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grumpkin's review against another edition
adventurous
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
3.75
soupynoodles's review against another edition
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
4.5
yeah that was good. Good handling of time “loops”/alternate realities that don’t get redundant: the characters development in each reality have a distinct impact on the next reality. Nothing felt thrown away at the end.
lavi23's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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
4.5
trintonofthesea's review against another edition
3.0
My experience with this book was complex - I liked it, and there was definitely some interesting and unexpected directions explored in the narrative that I loved, but I also was left wanting more from a lot of threads that seemed to be dropped early. While I couldn’t see any indication right now that this is the start of a series, the story had the vibe of something that would have been best positioned as the start of a trilogy or a series in the same universe with different characters.
The protagonist definitely is fairly unlikeable through the first third of the book and while they grow a lot and I came to root for them, there were some choices made on how the character would grow that felt like short cuts and left me uncertain on how satisfying the overall arc of their story was for me. I would recommend this book to others, particularly if you enjoy exploring fascism, dystopia, and characters breaking through indoctrination, but be prepared for some story beats being left behind as the narrative begins to rush towards a conclusion in the final third of the book.
The protagonist definitely is fairly unlikeable through the first third of the book and while they grow a lot and I came to root for them, there were some choices made on how the character would grow that felt like short cuts and left me uncertain on how satisfying the overall arc of their story was for me. I would recommend this book to others, particularly if you enjoy exploring fascism, dystopia, and characters breaking through indoctrination, but be prepared for some story beats being left behind as the narrative begins to rush towards a conclusion in the final third of the book.
violvioletvine's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Am I the target audience for this book? No, so take this review with a grain of salt. However, I, personally, could not stand Kyr and thus struggled to ever invest myself in this book. Also, it felt like we were only ever *told* of the bad things that were happening until, like, 80% through the book, which is always my favorite trope in writing /sarcastic.
Additionally, a lot of the “diversity characters” felt like they were only ever given one moment to be ~diverse~. i.e. the only Black character gets one paragraph to talk about racism about two thirds through the book.
Additionally, a lot of the “diversity characters” felt like they were only ever given one moment to be ~diverse~. i.e. the only Black character gets one paragraph to talk about racism about two thirds through the book.
mdegge's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
bethmitcham's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
any_direction's review against another edition
4.0
This book found me at the right time. I used to read a lot of distopian literature, I didn’t mind dark plot lines or tragic meaningful endings. When the pandemic hit, I stopped being able to read them, and started to feel that reading about suffering for the sake of reading about suffering was not great. This book could have killed off all its characters and it’s point would have been made, but Tesh killed none of them and I’m ecstatic!
I don’t know if this is a critique or a compliment, but Tesh's use of the Wisdom is wild. I long ago read an interview with an author. The characters in his book had a physical book of rules that helped guide their magic. In the interview the author said that he purposely did not spell out every rule in the book because it left a way for his characters to get out of tight spots. I’ve since labeled this writing technique ‘the wild card’ (let me know if it has a real name). To work the wild card must be established (distinguishing it from a deus ex machina) and not overused. Tesh has created the ultimate wild card for this book. A reality-bending, sentient force gives Tesh the ability to have implausible things happen in this story. It’s almost too convenient, but also I’m just so happy that no one died that I’m not sure I care.
My main problem with this book was how difficult it was to visualize. I am very bad at visualization. It really has to be spelled out for me to get it to work. Often, my brain skips the visualization entirely and just keeps going. Here though I would read a couple sentences, and then suddenly the action didn’t quite fit with the location. It was disorienting, but I don’t know if that is a reflection of Tesh’s writing lacking or my brain lacking.
Criticisms out of the way now I just get to be happy. I don’t think I’m alone in saying that the quality of what gets published has gone down. Recently I’ve read a couple of very long books that seem like they could have been better with a few more passes from beta readers and editors. On the other hand if I’m not reading trash, I’m reading stuff that’s artsy or capital L literature. I love these books, but they take more effort to read, and I can’t do that all the time. This book felt balanced; it was neither bad or hard and it felt good to read something like that. I don’t mind a book with lots of modern slang, but a book doesn’t need that to be readable or relatable.
