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s_p_a_r_k_s's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I'm not exaggerating when I say this is some of the best science fiction ever written. The worldbuilding is probably the best in sci-fi, bar none. There's mystery and political intrigue and space battles galore. And while both viewpoint characters in this book are straight white men, the rest of the cast is extremely diverse, and more diverse viewpoint characters are brought in as the series continues. Really, the only weakness is that the characters, while instantly lovable, are a little cliched in this installment. (Fortunately, the writers get better about this in future books, adding nuance and complexity to create some of my favorite characters in all of sci-fi.) Even so, it's easy to fall in love with the space family the main characters build, even as you're tearing through the pages to figure out what in the universe is going on -- and the answer to the mystery only makes things even crazier! Cannot recommend enough!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Blood, Cursing, Genocide, Hate crime, Murder, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Minor: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
While there's no racism, sexism, or homophobia, the story deals with the systemic oppression of people living in the Asteroid Belt (most of whom are people of color), with blunt parallels drawn to modern day racism and imperialism. The oppression can be graphic, and side characters express bigoted thoughts towards residents of the Belt with high frequency. As an action-adventure story set in a Solar System on the brink of war, there are frequent gun battles, as well as space battles between spaceships. Main characters die with little to no warning in these sequences. Usually these deaths aren't excessively gory, butstarn1ght's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Body horror and Death
Minor: Alcoholism
featherbrain's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Medical content, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug use, Police brutality, Rape, and Trafficking
iviarelle's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
2020
In hindsight, I like this book somewhat less than I did before. It's still a promising first entry to a series, no doubt, and there's a lot to be done with the intrigue and mysteries it sets up... but there are also a lot of little problems that add up to a much less enjoyable experience when I start looking a little deeper.
Maybe the best example of this is that the way the story treats rape is downright insensitive, to understate it vastly. At one point, Miller assumes that Julie must have been raped, because she suddenly starts taking a martial arts class, and gets really good at it quickly. The story never indicates in any way that he's wrong about this assumption; on the contrary, Miller's "hunches" are proven right time and time again. In Holden's case, at one point he thinks about how he's drunk and Naomi's drunk and he would hate himself in the morning for taking advantage but he should go for it, ask her to sleep with him. Later, their first sexual encounter begins while she's been drinking and he hasn't. The word rape isn't ever brought up in conjunction with this, possibly because the writers only viewed rape as a violent act by a stranger, as so many people (particularly, people who are under significantly less threat of being raped) do. Maybe she'd be okay with it in the morning (as she was in the latter instance) and maybe she wouldn't, but... the very fact that Holden's thoughts admit that sleeping with someone drunk would be "taking advantage" shows that at some level, he and the writers know it would be rape... and yet they do it later anyway, not just with no consequences, but with the actual reward of starting a relationship with her.
And I can't go without mentioning the extraordinarily shitty cops in the story. Miller more or less considers himself accountable only to his superiors, not any real sort of law. He has his own moral code and his own definition of justice and will carry those out no matter what orders he's been given or by whom. And the worst part is that, again, he's shown to be right to do so by the story. That's... not a good look.
It's a little frustrating, because it was so recently that I first read this book, I feel like I should have looked a little closer all this time. I think the later books do less of this sort of thing? But I can no longer be sure, and that's frustrating to me.
=====
2017
This was a pretty good book. The science felt solid (except for the acceleration giving ships gravity thing, I never felt like that was quite as well explained as everything else, why should acceleration forward give gravity downward?), the characters were all given depth, none of the men were particularly rewarded for toxic masculinity. I could've done with a few more women in major, active roles in the narrative, especially who don't end up love interests, but it was generally enjoyable. When I want another hard science fiction fix, I'll likely turn to the next book in the series.
In hindsight, I like this book somewhat less than I did before. It's still a promising first entry to a series, no doubt, and there's a lot to be done with the intrigue and mysteries it sets up... but there are also a lot of little problems that add up to a much less enjoyable experience when I start looking a little deeper.
Maybe the best example of this is that the way the story treats rape is downright insensitive, to understate it vastly. At one point, Miller assumes that Julie must have been raped, because she suddenly starts taking a martial arts class, and gets really good at it quickly. The story never indicates in any way that he's wrong about this assumption; on the contrary, Miller's "hunches" are proven right time and time again. In Holden's case, at one point he thinks about how he's drunk and Naomi's drunk and he would hate himself in the morning for taking advantage but he should go for it, ask her to sleep with him. Later, their first sexual encounter begins while she's been drinking and he hasn't. The word rape isn't ever brought up in conjunction with this, possibly because the writers only viewed rape as a violent act by a stranger, as so many people (particularly, people who are under significantly less threat of being raped) do. Maybe she'd be okay with it in the morning (as she was in the latter instance) and maybe she wouldn't, but... the very fact that Holden's thoughts admit that sleeping with someone drunk would be "taking advantage" shows that at some level, he and the writers know it would be rape... and yet they do it later anyway, not just with no consequences, but with the actual reward of starting a relationship with her.
And I can't go without mentioning the extraordinarily shitty cops in the story. Miller more or less considers himself accountable only to his superiors, not any real sort of law. He has his own moral code and his own definition of justice and will carry those out no matter what orders he's been given or by whom. And the worst part is that, again, he's shown to be right to do so by the story. That's... not a good look.
It's a little frustrating, because it was so recently that I first read this book, I feel like I should have looked a little closer all this time. I think the later books do less of this sort of thing? But I can no longer be sure, and that's frustrating to me.
=====
2017
This was a pretty good book. The science felt solid (except for the acceleration giving ships gravity thing, I never felt like that was quite as well explained as everything else, why should acceleration forward give gravity downward?), the characters were all given depth, none of the men were particularly rewarded for toxic masculinity. I could've done with a few more women in major, active roles in the narrative, especially who don't end up love interests, but it was generally enjoyable. When I want another hard science fiction fix, I'll likely turn to the next book in the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Vomit, Violence, Police brutality, Mental illness, Gun violence, Confinement, and Death
Moderate: Grief and Medical content
Minor: Rape and Sexual assault
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