Reviews

Terra Nullius by Claire G. Coleman

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lucia5678's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

I hated this book, it was so boring and i would never have ever picked this out to read, but i had to for school. the sentances are long and wordy which make it difficult to read. Also i hate reading about Aboriginal stuff because we do it so fucking much at school its annoying i get the point my ansestors were bad to them and i wont be the same now shut up.

gigireadswithkiki's review

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challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Although the story begins by being pretty heavy handed with its critiques on colonization, as the plot progresses and the science fiction elements begin to reveal themselves, its clear that this story is not what it appears to be. A eerie disquiet permeates the story, creating an aura of suspense that seeps into the characters and setting of the book, all the way until its unsettling, open-ended conclusion. The multiple POVs, switching within the chapters, served to add further mystery to how the current landscape became divided between Natives and Settlers, showing perspectives from both sides of the invasion, drawing from real historical examples from the colonization of the Australian Indigenous populations. I won't give too much away, but the sci-fi worldbuilding in the story was quite original and immensely intriguing, drawing on the likes of H. G. Well's "War of the Worlds" and adding its own spin.

In conjunction with a compelling storyline and interesting worldbuilding, one of my favorite parts is the end, where author Claire G. Coleman inserts an author's note and Q&A that gives readers insights & further reading on the subjugation of the Aboriginal Australian peoples, prominently highlighting that the colonizing powers didn't move to make slavery illegal until the 1960s. This book has definitely piqued my interest to learn more about the struggles of the Indigenous population in Australia and I'll be adding some of those books to my reading list for sure!

The only small criticism I have is how none of the characters really have any substantiative character development, the story reading more like a slice-of-life than a sci-fi adventure that is usually associated with the genre. However! I fully acknowledge that this is most likely due to Western sci-fi stories being more saturated in the media, and that this form of storytelling, though unexpected on my part, was still enjoyable.

fastasashark's review

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2.0

2.75/5 stars

This was a hard book to rate for me. I was excited to read it and really wanted to enjoy it more than I did. Its not that I actively disliked it so much that it was "just ok" for me. I think the main problem for me was that a lot of the book felt limited to very repetitive internal dialogues. It jumped a lot between characters, but it felt like those characters were constantly thinking and hammering home the same thoughts over and over again. I found it made it hard for me to focus or get into the story because it made it feel like not much was happening beyond the repetition of the same thoughts for each character.

I do respect what the author was trying to do, but just the way the story was told didn't really engage me, I guess. But it seems lots of other folks liked it, which is great. I found once Grark entered the story, things started to pick up a bit imo. And I did think the way the story lines concluded was one of its strengths.

I liked the interview with the author at the end, and feel like I did learn things I hadn't known about Australian history (for example, I had no idea that slavery of Indigenous people didn't end until the 60s there...which both is...and isn't?...surprising given that genocide of Indigenous people is still happening in places like Canada, Australia etc.). I'm also going to check out some of the other books recommended in the interview.