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greystory's review
DNF 47% - I would rate what I read so far 4 stars, for what it's worth, but the overall feeling of being misled or bamboozled by the book as a whole would have ultimately dropped any rating to 3 max.
Sooo when I borrowed this book from my library, the blurb for it only mentions Destry's story and that it spans thousands of years. Nowhere is Misha or another major character mentioned like the Goodreads blurb so I was completely unprepared for the sudden time jump and announcement that the vast majority of all characters I'd come to know and was invested in were now dead.
Had I known that - had I seen the blurb here where it mentions a second story about Misha, I would have looked into it more. I would have tried to determine if these are two stories told at the same time or what, and discovered that they're told chronologically. Had I done all that, I would have decided to not read this book.
I feel like I'm starting a second book after the first book had only a mildly satisfying but too short ending. I get that the overall story for this book is meant to be about the planet and the very, very long-term repercussions of ecological decisions but I can't bring myself to give a shit. I'm not invested in the planet. The planet is a backdrop, an interesting place to build your story but not strong enough to be The Story itself. Even in the universe Newitz created, the planet Sask-E could have easily been replaced with any other planet in the system and the story would have felt the same.
It was the people, the characters, making the story special and that's what you spent half the book getting me invested in. I don't want to start over with a second story about new characters, and judging from the goodreads blurb mentioning a future child, I don't even trust that I wouldn't have this second set of characters ripped from me as well to have a third character story going at the end. No thank you.
ETA: I skimmed a lot of other reviews after I decided not to continue and I agree that the good vs bad distinction was pretty black and white, that the ecoconservatism was very heavy handed (although it didn't bother me as much), and a lot of stuff was cool in terms of world-building but storywise not necessarily nuanced.
Sooo when I borrowed this book from my library, the blurb for it only mentions Destry's story and that it spans thousands of years. Nowhere is Misha or another major character mentioned like the Goodreads blurb so I was completely unprepared for the sudden time jump and announcement that the vast majority of all characters I'd come to know and was invested in were now dead.
Had I known that - had I seen the blurb here where it mentions a second story about Misha, I would have looked into it more. I would have tried to determine if these are two stories told at the same time or what, and discovered that they're told chronologically. Had I done all that, I would have decided to not read this book.
I feel like I'm starting a second book after the first book had only a mildly satisfying but too short ending. I get that the overall story for this book is meant to be about the planet and the very, very long-term repercussions of ecological decisions but I can't bring myself to give a shit. I'm not invested in the planet. The planet is a backdrop, an interesting place to build your story but not strong enough to be The Story itself. Even in the universe Newitz created, the planet Sask-E could have easily been replaced with any other planet in the system and the story would have felt the same.
It was the people, the characters, making the story special and that's what you spent half the book getting me invested in. I don't want to start over with a second story about new characters, and judging from the goodreads blurb mentioning a future child, I don't even trust that I wouldn't have this second set of characters ripped from me as well to have a third character story going at the end. No thank you.
ETA: I skimmed a lot of other reviews after I decided not to continue and I agree that the good vs bad distinction was pretty black and white, that the ecoconservatism was very heavy handed (although it didn't bother me as much), and a lot of stuff was cool in terms of world-building but storywise not necessarily nuanced.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, War, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Animal death
schnaucl's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
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
4.5
This wasn't really what I was expecting. For some reason I was expecting a book about climate change (which is on me). Instead, this was a story about terraforming (...hence the title), colonialism, gentrification, class solidarity and the ravages of capitalism.
The most horrifying part to me was the constraints the corporations put on creatures with a low intelligence assessment except what a low rating really meant was that their brains were designed so that they physically couldn't verbalize other than what they were allowed. In the case of a mount, the limitation was polysyllabic words, in the case of a cook, it was anything not related to her job. They can still understand other words and concepts, but they couldn't verbalize them. It's discovered in the first book what the limitation does, and that it can be at least partially reversed and then it just...isn't? I get that it was possible because the mount was injured and in the course of treating him they were able to mitigate the limitation. But there's no real discussion about whether it might be possible to use the same technology even in the absence of a severe wound. The people with the artificial limiters can and do find ways around the limitation but it's exhausting.
