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graceless's review against another edition
5.0
Wow! What a book! Really confronting and uncomfortable look at the colonisation of Australia - from the perspective of those being invaded and those justifying their take over. Then there is a huge plot switch that I didn't see coming which turbo charges the whole story. The message isn't perfect, but it's sure to make you think. Really enjoyed and definitely recommend. Great choice for our Feb 2021 Book Club read!
rachhenderson's review against another edition
4.0
It's hard to write a review of this book without giving too much away so I'm going to keep this very vague.
The early part of the book put me in mind of an Australian [b:Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West|394535|Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West|Cormac McCarthy|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1453995760l/394535._SY75_.jpg|1065465]. The settler groups hunting Natives seemed very similar in personality to some of the characters in Blood Meridian, and there were occasional bursts of similarly horrendous violence. (Strangely I haven't found many other reviews that mention the violence. My tolerance is usually high, but this pushed me, so I'm surprised at the lack of comments from others).
I found Blood Meridian exceptionally boring. The first half of this book wasn't that bad, but it was still slow.
The second half went somewhere I wasn't expecting, and raised some interesting issues. The author's note mentioned that she was inspired by [b:Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies|1842|Guns, Germs, and Steel The Fates of Human Societies|Jared Diamond|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1453215833l/1842._SY75_.jpg|2138852] and I could definitely see that. She went a step further in clearly postulating that the reason Europeans came to have guns is because people and animals evolve and develop technology only to the degree required to live with their enemies/predators and never develop beyond the necessary. This was also stated in [b:Project Hail Mary|54493401|Project Hail Mary|Andy Weir|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1597695864l/54493401._SY75_.jpg|79106958], so it was interesting to read it twice in as many months. Project Hail Mary was published after Terra Nullius, so I wonder whether [a:Andy Weir|6540057|Andy Weir|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1382592903p2/6540057.jpg] had read it?
Anyway, clearly it gave me a lot to think about, and I do think it's very important work to highlight exactly how horrendous the British were to Australia's native population. But it was a little slow.
3.5 stars rounded up because of how important it is that we promote the work of indigenous authors.
The early part of the book put me in mind of an Australian [b:Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West|394535|Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West|Cormac McCarthy|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1453995760l/394535._SY75_.jpg|1065465]. The settler groups hunting Natives seemed very similar in personality to some of the characters in Blood Meridian, and there were occasional bursts of similarly horrendous violence. (Strangely I haven't found many other reviews that mention the violence. My tolerance is usually high, but this pushed me, so I'm surprised at the lack of comments from others).
I found Blood Meridian exceptionally boring. The first half of this book wasn't that bad, but it was still slow.
The second half went somewhere I wasn't expecting, and raised some interesting issues. The author's note mentioned that she was inspired by [b:Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies|1842|Guns, Germs, and Steel The Fates of Human Societies|Jared Diamond|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1453215833l/1842._SY75_.jpg|2138852] and I could definitely see that. She went a step further in clearly postulating that the reason Europeans came to have guns is because people and animals evolve and develop technology only to the degree required to live with their enemies/predators and never develop beyond the necessary. This was also stated in [b:Project Hail Mary|54493401|Project Hail Mary|Andy Weir|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1597695864l/54493401._SY75_.jpg|79106958], so it was interesting to read it twice in as many months. Project Hail Mary was published after Terra Nullius, so I wonder whether [a:Andy Weir|6540057|Andy Weir|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1382592903p2/6540057.jpg] had read it?
Anyway, clearly it gave me a lot to think about, and I do think it's very important work to highlight exactly how horrendous the British were to Australia's native population. But it was a little slow.
3.5 stars rounded up because of how important it is that we promote the work of indigenous authors.
haberkat's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
tense
slow-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? Yes
3.75
Well executed subversion of tropes, but sometimes belaboured the point rather than trusting the reader to understand.
obnorthrup's review against another edition
2.0
Works really hard to set up its twist, and overall it's an unsatisfying read. I don't think the sci-fi angle contributes much here.
pam_fuze's review against another edition
3.0
A good story, but I found it a bit too heavy handed on the analogy and would benefit from further editing.
pirrieweeks's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-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? No
4.0
jugglingpup's review against another edition
3.0
To see more reviews check out MI Book Reviews.