This book had just enough terrible things happening to the characters. The characters in this book suffer a lot but the author is less interested in the actual terror and more interested in the effects it has on people. This book has some awful things happen, but I wasn’t cringing or revealing in it. Trauma's real, we need to write about it in fiction, and this felt close to how it should be done.
A lot of critiques of this book are frustrated with Kyr as a narrator, and I get it, but I thought it was well-done. Being in Kyr’s head is ride. It’s terrible, and it’s supposed to be. There were times that I hated Kyr, there was never a time that I didn’t understand her. You can really clearly see how Kyr changes and how the experiences she’s had previously shape those changes. It also felt very real. I truly was not able to understand any one else’s sexual identity until I understood my own, and seeing Kyr go through that same transition felt validating. Also, I’m claiming Kyr for the ace community. Never read a character who feels so clearly homoromantic.
Tesh could have made changes to this book, and I would have respected them. It could have been filled with gorgeous but insurmountable language. Everyone could have died. The horrors of Gaea station could have been revealed more fully. Tesh didn’t do any of those things and still wrote a thoughtful and compelling story, which makes me wonder if other authors could have also written thoughtful and compelling stories without those things. This book gave me hope, and I want a wise, crested alien friend.
I don’t know if this is a critique or a compliment, but Tesh's use of the Wisdom is wild. I long ago read an interview with an author. The characters in his book had a physical book of rules that helped guide their magic. In the interview the author said that he purposely did not spell out every rule in the book because it left a way for his characters to get out of tight spots. I’ve since labeled this writing technique ‘the wild card’ (let me know if it has a real name). To work the wild card must be established (distinguishing it from a deus ex machina) and not overused. Tesh has created the ultimate wild card for this book. A reality-bending, sentient force gives Tesh the ability to have implausible things happen in this story. It’s almost too convenient, but also I’m just so happy that no one died that I’m not sure I care.
My main problem with this book was how difficult it was to visualize. I am very bad at visualization. It really has to be spelled out for me to get it to work. Often, my brain skips the visualization entirely and just keeps going. Here though I would read a couple sentences, and then suddenly the action didn’t quite fit with the location. It was disorienting, but I don’t know if that is a reflection of Tesh’s writing lacking or my brain lacking.
Criticisms out of the way now I just get to be happy. I don’t think I’m alone in saying that the quality of what gets published has gone down. Recently I’ve read a couple of very long books that seem like they could have been better with a few more passes from beta readers and editors. On the other hand if I’m not reading trash, I’m reading stuff that’s artsy or capital L literature. I love these books, but they take more effort to read, and I can’t do that all the time. This book felt balanced; it was neither bad or hard and it felt good to read something like that. I don’t mind a book with lots of modern slang, but a book doesn’t need that to be readable or relatable.
This book had just enough terrible things happening to the characters. The characters in this book suffer a lot but the author is less interested in the actual terror and more interested in the effects it has on people. This book has some awful things happen, but I wasn’t cringing or revealing in it. Trauma's real, we need to write about it in fiction, and this felt close to how it should be done.
A lot of critiques of this book are frustrated with Kyr as a narrator, and I get it, but I thought it was well-done. Being in Kyr’s head is ride. It’s terrible, and it’s supposed to be. There were times that I hated Kyr, there was never a time that I didn’t understand her. You can really clearly see how Kyr changes and how the experiences she’s had previously shape those changes. It also felt very real. I truly was not able to understand any one else’s sexual identity until I understood my own, and seeing Kyr go through that same transition felt validating. Also, I’m claiming Kyr for the ace community. Never read a character who feels so clearly homoromantic.
Tesh could have made changes to this book, and I would have respected them. It could have been filled with gorgeous but insurmountable language. Everyone could have died. The horrors of Gaea station could have been revealed more fully. Tesh didn’t do any of those things and still wrote a thoughtful and compelling story, which makes me wonder if other authors could have also written thoughtful and compelling stories without those things. This book gave me hope, and I want a wise, crested alien friend.