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emotional
hopeful
sad
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, War
Minor: Slavery, Islamophobia
adventurous
challenging
emotional
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:
Complicated
The time travel gets a bit wonky at the end. I really enjoyed the first half.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Blood, War
Minor: Torture, Vomit
funny
sad
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
had to sit with this one for a day before i could come up with a review.
i just had such a good time reading this. i went into it not knowing what to expect and thinking it was similar to the spanish tv show, but it's actually nothing like it and it really surprised me.
if you want a proper science fiction book, this is not for you. if you want a full on romance, this is not for you. if you want a super investing thriller, this is not for you. but if you want a mix of all three, you might like this one.
it was so sad but so beautiful in such a way that it didn't make me cry but it left me feeling empty after i was done with it. it was funny too, i laughed out loud a couple times and had to re-read the page over and over again to enjoy the joke even more. the writing is beautiful but sometimes it gets a bit hard to follow and it's like it tries to be poetic while trying to make a point and it ends up saying nothing.
it's just... human, i guess. from the beginning, it tells you how it's going to end but that doesn't make the ending any less surprising (especially the twist, i was NOT expecting that).
in any case, i hold them both (and the other expats) very close to my heart. it's been a wonderful read.
i just had such a good time reading this. i went into it not knowing what to expect and thinking it was similar to the spanish tv show, but it's actually nothing like it and it really surprised me.
if you want a proper science fiction book, this is not for you. if you want a full on romance, this is not for you. if you want a super investing thriller, this is not for you. but if you want a mix of all three, you might like this one.
it was so sad but so beautiful in such a way that it didn't make me cry but it left me feeling empty after i was done with it. it was funny too, i laughed out loud a couple times and had to re-read the page over and over again to enjoy the joke even more. the writing is beautiful but sometimes it gets a bit hard to follow and it's like it tries to be poetic while trying to make a point and it ends up saying nothing.
it's just... human, i guess. from the beginning, it tells you how it's going to end but that doesn't make the ending any less surprising (especially the twist, i was NOT expecting that).
in any case, i hold them both (and the other expats) very close to my heart. it's been a wonderful read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Cannibalism
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The writing felt a bit uneven—clever words dropped randomly into otherwise simple prose.
Loved the concept and appreciated the genre-blending (sci-fi, romance, spy thriller), but it didn't go deep enough into any of them for me.
It had the potential to be funny but the jokes didn't land.
There was a lot going on—climate change, identity, time travel—but it lost focus. The main character's reflections on her Cambodian-British heritage were interesting, just got a bit buried under everything else.
A decent debut, but sadly just ⭐⭐/5 from me.
Loved the concept and appreciated the genre-blending (sci-fi, romance, spy thriller), but it didn't go deep enough into any of them for me.
It had the potential to be funny but the jokes didn't land.
There was a lot going on—climate change, identity, time travel—but it lost focus. The main character's reflections on her Cambodian-British heritage were interesting, just got a bit buried under everything else.
A decent debut, but sadly just ⭐⭐/5 from me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Cannibalism
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder
Moderate: Gun violence, Racism, Xenophobia
Minor: Cannibalism
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
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:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Body horror, Torture, Cannibalism, Colonisation
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Sexual content, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug use, Blood, Colonisation, Classism
Minor: Cannibalism
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The first 3/4 of this book is enjoyable, with mystery, a bit of romance, and clever writing. But I got a bit lost in the last 1/4 trying to keep track of all of the characters and who works for whom.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Drug use
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Emotionally taut and fraught with detached idealization. This book complicates literary sci fi* with a confused sense of identity, as our MC is mixed race and mixed in personal loyalties. I found our MC insufferable and romantically self-absorbed, meanwhile falling in love with every character she did as viewed through her experiences: Graham, Maggie, and Arthur. I grinned at Maggie's vernacular ("malodorous expression"), giggled at Graham's sedate charm, and sighed over Arthur's sweet and earnest disposition (and his reference to Wilfred Owen, so offhand). There's also a tragedy in how every character and plot still serves colonialism and narrowmindedness. I'm not sure any of our characters with agency were blameless or unvictimized, whether they had self serving or ostensibly more noble aims.
The prose is also studded with vivid and unique description that caught in my throat and made the characters and world feel embodied:
"put cold things in their mouths and the cold walked around their stomachs"
"put her thoughts out to dry [on the shrine]"
"holding me in his arms, the way poems hold clauses"
*This novel is literary first, sci fi second, and as such does not place emphasis on the scientific workings or implications but rather on the inner experiences of the main character facing the strange circumstances. I judge it accordingly.
The prose is also studded with vivid and unique description that caught in my throat and made the characters and world feel embodied:
"put cold things in their mouths and the cold walked around their stomachs"
"put her thoughts out to dry [on the shrine]"
"holding me in his arms, the way poems hold clauses"
*This novel is literary first, sci fi second, and as such does not place emphasis on the scientific workings or implications but rather on the inner experiences of the main character facing the strange circumstances. I judge it accordingly.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Murder
Minor: Gore, Vomit