I came across this book on the website of one of the reading challenges I am doing this year. It is a wonderful challenge, I recommend it!
This book was one they recommended and it sounded like a book that would be perfect for me. I love dystopians. I remember taking Australian Studies in college and how awful my professor was (racist and homophobic). So I figured I would have some knowledge of what was going to happen since it sounded very much like what I remember of the history of Australia. This is all relevant, I swear.
The last line of the description says “This is not the Australia of our history”. On the back of the book it says “Do you recognize this story? Look again”. This is all well and good, but the story is literally a historical fiction for the first half of the book. The big twist makes is sci-fi, but it weakened the story for me. There was no need for the sci-fi twist. The atrocities were more painful and raw, more inhumane when humans were doing it. The parallels between history and this book were so on point that I would have preferred to just have this book be a historical fiction. It would have packed more of a punch that way. The way that the twist was written felt forced and it really made the story lack details for the first hundred pages. You can’t describe the settlers or what is really happening without giving it away, but not describing them was like having a flashing sign that this was the sci-fi twist.
The writing felt forced, flat, and unemotional. The characters didn’t really have any depth or emotions. Instead they were just surviving. That could have been amazing, but combined with the really weak twist it just dragged the book down further. I wanted to love this book and for the first hundred pages, I did. After that it just went further and further downhill. I was falling asleep in the book by the end.
Don’t get me wrong, this book has many beautiful passages and as a historical fiction would have been amazingly captivating. There was so much here that was great. There are just so many things that were good little details sprinkled in the story. There was the story about how the kangaroo saved one of the character’s lives. That was just a nice little detail that gave me hope that there would be more depth. Instead I was just left going “I don’t get it”. This story was powerful, until the twist.
So my recommendation is to read the first hundred pages. The first hundred pages were five stars. I loved the first hundred pages.
I came across this book on the website of one of the reading challenges I am doing this year. It is a wonderful challenge, I recommend it!
This book was one they recommended and it sounded like a book that would be perfect for me. I love dystopians. I remember taking Australian Studies in college and how awful my professor was (racist and homophobic). So I figured I would have some knowledge of what was going to happen since it sounded very much like what I remember of the history of Australia. This is all relevant, I swear.
The last line of the description says “This is not the Australia of our history”. On the back of the book it says “Do you recognize this story? Look again”. This is all well and good, but the story is literally a historical fiction for the first half of the book. The big twist makes is sci-fi, but it weakened the story for me. There was no need for the sci-fi twist. The atrocities were more painful and raw, more inhumane when humans were doing it. The parallels between history and this book were so on point that I would have preferred to just have this book be a historical fiction. It would have packed more of a punch that way. The way that the twist was written felt forced and it really made the story lack details for the first hundred pages. You can’t describe the settlers or what is really happening without giving it away, but not describing them was like having a flashing sign that this was the sci-fi twist.
The writing felt forced, flat, and unemotional. The characters didn’t really have any depth or emotions. Instead they were just surviving. That could have been amazing, but combined with the really weak twist it just dragged the book down further. I wanted to love this book and for the first hundred pages, I did. After that it just went further and further downhill. I was falling asleep in the book by the end.
Don’t get me wrong, this book has many beautiful passages and as a historical fiction would have been amazingly captivating. There was so much here that was great. There are just so many things that were good little details sprinkled in the story. There was the story about how the kangaroo saved one of the character’s lives. That was just a nice little detail that gave me hope that there would be more depth. Instead I was just left going “I don’t get it”. This story was powerful, until the twist.
So my recommendation is to read the first hundred pages. The first hundred pages were five stars. I loved the first hundred pages.
thebrashbookshelf's review against another edition
5.0
Claire G. Coleman is a new favourite author after listening to this book. As a white Australian this book took me on such a moving journey of the experiences of our First Nations people. This book is filled with so much horrifying truth that it took me until half way through to realise why I found it in the fantasy/sci-fi section. The characters were so vivid and real that a really felt everything they went through.
Absolutely 10 out of 10 stars, and I will be looking for more of Claire's books.
Absolutely 10 out of 10 stars, and I will be looking for more of Claire's books.