Reviews

Finna by Nino Cipri

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sumsi's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted 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

3.75

Finna is a fun, short read that tethers on the edge of being a genre milestone, similar to say Bladerunner. Unlike Bladerunner however, both characters and setting never get explored too deeply, and the story is somehow very predictable. I enjoyed the twist of it being about two recent exes, however

the ending spoiled the story's lesson for me

. Sometimes it is better to let go than to hold on to what makes us miserable. Finna is very pragmatic in that regard, and for that I like it a lot!

tommi's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious fast-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

4.0

rosieblatt's review against another edition

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fast-paced

4.5

l1ndz7's review against another edition

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3.75

This was a cute and unique novella. I wonder how similar this is to Grady Hendrix’s book, Horrorstör? Might be a good rec for this. I also kept thinking about the Fractured Fable series by Alix E. Harrow because of the inter-dimensional traveling they did with the device called Finna. Both good recs I think. I might check out Horrorstör next honestly.

I really liked that this book didn’t try to force the two MCs

who were saying and had broken up back together.

It was nice seeing them be content apart. A lot of the dialogue between them is just bickering and arguing and if this was any longer that might have driven me insane lol. The inter-dimensional travel was really cool too but i wish it was explored in more depth instead of exs bickering 🤣

I used to work in retail and so a lot of the commentary made about that resonated with me. Thank God I got out when I did because retail work is soul-sucking. Overall, a great read for Pride Month. It was utterly weird in the best kind of way

brassicarapa's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A

3.5

a book i really wished would trust its readers more, a lot of telling instead of showing which is weird considering it was originally a screenplay?

odin45mp's review against another edition

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3.0

This was a rough read for me. I didn't care about the main characters or their young adult relationship story. I also, at the time I read this, had never been inside an Ikea (finally visited one a week after I read this, go figure). Since part of the book takes place inside an Ikea with the serial number filed off, I lacked some of the context to fully grasp how well Cipri did at communicating the scope, size, and atmosphere of such stores. I did find the portal fantasy interesting, and the banality of corporate greed and bureaucracy fun enough to read about without getting angry. In the end this was okay but did not grab me like many of the other Hugo shortlist this year.

tharrington's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I very much enjoyed this book as an audiobook. Maybe this rating is too high but I would recommend it to some friends for sure. Is it deep and thought provoking? No. Is it a short and cute palate cleanser with some fun ideas? Maybe? The main character and her relationship seemed rather generic and not fleshed out, making her seem more annoying than lovable. I think I needed more of the characters’ backgrounds or interests or *something* for me care more about what happened to them. If the characters had spent any more of the book arguing with each other, I might not have finished it though.

Content Warnings