Scan barcode
zefrien's review against another edition
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
cee_ceon's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
sufferingbrooklynite's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
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
5.0
dtaylorbooks's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Hooked from the beginning.
THREADBARE is another book I found on YONDER, the next generation reading app from the WEBTOON and Wattpad family of apps, that I’m really glad is available outside of it because I need more of this kind of scifi in my life. I would also call it a slight dystopia, just from how the government’s kind of run, but scifi first and foremost.
I think the biggest draw here is Vick and her inner struggle. Like literally. She’s more machine than human, yet she retains enough of her humanity to really struggle with that new reality of herself. Never mind that she’s not supposed to be that level of aware. She’s sort of a prototype, which makes the ethics of it all the more interesting. It’s definitely a book about man and machines and are machines that look human ever actually machines. I love playing around with that kind of thing and sitting with that information. Where does human end and machine begin, if at all?
The dynamic between Vick and Kelly is wonderful, and the struggle the two of them have as they manage this very odd relationship they must navigate is something else to watch. Gripping and fascinating. I couldn’t look away. Plus there’s actually a fair amount of action in this book. It’s not just focusing on two characters, but how these two characters function in this world and in this ever-increasingly dangerous scenarios that they’re put in. I was never for a second bored, that’s for sure.
I love the world that Ire created and how familiar it still is while at the same time not being set on Earth for a good chunk of it. It’s a very relatable scifi story for me and it makes the genre more accessible. It’s low on jargon and high on incredible character development and plot, which is what I need. There’s enough of the world to root me in the story and give me context, but it’s not going on for pages with details on machine development or what the moon station looks like or anything.
This is book one and I’m itching to get my hands on the others. I want to see where these women take their intense and complicated relationship and especially how Vick navigates the world with VC1, her machine self, kind of riding shotgun the entire time. Forever fascinated. Truly.
5
traceuse's review
adventurous
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Gore, Medical trauma, and Rape
Minor: Gun violence and Homophobia
synth's review
3.0
Potential readers should be aware that his story contains a scene of rape towards the last third.
This book certainly has a number of things I didn't like:
- the rape scene, although not entirely badly written and (too) quickly exploring the victim's feelings, unfounded or justified, felt superfluous and unneeded in the grand scheme of things.We already know the rapist is a psychopath who gets off of torture and violation, and the victim already has enough rage against him and is already losing her grasp on her humanity ;
- each new revelation about the evil plot, who is behind it, why, and what they are doing, fall a little flat, and I'm not sure if it's because one can see them coming from quite far away or if it was more a problem with the writing (same thing withthe thread imagery which we're told over and over is about the main character's sanity turning out to be about the emotional block on her love );
- speaking of writing, I was not 100% sold on it, it is certainly not awful but it's too... utilitarian or... "military" too often to really be to my taste;
- the relationship between the main characters feels entirely too codependant to be healthy, and this is merely mentioned by someone who knows the risk it presents, and then promptly discarded by the writing with the main characters, especially the one who should know better, not caring and just doing it without trying to find a way to be healthy in that respect. I am hoping this gets explored and resolved in the next book.(Additionally, slightly related to that point, I was not comfortable with the concept of empaths being judged for their promiscuity (1) by the empath character, and (2) when this behavior is entirely the result of society imposing their desires on them.)
But I did like enough things to like the book:
- tbf, the emotions, including the burying and not recognizing of feelings by the main character (which at times could be too much but mostly felt realistic), feel really well written despite this too utilitarian technique of writing, which is to say, the book made me care for the characters;
- most characters (even secondary ones with varying degrees of success) are complex enough and relatable enough to get invested in them, obviously this goes especially for the two main characters, the "machine" moreso than the empath (who may be a bit too much fiercely caring loving too much of the time to be healthy and realistic, but still manages to be human and make mistakes). On that note, their dynamic is a bit too strong broody unemotional manly butch and weak effusive emotional feminine femme to my liking, but the emotional writing mentioned in the previous point doesn't really put it in relief often and generally makes it work, and this is somewhat a little counterbalanced by the manly one understanding she is not as unemotional as she thinks, and other plot points like the brain compatibility and thefact that she is only unemotional because there was a block on her ability to love anyone in any capacity including herself ;
- the pacing was well done, it was not even a consideration at any point;
- the use of the two POV for the two main characters, one per chapter, which is something that I find really hard to make work well, actually did here;
- even the big drama that makes them avoid each other for a while before they realize they can't live without each other is weaved into the story in a way that works, both as a consequence of and to advance the plot, and makes sense in the story, and the resolution is mostly believable and organic, even if it relies too much on the very Hollywood-like "we've been through hell so that my love for you could finally overcome my anger at you".
This book certainly has a number of things I didn't like:
- the rape scene, although not entirely badly written and (too) quickly exploring the victim's feelings, unfounded or justified, felt superfluous and unneeded in the grand scheme of things.
- each new revelation about the evil plot, who is behind it, why, and what they are doing, fall a little flat, and I'm not sure if it's because one can see them coming from quite far away or if it was more a problem with the writing (same thing with
- speaking of writing, I was not 100% sold on it, it is certainly not awful but it's too... utilitarian or... "military" too often to really be to my taste;
- the relationship between the main characters feels entirely too codependant to be healthy, and this is merely mentioned by someone who knows the risk it presents, and then promptly discarded by the writing with the main characters, especially the one who should know better, not caring and just doing it without trying to find a way to be healthy in that respect. I am hoping this gets explored and resolved in the next book.
But I did like enough things to like the book:
- tbf, the emotions, including the burying and not recognizing of feelings by the main character (which at times could be too much but mostly felt realistic), feel really well written despite this too utilitarian technique of writing, which is to say, the book made me care for the characters;
- most characters (even secondary ones with varying degrees of success) are complex enough and relatable enough to get invested in them, obviously this goes especially for the two main characters, the "machine" moreso than the empath (who may be a bit too much fiercely caring loving too much of the time to be healthy and realistic, but still manages to be human and make mistakes). On that note, their dynamic is a bit too strong broody unemotional manly butch and weak effusive emotional feminine femme to my liking, but the emotional writing mentioned in the previous point doesn't really put it in relief often and generally makes it work, and this is somewhat a little counterbalanced by the manly one understanding she is not as unemotional as she thinks, and other plot points like the brain compatibility and the
- the pacing was well done, it was not even a consideration at any point;
- the use of the two POV for the two main characters, one per chapter, which is something that I find really hard to make work well, actually did here;
- even the big drama that makes them avoid each other for a while before they realize they can't live without each other is weaved into the story in a way that works, both as a consequence of and to advance the plot, and makes sense in the story, and the resolution is mostly believable and organic, even if it relies too much on the very Hollywood-like "we've been through hell so that my love for you could finally overcome my anger at you".
More...