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b00kdragon's review against another edition
challenging
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
mjfmjfmjf's review against another edition
3.0
I like Brenda Cooper and expect to keep on reading her - but this is not one of her better books. That said, its YA and YA is apparently harder to pull off than complex world-building sf (which I like better and Cooper is quite good at). Then again this is YA with sex - so perhaps it wasn't supposed to be YA. Anyway - this is a multi-generational ship supposedly on a there-and-back-again voyage. And our hero Ruby is supposed to have been inspired by Eva Peron and Evita - something I'm not really familiar with - which probably subtracts a bit from my enjoyment of the book. What makes me think of this book as YA is how little it goes into the complexities of shipboard life - both the nuts and bolts and the politics - something Cooper can certainly have done if she wanted to. Not Rite of Passage but I will definitely look for the sequel.
davidscrimshaw's review against another edition
4.0
Good writing, but the story did not fill me with excitement.
I read this because I believe it's a prequel to [b:Edge of Dark|22822946|Edge of Dark (The Glittering Edge, #1)|Brenda Cooper|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1413850230s/22822946.jpg|42375792].
Unlike Edge of Dark, there's no robots and the only spaceship is the one that everyone lives on in a repressive society. My main problem was that the repressive society didn't feel believable to me.
Still, I imagine I'll read the next book in the series, [b:The Diamond Deep|17737089|The Diamond Deep (Ruby's Song, #2)|Brenda Cooper|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1375366469s/17737089.jpg|24815748].
I read this because I believe it's a prequel to [b:Edge of Dark|22822946|Edge of Dark (The Glittering Edge, #1)|Brenda Cooper|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1413850230s/22822946.jpg|42375792].
Unlike Edge of Dark, there's no robots and the only spaceship is the one that everyone lives on in a repressive society. My main problem was that the repressive society didn't feel believable to me.
Still, I imagine I'll read the next book in the series, [b:The Diamond Deep|17737089|The Diamond Deep (Ruby's Song, #2)|Brenda Cooper|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1375366469s/17737089.jpg|24815748].
sarah1984's review against another edition
2.0
19/11 - I'm mostly enjoying this, but there are some irritations. Sometimes the writing is choppy, staccato. Cooper writes a few too many one or two word sentences, which pretty much go against the normal rules of sentence structure and grammar - a sentence is made up of a couple of specific things, a single word sentence simply can't contain all those things. Even worse is her persistence in calling a place common, as in "We're going to common", "I'll meet you at common", "Common was full of people". Why can she not use the word the? In this context 'common' is a room where people gather, rather like a living room. "I'm going to living room" is not a correct sentence, so why does Cooper think she can write it like that just because she's using an alternate word and it's set in a different galaxy than ours? You can't make up the rules of grammar to suit yourself (well you can, but people are going to notice and complain and lower their ratings of your book).
I don't really like Ruby. Even though she denies it to herself and Dayn, it does feel like she abandoned the rest of the grays to get what she wanted - the chance to sing and have everyone hear her (to me that feels more like an attention-grabbing teen than the disarmingly young leader of a revolution). She stirred the students up into an attempted revolution, but when everything went wrong she was the only one lucky enough to get a lifeline out of there. She seemed to forget about them pretty quickly, only having the occasional guilt pang. She's more focused on Fox and what he thinks of her and if he might be getting tired of her.
The cover does have nice artwork, but it doesn't show a very true representation of the Ruby that the book describes. The woman on the cover is way too old to be the 16/17-year-old that Cooper describes Ruby as, she looks like she's in her 30s (at least). At no point in time has Ruby, or anyone else, been described as having a gun. At the very beginning the Reds are said to carry stunners, but I have a hard time believing a gun that's nearly as long as Ruby is tall would be just a stunner. The gun in the picture is definitely a high powered weapon, a machine gun or the laser equivalent (depending on their technology).
Even though I'm still interested in continuing the book, I would be less interested if I hadn't read the first book in the spinoff series, Edge of Dark. I was in the minority that really enjoyed that book and so I want to finish this and the sequel in order to better understand Ruby, as she and the events that surround her were referenced a number of times in that book (and I assume, will be in the rest of the series). To be continued...
