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kimbeey13's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
rayofmcfreakinsunshine's review
adventurous
challenging
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
vandarpapi's review against another edition
2.0
Kelly Robson had the capacity to discuss several technical concepts, which served as the backbone for The Lucky Peach (as someone who is currently studying river engineering, I could be engrossed). Yet, she fell a little short on bringing her characters to light, as her descriptions on them felt somewhat rushed and unfurnished, which might have been of great importance for its development upon its pages. There is just little context about their origins, like they could have been appearing out of thin air to the whole story. I'm just as close to declare it be placed on my DNF shelf, but I'm glad that I still gave it a chance. Yes, it is short and more on the story driven side, but unfortunately, it did not fit well on my Sci-Fi palate.
2 ⭐️ (4/17/24)
2 ⭐️ (4/17/24)
rogoreads's review against another edition
2.0
This one had promise, but the pacing was off for me. The first half had a lot that was under-explained such as the economy, habs/hells, and what the whole point of the time traveling was; and a lot that was over-explained like the proposal process and scientific jargon while collecting river samples. Things got much more interesting in the last third of the book, when we finally got more thoughts on the implications of time travel, the generational divides between the characters, and how they actually could interact with past people. The ending was good but I wish more of the book had been like it, so it didn't feel so abrupt.
Some points that frustrated me:
-I don't really understand why Minh would ignore the health and safety officer, or even the fact that there would be people around that could be dangerous, until they almost killed her. Yes she didn't like Fabian, but for someone with so much experience, she should have thought more about the possible risks and taken more advice from the one person who had actually time traveled before.
-Her interactions with Kiki were frustrating, although Kiki did get a good rant in at the end calling her out. Here's where the hints at worldbuilding were interesting--what happened with the plague babies? What about the younger people now? What is it like growing up in a world like this? We had hints of that from Kiki but I wish it had gone deeper. The theme of a world ruined by an older generation, which lets things keep running into the ground, is one that definitely resonates today.
-Wouldn't it have also made more sense to have them go in with human-looking prostheses as an extra precaution? Two of them were running around looking like a half-octopus and a half-goat. I'd be pretty alarmed if they appeared in the present day like that. Why didn't they have to learn any anthropology?
-Probably the biggest issue, but what was the point of going back in time again? They spent a lot of time collecting samples and data, but then what? How was that going to help them save the environment in the present day?
Some points that frustrated me:
-I don't really understand why Minh would ignore the health and safety officer, or even the fact that there would be people around that could be dangerous, until they almost killed her. Yes she didn't like Fabian, but for someone with so much experience, she should have thought more about the possible risks and taken more advice from the one person who had actually time traveled before.
-Her interactions with Kiki were frustrating, although Kiki did get a good rant in at the end calling her out. Here's where the hints at worldbuilding were interesting--what happened with the plague babies? What about the younger people now? What is it like growing up in a world like this? We had hints of that from Kiki but I wish it had gone deeper. The theme of a world ruined by an older generation, which lets things keep running into the ground, is one that definitely resonates today.
-Wouldn't it have also made more sense to have them go in with human-looking prostheses as an extra precaution? Two of them were running around looking like a half-octopus and a half-goat. I'd be pretty alarmed if they appeared in the present day like that. Why didn't they have to learn any anthropology?
-Probably the biggest issue, but what was the point of going back in time again? They spent a lot of time collecting samples and data, but then what? How was that going to help them save the environment in the present day?
patchworkbunny's review against another edition
2.0
I liked the idea but too much was not well explained. Plus a third of this novella seems to be about the bid for the project. Is the author a project manager?
theangrystackrat's review
adventurous
challenging
tense
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? No
3.0
pallavi_sharma87's review against another edition
4.0
****4.5****
A time travel story in future year 2267. Protogonist Minh is an ecological remediator who’s hired to go back in time and study the ecology of ancient Mesopotamia in the hopes of restoring that region of the world in her own time.
There are Bankers who sponser money for these missions. There are adaptive surgeries to enhance ones physical/mental skills. When Minh takes up this time travel mission with a selected small team, little does she suspect that something might go wrong. Minh lives for Science and even though she knows about the politics that happen in these kind of project, she believes that it wont touch her.
But...
It took me a bit of time to get used to the plot as I read very less sci-fi. But I did get a hang of it and loved the story. Complex world buliding, the community building along with capitalism, time travel, all these were too good for me to stop reading it.
Wonderfully told, an excellant read :)
Happy Reading!
A time travel story in future year 2267. Protogonist Minh is an ecological remediator who’s hired to go back in time and study the ecology of ancient Mesopotamia in the hopes of restoring that region of the world in her own time.
There are Bankers who sponser money for these missions. There are adaptive surgeries to enhance ones physical/mental skills. When Minh takes up this time travel mission with a selected small team, little does she suspect that something might go wrong. Minh lives for Science and even though she knows about the politics that happen in these kind of project, she believes that it wont touch her.
But...
