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imrereads's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This was an interesting concept, but it didn't quite hit the mark for me. I felt like it got a bit lost in itself, getting close to thr real gold again and again, but falling a bit short everytime.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Racism, Grief, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, and Alcoholism
bookbunnie's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-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
4.25
Read this book if you like your existential crises to be balanced out with sentient pamphlet humor, are interested in the unexpected downsides of a utopia, and are stubbornly holding steadfast to pain.
Don’t read this book if themes of grief are uninteresting to you, or you don’t like talking bears.
This is a quick read that made me cry and laugh in turns. I love the tempered optimism of an attainable utopia that still promises personal growth, of a benevolent creature that may know what’s technically best for us but might not always get it right. If speculative fiction is your thing, I would highly suggest this.
Don’t read this book if themes of grief are uninteresting to you, or you don’t like talking bears.
This is a quick read that made me cry and laugh in turns. I love the tempered optimism of an attainable utopia that still promises personal growth, of a benevolent creature that may know what’s technically best for us but might not always get it right. If speculative fiction is your thing, I would highly suggest this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism and Grief
Moderate: Cultural appropriation
Minor: Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual content
yavin_iv's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Grief, and Drug use
Moderate: Medical content, Cultural appropriation, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Transphobia
aimeecdo's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, and Drug use
dododenise's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This was so interesting and yet so confusing. I’m not entirely sure I even got all the themes right. But yet it was all very intriguing.
It was mainly about grief, but also toxic positivity, the flaws in absolute kindness.
The concept of the Seep was so interesting. I love a good dystopia/utopia, and this certainly intrigued me.
Nonetheless, I seemed to float above the story, barely ever really entering it. I think that was due to it’s odd pace. It made the book unique, but also a very different experience which I’m not sure how to judge.
Unfortunately I didn’t like the main character all that much. It wasn’t like I couldn’t sympathise with her, but I didn’t just float over the plot, but I also floated over her. I had a hard time entering her mind.
The last quarter of the story properly confused me. I think I kind of understood what was happening and somehow it made it all so much better. It was weird and abstract, and I loved that.
It was weird but I strangely liked it. And if anything, the main concept was really cool, which is the most important part in dystopia for me.
It was mainly about grief, but also toxic positivity, the flaws in absolute kindness.
The concept of the Seep was so interesting. I love a good dystopia/utopia, and this certainly intrigued me.
Nonetheless, I seemed to float above the story, barely ever really entering it. I think that was due to it’s odd pace. It made the book unique, but also a very different experience which I’m not sure how to judge.
Unfortunately I didn’t like the main character all that much. It wasn’t like I couldn’t sympathise with her, but I didn’t just float over the plot, but I also floated over her. I had a hard time entering her mind.
The last quarter of the story properly confused me. I think I kind of understood what was happening and somehow it made it all so much better. It was weird and abstract, and I loved that.
It was weird but I strangely liked it. And if anything, the main concept was really cool, which is the most important part in dystopia for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Grief, Alcohol, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Racism
abookishwasp's review against another edition
challenging
dark
inspiring
reflective
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Reading (listening) to this felt like a philosophical introspection on acid.
I believe it has a very original concept, in my opinion at least as I have never read or heard of anything like this before, though I guess Annihilation is as close of a comparison as i can make but still very different.
We essentially follow the story of Trina and her life after an alien invasion of a symbiote called the Seep that essentially fixes everything that is wrong with the world and creates a utopia. Trina's wife, Deeba, decides that she wants to start her life anew as a baby, erase all her bad experiences and memories and live a better life from the start. And in this book we follow Trina and how she deals with the grief of losing (in a sense) her wife, how she struggles to move on and accept the change that the Seep has made and longing for what once was.
It was a very short listen and I did struggle a bit to get into it in the beginning as I don't tend to read scifi, but i ended up enjoying it by the end. Mind you, I went into this with zero expectations and had very little idea what the book was about.
There is also a lot of queer and trans rep.
I believe it has a very original concept, in my opinion at least as I have never read or heard of anything like this before, though I guess Annihilation is as close of a comparison as i can make but still very different.
We essentially follow the story of Trina and her life after an alien invasion of a symbiote called the Seep that essentially fixes everything that is wrong with the world and creates a utopia. Trina's wife, Deeba, decides that she wants to start her life anew as a baby, erase all her bad experiences and memories and live a better life from the start. And in this book we follow Trina and how she deals with the grief of losing (in a sense) her wife, how she struggles to move on and accept the change that the Seep has made and longing for what once was.
It was a very short listen and I did struggle a bit to get into it in the beginning as I don't tend to read scifi, but i ended up enjoying it by the end. Mind you, I went into this with zero expectations and had very little idea what the book was about.
There is also a lot of queer and trans rep.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
mar's review
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
i... sad
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Drug use and Racism
ireadinbed's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-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
4.75
Honestly after the first pages I thought I'd hate this book. I don't usually like books with this kind of style, vibe, whatever you want to call it.
But for some reason I was really drawn in by Trina. In so many ways she feels alien to me, but also very very relatable.
I got very invested in all the little elements of this story. Nothing ever really feels explained, like a Miyazaki movie, but in the end it comes together.
I cried a lot reading this book.
I think I would have given it a five if I wasn't briefly worried about the eventual end the book came to. It did work out but I kinda thought it was turning into a dystopia at one point.
But for some reason I was really drawn in by Trina. In so many ways she feels alien to me, but also very very relatable.
I got very invested in all the little elements of this story. Nothing ever really feels explained, like a Miyazaki movie, but in the end it comes together.
I cried a lot reading this book.
I think I would have given it a five if I wasn't briefly worried about the eventual end the book came to. It did work out but I kinda thought it was turning into a dystopia at one point.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Body horror
Moderate: Cultural appropriation
vaniavela's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
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? No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Grief
Moderate: Death, Drug use, and Alcoholism
Minor: Transphobia
corvidaeus's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Grief, and Drug use
Moderate: Alcoholism and Sexual content