23/11 - I was quite disappointed with this book. I was looking for an explanation for why Ruby is considered a heroic rebel leader in Edge of Dark. What I got was a teenager who didn't want to follow the logical advice of people more knowledgeable and more experienced than her and the characters looking up to another heroic rebel leader from sometime in the past, whose experiences aren't well explained for unexplained reasons. I also got even more unanswered questions regarding why things are the way they are - no one remembers anything from before their lifetime (no history books, nothing taught in education classes), and the AI running the ship, Ix, is buggy and refuses to explain anything properly unless you ask the exact right question. No one knows what the ship looks like from the outside, most of the people on the ship had no idea why they were on a ship or where they were going, and all information is disseminated so that no one person knows more than a small portion of the whole truth. I found all that secrecy completely ridiculous and counter-intuitive to successfully completing their mission (which also wasn't properly explained but seemed to have something to do with exploring a few planets in different star systems and taking some samples, for unknown reasons).
If you haven't read or finished this book, don't read the synopsis for the next one, unless (like me) you get bored with this book and just want to know the main points of what's going to happen in the end. The synopsis reveals pretty much all the 'cliff hanger' moments of the end of this book, of which there are a few. The book ended very abruptly, it felt like it was a chapter ending, but there were no more pages. I have The Diamond Deep waiting for me, so I think I'll just skim it to see what the final conclusion is, but I'm glad I read Edge of Dark first. I never would have continued if this was the first of Cooper's books that I was reading.
I don't really like Ruby. Even though she denies it to herself and Dayn, it does feel like she abandoned the rest of the grays to get what she wanted - the chance to sing and have everyone hear her (to me that feels more like an attention-grabbing teen than the disarmingly young leader of a revolution). She stirred the students up into an attempted revolution, but when everything went wrong she was the only one lucky enough to get a lifeline out of there. She seemed to forget about them pretty quickly, only having the occasional guilt pang. She's more focused on Fox and what he thinks of her and if he might be getting tired of her.
The cover does have nice artwork, but it doesn't show a very true representation of the Ruby that the book describes. The woman on the cover is way too old to be the 16/17-year-old that Cooper describes Ruby as, she looks like she's in her 30s (at least). At no point in time has Ruby, or anyone else, been described as having a gun. At the very beginning the Reds are said to carry stunners, but I have a hard time believing a gun that's nearly as long as Ruby is tall would be just a stunner. The gun in the picture is definitely a high powered weapon, a machine gun or the laser equivalent (depending on their technology).
Even though I'm still interested in continuing the book, I would be less interested if I hadn't read the first book in the spinoff series, Edge of Dark. I was in the minority that really enjoyed that book and so I want to finish this and the sequel in order to better understand Ruby, as she and the events that surround her were referenced a number of times in that book (and I assume, will be in the rest of the series). To be continued...
23/11 - I was quite disappointed with this book. I was looking for an explanation for why Ruby is considered a heroic rebel leader in Edge of Dark. What I got was a teenager who didn't want to follow the logical advice of people more knowledgeable and more experienced than her and the characters looking up to another heroic rebel leader from sometime in the past, whose experiences aren't well explained for unexplained reasons. I also got even more unanswered questions regarding why things are the way they are - no one remembers anything from before their lifetime (no history books, nothing taught in education classes), and the AI running the ship, Ix, is buggy and refuses to explain anything properly unless you ask the exact right question. No one knows what the ship looks like from the outside, most of the people on the ship had no idea why they were on a ship or where they were going, and all information is disseminated so that no one person knows more than a small portion of the whole truth. I found all that secrecy completely ridiculous and counter-intuitive to successfully completing their mission (which also wasn't properly explained but seemed to have something to do with exploring a few planets in different star systems and taking some samples, for unknown reasons).