It took me a bit of time to get used to the plot as I read very less sci-fi. But I did get a hang of it and loved the story. Complex world buliding, the community building along with capitalism, time travel, all these were too good for me to stop reading it.
Wonderfully told, an excellant read :)
Happy Reading!
bethtabler's review against another edition
5.0
Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach is not a simple story. There is nothing subtle and simple about a middle-aged scientist with prosthesis octopus-like legs, time travel, ecological restoration, and culture dynamics. Nor is there anything subtle about a world in recovery that has been racked by climate change, species die off, and plague. The world Minh lives in is one that is complicated and nursing its wounds and trying to move on. It sounds like it is a depressing story full of tropes, coming off as a typical apocalyptic novel. But in Gods, Monsters and the Lucky Peach, it isn't like that. If anything, Robson has created a world that is recovering and in a lot of ways excelling. We are past the struggle for resources usually associated with apocalyptic novels. The descriptions of technology and how it is intertwined with life are marvelous, but humanity has changed past that. To me, there seemed to be an undercurrent of depression among the plague-babies (those that survived the plague), Minh's generation. This is in stark contrast to Kiki's generation, the fat-babies. The characterizations between the two cultures is relevant and interesting.
The story is told in three parts. The first, and most lengthy is setting up the world building and Minh's life as a world-class ecologist. Her job is to go out and do reclamation on natural habitats in an attempt to find balance again with nature. We meet Kiki, an administrator, and fat-baby - tall, healthy, and robust in personality. All she wants is Minh's approval and friendship. She goes out of her way to put herself in Minh's life, almost to an uncomfortable degree. Minh is a cantankerous older woman. Set in her ways and uncomfortable with how forthright Kiki is. A new proposal for a time travel project to ancient Mesopotamia has come up, a proposal that Minh wants badly. Kiki and Minh work to land the bid and enlarge her team with the addition of Hamid. He falls in the middle, personality-wise. The second part of the story is the actual expedition and ecological restoration work. It is fascinating how Robson handles this. She creates a stark dichotomy between the technology of the Lucky Peach(their ship) and ancient Mesopotamia. The third part of the story is what happens after the intial part of the cataloging is done, where cultures clash.
Robson has meticulously constructed a story that is rich and nuanced. Areas that are "old-hat" in science fiction, i.e., time travel, seem restrained and exciting instead of worn out. It is a rigorous story that asks a lot of the audience. Character dynamics, the heart of the story, are done in a way that you empathize with all sides involved. It is obvious why Robson won many awards for this story. This story cements her as a science fiction powerhouse and one to watch in the coming years.
The story is told in three parts. The first, and most lengthy is setting up the world building and Minh's life as a world-class ecologist. Her job is to go out and do reclamation on natural habitats in an attempt to find balance again with nature. We meet Kiki, an administrator, and fat-baby - tall, healthy, and robust in personality. All she wants is Minh's approval and friendship. She goes out of her way to put herself in Minh's life, almost to an uncomfortable degree. Minh is a cantankerous older woman. Set in her ways and uncomfortable with how forthright Kiki is. A new proposal for a time travel project to ancient Mesopotamia has come up, a proposal that Minh wants badly. Kiki and Minh work to land the bid and enlarge her team with the addition of Hamid. He falls in the middle, personality-wise. The second part of the story is the actual expedition and ecological restoration work. It is fascinating how Robson handles this. She creates a stark dichotomy between the technology of the Lucky Peach(their ship) and ancient Mesopotamia. The third part of the story is what happens after the intial part of the cataloging is done, where cultures clash.
Robson has meticulously constructed a story that is rich and nuanced. Areas that are "old-hat" in science fiction, i.e., time travel, seem restrained and exciting instead of worn out. It is a rigorous story that asks a lot of the audience. Character dynamics, the heart of the story, are done in a way that you empathize with all sides involved. It is obvious why Robson won many awards for this story. This story cements her as a science fiction powerhouse and one to watch in the coming years.
mrz_owenz's review against another edition
3.0
The world created in this novel could be really interesting but it wasn't quite built out enough or with enough clarity for me to really understand the world. Also, each chapter began with a short passage describing events that chronologically don't happen until nearly the end of the book. At first you don't really know that but as it becomes clear, it gets more confusing and I got more impatient to get to that event. Nonetheless, a fair amount of tension was built up but I found the ended anti-climatic. It just sort of fizzled out and left their fate in serious question. Perhaps I need closure too much but it just felt like the story stopped instead of ended.
renni's review
4.0
A post-apocalyptic time-travel ecological study with an older protagonist with tentacle prosthesis??? Sign me up! I loved this novella so much. The world-building is immaculate, I loved all the descriptions, and the little inklings of information about the world and how the world got to the point it is at with the majority of the human population living underground after some global catastrophe. Banks and capitalism are still around, and still suck! Don’t get me wrong, I love a good grant-writing, politicking drama to win a lucrative project, and it was essential to setting the stage, and introducing us to the world, but it just took me a while to get into the story, but once I was in I was in! I really hope the author will write more in this world, it’s got more stories to tell.