rape bears children. Not mentioned as often as the first point but still often.
- One of Kyr's friends, newly assigned to Nursery, is led away by a superior officer in front of Kyr, who does not try to stop it.
- Jole kisses Kyr without consent. He also touches her hand and arm and shoulder. Clothes are on throughout the exchange and Kyr gets herself out of it.
- A single mention of Kyr realizing female fetuses are aborted so the majority of births on the station are male. This is only ever mentioned explicitly once.
Graphic: Sexism, Genocide, Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, War, and Rape
Moderate: Torture, Suicide, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, and Gun violence
zoenelson'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
4.75
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, War, Xenophobia, Rape, and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Homophobia, Death of parent, Death, and Lesbophobia
hailstorm3812's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death, Violence, War, Suicide, Genocide, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Homophobia, Death of parent, Torture, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Misogyny, and Kidnapping
Minor: Ableism, Outing, Bullying, Abortion, Rape, and Pregnancy
rsb12'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
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Abortion, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Minor: Genocide, Murder, Alcohol, Death of parent, and War
bookishwondergoth'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
4.75
Graphic: Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, War, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Rape, Murder, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, and Pedophilia
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Gun violence, and Death of parent
Minor: Blood
literaryintersections'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
Y’all get this book. It’s queer. It’s a SPACE OPERA. It’s violent. Some of the best sci fi I’ve read recently. What are you waiting for????
A few things - I think this book does an amazing job of worldbuilding. You are immediately dropped into an Earth type world but have no clue what is going on. And then you are just along for the ride as Tesh slowly feeds you bit after bit about what happened to Earth, who the aliens are, who the villains are. The twists and turns took me by complete surprise. I can't say more without spoiling but that first shift in the story I literally just put the book down and stared into space.
Now I loved Kyr. She is truly a horrible character in the beginning because she is brainwashed. BUT, as she learns, as she explores other people and experiences, as she starts to break away from being a cold robot, she becomes so much more. And she gets challenged in her shitty ways. I think Tesh did a great job of giving us a rough character who we ultimately know is terrible and has other characters tell her that she is terrible. It's not just shitty for the sake of shitty. And I loved Cleo. She was prob my favorite character in the entire book besides Yiso.
There's been a lot of talk about the whole hair part at the end. As a Black person, it didn't bother me. Does it make sense? No. But it didn't take away from the story for me.
It is also important to note that this is sometimes billed as a "sapphic space opera" and imo that is not correct. Queer? 100%. Sapphic? Not 100% clear. There is an inkling of sapphic romance. There is very much queer relationships. But it is not a romance book. Nor does it even have strong romantic elements.
Overall I fucking loved this.
Graphic: Child death, Genocide, Death of parent, and Death
Moderate: Violence and Sexual violence
Minor: Sexual harassment
mo345's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: War, Xenophobia, Blood, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexism, Suicide, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Rape and Grief
Minor: Medical content, Cursing, Alcohol, and Abortion
The xenophobia tag refers to opinions some characters in the book have about aliens.