If you haven't read or finished this book, don't read the synopsis for the next one, unless (like me) you get bored with this book and just want to know the main points of what's going to happen in the end. The synopsis reveals pretty much all the 'cliff hanger' moments of the end of this book, of which there are a few. The book ended very abruptly, it felt like it was a chapter ending, but there were no more pages. I have The Diamond Deep waiting for me, so I think I'll just skim it to see what the final conclusion is, but I'm glad I read Edge of Dark first. I never would have continued if this was the first of Cooper's books that I was reading.
teri_b's review against another edition
5.0
I would say no one writes teenage characters quite as Brenda Cooper does. They are different, they are definitely not YA main stream and they make you think and consider your own reaction to what happens in the book, what your thoughts, your emotion and also your political position would be.
In this first book of the duology we meet Ruby who is on the brink of turning adult as she races with the all the others on this huge ship through space towards their home planet where they have not been for a very long time.
The ship is ruled by a rigid caste system where everybody is quite clearly defined as to who they are and what they can become.
Ruby though, does have music inside herself, a creative fire of its own, and it takes her onto a trajectory through the many layers of this ship that sees her in quite a different place by the end of this first book.
To be clear, I did not like Ruby as a character very much, but the story Brend Cooper tells through her is intriguing, thought provoking and makes you start to think for yourself.
In this first book of the duology we meet Ruby who is on the brink of turning adult as she races with the all the others on this huge ship through space towards their home planet where they have not been for a very long time.
The ship is ruled by a rigid caste system where everybody is quite clearly defined as to who they are and what they can become.
Ruby though, does have music inside herself, a creative fire of its own, and it takes her onto a trajectory through the many layers of this ship that sees her in quite a different place by the end of this first book.
To be clear, I did not like Ruby as a character very much, but the story Brend Cooper tells through her is intriguing, thought provoking and makes you start to think for yourself.
macthekat's review against another edition
5.0
100 % loved it. I brought the second one once I was 30 % though. It can be read as a standalone book! Will write a review tomorrow.
Read my full review: http://wp.me/p40HVI-nc
Read my full review: http://wp.me/p40HVI-nc
davidscrimshaw's review
4.0
Good writing, but the story did not fill me with excitement.
I read this because I believe it's a prequel to [b:Edge of Dark|22822946|Edge of Dark (The Glittering Edge, #1)|Brenda Cooper|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1413850230s/22822946.jpg|42375792].
Unlike Edge of Dark, there's no robots and the only spaceship is the one that everyone lives on in a repressive society. My main problem was that the repressive society didn't feel believable to me.
Still, I imagine I'll read the next book in the series, [b:The Diamond Deep|17737089|The Diamond Deep (Ruby's Song, #2)|Brenda Cooper|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1375366469s/17737089.jpg|24815748].
I read this because I believe it's a prequel to [b:Edge of Dark|22822946|Edge of Dark (The Glittering Edge, #1)|Brenda Cooper|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1413850230s/22822946.jpg|42375792].
Unlike Edge of Dark, there's no robots and the only spaceship is the one that everyone lives on in a repressive society. My main problem was that the repressive society didn't feel believable to me.
Still, I imagine I'll read the next book in the series, [b:The Diamond Deep|17737089|The Diamond Deep (Ruby's Song, #2)|Brenda Cooper|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1375366469s/17737089.jpg|24815748].
rhonamtennant's review
3.0
3 stars
I was recommended this book by a friend who knew I liked YA dystopias and especially ones focusing on a class struggle. I really did want to like this book, and not just because of my friend. The blurb on the back made it sound intriguing and really my sort of book. The idea of taking inspiration from a historical figure (Evita Peron) or fictitious character captured my attention too ( having already fallen in love with the [b:Legend|9275658|Legend (Legend, #1)|Marie Lu|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1501368160s/9275658.jpg|14157512] Trilogy by [a:Marie Lu|4342215|Marie Lu|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1285032806p2/4342215.jpg] which took inspiration from [a:Victor Hugo|13661|Victor Hugo|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1415946858p2/13661.jpg]’s [b:Les Misérables|24280|Les Misérables|Victor Hugo|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1525303092s/24280.jpg|3208463]) But the problems really come when I opened the cover (well obviously, as we won’t know the plot until we read it)
The quotes above from the cover make it seem like Ruby will play an integral role in starting or continuing the revolution; sadly she doesn’t.