I did like the concept of the minority getting one concession from the majority that the minority gets to specify when a vote is taken, although I feel like that only really works if there's agreement on why the minority is voting against the majority. And if everyone is operating in good faith, of course.
I did like the concept of the minority getting one concession from the majority that the minority gets to specify when a vote is taken, although I feel like that only really works if there's agreement on why the minority is voting against the majority. And if everyone is operating in good faith, of course.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Death, War, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Colonisation, and Gun violence
Moderate: Blood, Murder, Death of parent, and Animal death
alsoapples's review
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Slavery, Trafficking, War, Ableism, and Colonisation
Moderate: Death of parent and Murder
jodean's review
adventurous
dark
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Newitz has created both my dream world and my worst nightmare. A future of amazing bioengineering capabilities, of any creature being sentient (including public transit??). Also a capitalist hellscape future where most people are "slaved" to a corporation?
The writing style is the only thing I can't get past. It's not my thing. But the premises were interesting enough that I had to keep reading.
The writing style is the only thing I can't get past. It's not my thing. But the premises were interesting enough that I had to keep reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Xenophobia, and Police brutality
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
Minor: Violence and War
tigger89's review
adventurous
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I loved the grand scope of this book. Despite taking place over roughly 1,600 years, Newitz's choice to focus on three distinct, pivotal moments prevented the timeline from muddling together the way many long epics tend to. Each section of the book brought its own cast of characters — with a few crossovers — that still managed to feel loosely connected to each other through mentorship and family. In addition, the evolving maps(who saw that third one coming?) and subtly different narrative styles brought a different flavor to each of the three parts. If the idea of getting to know three different sets of characters in one novel seems daunting, perhaps think of it as reading three closely-connected novellas.
For the most part, I also found the characters to be a major strength. They do have a distinctly Becky Chambers vibe to them, though with variations on human and animal genomes rather than alien physiologies. This book has homo sapiens, neanderthal throwbacks, designer human genomes, robotic drones, sentient infrastructure, intelligent animals, collective beings, and many flavors of mechanical enhancement to biological bodies. The explorations of personhood were particularly intriguing, if horrifying when pushed to their inevitable conclusion under capitalism.
And yes, this is an extremely anti-capitalist book. In fact, if I'm going to point to anything as its flaw, it's probably related to that. Specifically, the two primary villains, the faces of the evil corporations, felt very one-dimensional to me. I'm someone who appreciates a nuanced villain. I see where Newitz did try to add some layers to the two of them, a cycle of revenge spanning hundreds of years, but ultimately it felt like their primary motivation to be evil was because they're part of a corporation, and didn't you know corporations are evil profit-suckers? I especially felt that the primary villain of the last section escalated from like 25% evil to 125% evil out of nowhere. I suppose it could have been a result of the 900-year time skip between sections two and three, in the sense that having so much time to stew might drive anyone to extremes. But there were other long-lived characters who didn't fall off the deep end while we weren't watching, so if that was Newitz's idea there(and I'm speculating, really), I think they needed to explore that contrast a little more in order to do those ladies justice.
This book has a number of LGBTQ(and probably some other letters that don't exist yet) characters, for those who are interested. Minor themes of chosen family might also be relevant to many readers. There are a few sexy scenes, skimmable if that's not your vibe. Nothing massively plot-relevant happens in them, just character development and curious physiology(I'm never going to look at a flower the same way again, there's knowing flowers are sexy and then there's knowing). All in all, I'd recommend the read. As I said before, parts of it feel cozy, but there's also a violence and sense of revolution to it that contrasts very nicely with the cozier parts. It also ends on a note that's undeniably hopeful, yet not saccharine.
For the most part, I also found the characters to be a major strength. They do have a distinctly Becky Chambers vibe to them, though with variations on human and animal genomes rather than alien physiologies. This book has homo sapiens, neanderthal throwbacks, designer human genomes, robotic drones, sentient infrastructure, intelligent animals, collective beings, and many flavors of mechanical enhancement to biological bodies. The explorations of personhood were particularly intriguing, if horrifying when pushed to their inevitable conclusion under capitalism.
