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4.17 AVERAGE
4.17 AVERAGE
Oh I'm so glad I didn't stop after book two. This one is wonderful!
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Whew. This is probably one of the most thought-provoking books I have read in a long time. The thing I really liked about this and Planetfall is the complexity of the protagonists: they're not heroic, noble, proud, or anti-heroes. They are just very human. Maybe being a new parent myself, I empathise quite a bit with Anna's circumstances. It's quite a moody piece, and I thoroughly liked it - I quite liked the writing style too, there's a subtlety that means one can recognise aspects of the main characters without being hit over the head with them.
If you're looking for Another Epic Science Fiction story, you may be disappointed - while there are some of the expected trappings of contemporary sci-fi (conspiracy, society on the verge of collapse, space travel, shady AIs, cool gadgets, etc.), they never dominate and the focus is definitely on the characters.
I think this one is going to stay with me for a while, and I am really looking forward to reading Atlas Alone once it drops.
If you're looking for Another Epic Science Fiction story, you may be disappointed - while there are some of the expected trappings of contemporary sci-fi (conspiracy, society on the verge of collapse, space travel, shady AIs, cool gadgets, etc.), they never dominate and the focus is definitely on the characters.
I think this one is going to stay with me for a while, and I am really looking forward to reading Atlas Alone once it drops.
Anna Kubrin leaves behind her loving husband and infant daughter in order to paint on Mars. It's the opportunity of a lifetime, but when she arrives after a long arduous journey alone in her little spaceshuttle, little is what she hoped for or expected. Her new crewmembers react to her with surprising vehemence. She took along the wrong number of canvases. And when she finally fulfills a lifelong dream and sees the surface of Mars in person, it feels oddly anticlimactic.
As you probably already guessed just from these clues, let alone all the others that pile up (the calligraphy in Anna's own hand that warns her not to trust the base psychologist, feeling like she already knows the Mars crewmembers, a footprint on Mars where supposedly no human or AI has ever been, Anna's remarkably quick recovery from months in 0g, video messages from home that don't respond to things she said in her messages to them) Anna has been on Mars for about a month. SUPER DUPER spoilers from here on out.
Anna arrived on base, and shortly thereafter they all witnessed the nuclear war that broke out at the end of [b: After Atlas|28361265|After Atlas (Planetfall, #2)|Emma Newman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1456689269s/28361265.jpg|48430277], and then the secret base one of the antagonists built on Mars asked the base psychologist for a few last parts so they could finish their spaceship to leave the galaxy. To get the supplies without arousing suspicion, the psychologist wiped the last month or so of Anna and her crewmates' memories. Then the spaceship takes off, leaving the base psychologist trapped on the Mars base with the 5 people she mind-wiped and tricked.
It's a very cool set up, but I was very sure that Anna's memories had been wiped just from the backcover. Spending the majority of the book on her figuring this out wasn't that interesting to me. I wish she'd figured out that her mind had been screwed with halfway through or earlier, because as it was the denouement was what was I most interested in. How does it feel to be one of the last humans in the solar system, knowing that all your loved ones have died, you can never go back to Earth, and the few remaining humans (including someone you thought was a friend) have left you behind? What do you do then? But all of that is dealt with in about 12 pages: the crewmembers grieve, then decided to follow the other spaceships toward the planet colonized in [b: Planetfall|24237785|Planetfall (Planetfall, #1)|Emma Newman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1424627926s/24237785.jpg|43823353]. I don't particularly like that they are able to construct a spaceship capable of doing so within 2 years, with their limited materials (especially after the base psychologist stole important bits for the other spacecraft), and only 5-6 people working on it. Especially since it happens entirely off-page, in a time skip. I wanted to see them build that ship! Or for them to try but be ultimately unable to get offplanet. The first two books in the series were about those who left Earth in the first and second ships toward the new colony; it'd be cool for this one to be about those left behind.
The universe building for this series is fascinating. Earth has become what seems like a dystopia to me, but you can see how human society got to that point, and why many would accept it as reasonable. The inner lives of the characters always feel real. And I'm excited to see what happens next in the series.
Anna arrived on base, and shortly thereafter they all witnessed the nuclear war that broke out at the end of [b: After Atlas|28361265|After Atlas (Planetfall, #2)|Emma Newman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1456689269s/28361265.jpg|48430277], and then the secret base one of the antagonists built on Mars asked the base psychologist for a few last parts so they could finish their spaceship to leave the galaxy. To get the supplies without arousing suspicion, the psychologist wiped the last month or so of Anna and her crewmates' memories. Then the spaceship takes off, leaving the base psychologist trapped on the Mars base with the 5 people she mind-wiped and tricked.
It's a very cool set up, but I was very sure that Anna's memories had been wiped just from the backcover. Spending the majority of the book on her figuring this out wasn't that interesting to me. I wish she'd figured out that her mind had been screwed with halfway through or earlier, because as it was the denouement was what was I most interested in. How does it feel to be one of the last humans in the solar system, knowing that all your loved ones have died, you can never go back to Earth, and the few remaining humans (including someone you thought was a friend) have left you behind? What do you do then? But all of that is dealt with in about 12 pages: the crewmembers grieve, then decided to follow the other spaceships toward the planet colonized in [b: Planetfall|24237785|Planetfall (Planetfall, #1)|Emma Newman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1424627926s/24237785.jpg|43823353]. I don't particularly like that they are able to construct a spaceship capable of doing so within 2 years, with their limited materials (especially after the base psychologist stole important bits for the other spacecraft), and only 5-6 people working on it. Especially since it happens entirely off-page, in a time skip. I wanted to see them build that ship! Or for them to try but be ultimately unable to get offplanet. The first two books in the series were about those who left Earth in the first and second ships toward the new colony; it'd be cool for this one to be about those left behind.
The universe building for this series is fascinating. Earth has become what seems like a dystopia to me, but you can see how human society got to that point, and why many would accept it as reasonable. The inner lives of the characters always feel real. And I'm excited to see what happens next in the series.
Wieder ein sehr ansprechendes Leseerlebnis ... wie bisher jede der Planetfall-Geschichten: Für sich allein stehend, komplexe Hauptfigur, spannende und intelligente Story.
This was really good, Emma Newman writes characters so well, she never hides from showing their flaws and this was just perfect. I also really loved the mystery aspect of this book, it really had me hooked. I also like how it ties into the other books esp a little bit at the end. Wonderful series and I'm a little mad at myself I left it so long to continue, I am excited to read the next book.