We are introduced to our two POV characters, friends Ruby and Onor (who is, unpredictably in love with Ruby – more on that in a bit) and their extra friend Marcelle who is forgotten about with alarming regularity given she’s supposed to be the best friend that completes the golden trio.
The biggest problem with these POV characters is that they spend so much of the book being kept in the dark, or shushed when asking questions. At no point does anyone sit them down and tell them the plan – everything that happens, happens to them. Neither are leaders of the revolution. Because they are POV characters, they are our (the reader’s) only access into the story so when information is withheld from them it’s withheld from us. This means that we never properly know what’s happening with the struggle for workers’ rights, anyone’s true role or motivation or what the revolution is actually trying to achieve.
Because the POV characters are so uninformed throughout the book, it feels like all the drama and politics and actual revolutionary acts take place “Off screen” somewhere else. Maybe it would’ve been better to focalise to another character that actually knows and does stuff. Or if it’s really Ruby’s story (it is after all subtitled Ruby’s Song) then make her more active!!
There is literally a section where Ruby talks to the assembled workers (fighters) and explicitly says she’s not leading the revolution. WTF
Doesn’t this say the exact opposite of what the blurb suggests? This was towards the end of the book so she didn’t have time to go from this to the leader of the revolution as the back cover claimed. I guess she will forever just be a rebellious teen after all.
The other thing that really let this book down for me was the romance elements. Onor is introduced as being basically in love with Ruby – and has been for years – and really, the way practically every other age appropriate guy acts towards her isn’t surprising. We’re supposed to believe that she is such a strong and proactive and appealing character but to be honest she very easily forgets her friends (any mention of her family practically disappears within a couple of chapters) once she moves to blue from grey and is really rather self-involved, and irritating in her childishness.
She mentions quite a few times of not wanting to turn into her mother who apparently is used to using sex as currency; going through men daily or weekly.
But not only does she apparently “fall in love” with Fox after hours of meeting him – saying goodbye to him by kissing him; once she decides she’s outgrown him, she moves onto someone is apparently more powerful and less “secretive” than he is: Colin. Who very rapidly disappears when she meets Joel (the most powerful of the characters we meet)
The amount of time spent discussing the men she meets, their looks; flirtations and weirdly smells (so much different kinds of sweat, apparently) it seems clear that she’s supposed to be loved and admired by all the men. This is a trope that really bugs me. As it works to degrade the female characters to base level emotions and looks; she is, after all, told frequently of how beautiful she looks. There can be a difference between being admired for your strength of character and being admired as a sexual object.
The way she then moves from one (powerful) man to the next (more powerful) also suggests that she does use sex and attraction in similar ways to her mother.
Finally the most obscure thing in the book: Adiamo, home (apparently). We are told next to nothing about it; apart from it was a game for children on grey – which apparently ended up being more than a game. Was it a planet? A galaxy? A solar system? Who actually knows?
Why is it so important and why is it such a big deal that they are finally getting there? Why do people act like it’s a big secret that they’re close? And why do people act like the revolution needs to happen before they land, because somehow the workers can’t rebel once they’ve left the ship? Does this mean that the class structure would be completely removed when they land and that’s why those in charge want to make sure they get all the slave labour they can get before it’s too late?
There were so many promising ideas for this book; the premise is cool and a few of the characters seemed really interesting but we never got to know more about those characters and we never really got the revolutionary explosion the title and premise promised.
All in all it was just a thoroughly frustrating and disappointing read.
“Nothing can match the power of a single voice”
“If Ruby can’t transform from a rebellious teen to the leader of a revolution, she and all her friends will lose all say in their future.”