And yes, this is an extremely anti-capitalist book. In fact, if I'm going to point to anything as its flaw, it's probably related to that. Specifically, the two primary villains, the faces of the evil corporations, felt very one-dimensional to me. I'm someone who appreciates a nuanced villain. I see where Newitz did try to add some layers to the two of them, a cycle of revenge spanning hundreds of years, but ultimately it felt like their primary motivation to be evil was because they're part of a corporation, and didn't you know corporations are evil profit-suckers? I especially felt that the primary villain of the last section escalated from like 25% evil to 125% evil out of nowhere. I suppose it could have been a result of the 900-year time skip between sections two and three, in the sense that having so much time to stew might drive anyone to extremes. But there were other long-lived characters who didn't fall off the deep end while we weren't watching, so if that was Newitz's idea there(and I'm speculating, really), I think they needed to explore that contrast a little more in order to do those ladies justice.
This book has a number of LGBTQ(and probably some other letters that don't exist yet) characters, for those who are interested. Minor themes of chosen family might also be relevant to many readers. There are a few sexy scenes, skimmable if that's not your vibe. Nothing massively plot-relevant happens in them, just character development and curious physiology(I'm never going to look at a flower the same way again, there's knowing flowers are sexy and then there's knowing). All in all, I'd recommend the read. As I said before, parts of it feel cozy, but there's also a violence and sense of revolution to it that contrasts very nicely with the cozier parts. It also ends on a note that's undeniably hopeful, yet not saccharine.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, War, and Murder
There's recurring themes of species-ism(non-human species being discriminated against) as well as intelligence-based discrimination. It's not quite racism and not quite ableism, respectively, but it's in the same ballpark.shinypurplepants's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
Vast in scope, this reminded me a bit of Gregory Maguire's <i>Wicked<\i> series with its arguments about what is good and what is a person.
The description does not do this book justice. This epic takes place on a planet across three "eras" where you get to see how earlier choices affect those that come next. There are dozens of named characters of various species with their own baggage and struggles. I would recommend this for readers that want a world to sink their teeth into.
There is a LOT of world-building that is glossed over in a "as you already know" manner that bothered me but I think would be satisfying to readers that prefer large scope narratives with lots of moving parts.
This was sold to me as a readalike to Becky Chambers and I would not agree with that.
The description does not do this book justice. This epic takes place on a planet across three "eras" where you get to see how earlier choices affect those that come next. There are dozens of named characters of various species with their own baggage and struggles. I would recommend this for readers that want a world to sink their teeth into.
There is a LOT of world-building that is glossed over in a "as you already know" manner that bothered me but I think would be satisfying to readers that prefer large scope narratives with lots of moving parts.
This was sold to me as a readalike to Becky Chambers and I would not agree with that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, and Slavery
Moderate: War, Death of parent, Death, and Xenophobia
dianna_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Police brutality, Slavery, and Violence
Moderate: War and Death of parent
steph_is_reading's review
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I found this book to be inventive but heavyhanded. It explores many themes, such as gender expression, the morality of resource consumption, colonialism, slavery, capitalism, and more. It's a lot, all while being at times quite silly. It made the book less immersive to me and more of a morality exercise. However, near the end I found myself to be surprisingly invested in the outcome, despite my initial reservations. It was worth a read to me, but I caution to approach it with an open mind.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Sexual content, Slavery, Colonisation, War, Xenophobia, Death, and Animal cruelty
meat_muffin's review
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
I am… torn. Was this book well-written? Yes. Was the author very skilled at condensing insanely complicated subjects down to comprehensible concepts? Also yes. But do I kind of feel like flinging myself (and humanity) into the sun after reading it? Also yes.
Listen. It’s a good book! But this has totally ruined my faith in the future of humanity. (They’re not wrong, though! I fully believe this whole thing could come true in a few thousand years. I just… hate that!)
Listen. It’s a good book! But this has totally ruined my faith in the future of humanity. (They’re not wrong, though! I fully believe this whole thing could come true in a few thousand years. I just… hate that!)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Classism, Deportation, and Slavery
Moderate: Trafficking, Animal cruelty, Cursing, War, Death of parent, and Xenophobia
Minor: Sexual content, Animal death, and Police brutality
mandkips's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
tense
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? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Animal death, and Slavery
Moderate: Classism, Sexual content, and Ableism
Minor: Death of parent and Violence