I was recommended this book by a friend who knew I liked YA dystopias and especially ones focusing on a class struggle. I really did want to like this book, and not just because of my friend. The blurb on the back made it sound intriguing and really my sort of book. The idea of taking inspiration from a historical figure (Evita Peron) or fictitious character captured my attention too ( having already fallen in love with the [b:Legend|9275658|Legend (Legend, #1)|Marie Lu|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1501368160s/9275658.jpg|14157512] Trilogy by [a:Marie Lu|4342215|Marie Lu|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1285032806p2/4342215.jpg] which took inspiration from [a:Victor Hugo|13661|Victor Hugo|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1415946858p2/13661.jpg]’s [b:Les Misérables|24280|Les Misérables|Victor Hugo|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1525303092s/24280.jpg|3208463]) But the problems really come when I opened the cover (well obviously, as we won’t know the plot until we read it)
The quotes above from the cover make it seem like Ruby will play an integral role in starting or continuing the revolution; sadly she doesn’t.
We are introduced to our two POV characters, friends Ruby and Onor (who is, unpredictably in love with Ruby – more on that in a bit) and their extra friend Marcelle who is forgotten about with alarming regularity given she’s supposed to be the best friend that completes the golden trio.
The biggest problem with these POV characters is that they spend so much of the book being kept in the dark, or shushed when asking questions. At no point does anyone sit them down and tell them the plan – everything that happens, happens to them. Neither are leaders of the revolution. Because they are POV characters, they are our (the reader’s) only access into the story so when information is withheld from them it’s withheld from us. This means that we never properly know what’s happening with the struggle for workers’ rights, anyone’s true role or motivation or what the revolution is actually trying to achieve.
“Who helps you?” Onor asked, the question blurting out even though he knew he should shut up.
“We’ll tell you what you need to know.”
“Okay…so I do need to know who we’re fighting.”
Aric shook his head. “No. Not Really. You need to know what we ask you to do and you need to do it.”
“So it’s a threat. I got that much. The workers showing the rest of you that they can get to various places on the ship. But no one got hurt, right? And the whole ship needs the workers. Isn’t that how it plays out?”
“You’re not that stupid.”
Ouch. “So educate me.”
“I make sure you know what you need to know.”
Because the POV characters are so uninformed throughout the book, it feels like all the drama and politics and actual revolutionary acts take place “Off screen” somewhere else. Maybe it would’ve been better to focalise to another character that actually knows and does stuff. Or if it’s really Ruby’s story (it is after all subtitled Ruby’s Song) then make her more active!!
There is literally a section where Ruby talks to the assembled workers (fighters) and explicitly says she’s not leading the revolution. WTF
“I came back to you today, to be here on the right side of this. To support the fight, to be part of it. Not to lead it. I don’t know the details of what your leaders want you to do.”
Doesn’t this say the exact opposite of what the blurb suggests? This was towards the end of the book so she didn’t have time to go from this to the leader of the revolution as the back cover claimed. I guess she will forever just be a rebellious teen after all.
The other thing that really let this book down for me was the romance elements. Onor is introduced as being basically in love with Ruby – and has been for years – and really, the way practically every other age appropriate guy acts towards her isn’t surprising. We’re supposed to believe that she is such a strong and proactive and appealing character but to be honest she very easily forgets her friends (any mention of her family practically disappears within a couple of chapters) once she moves to blue from grey and is really rather self-involved, and irritating in her childishness.
She mentions quite a few times of not wanting to turn into her mother who apparently is used to using sex as currency; going through men daily or weekly.
“She looked like her mother. She didn’t want to become Suri, using sex to gain favours and safety. But that wasn’t why she’d slept with Fox. That was a thank-you, not a please”
But not only does she apparently “fall in love” with Fox after hours of meeting him – saying goodbye to him by kissing him; once she decides she’s outgrown him, she moves onto someone is apparently more powerful and less “secretive” than he is: Colin. Who very rapidly disappears when she meets Joel (the most powerful of the characters we meet)
“People who deferred to Fox at home gave him less credit here, as if Colin outshone everyone else in this underground part of the ship…She missed Fox in spite of the way his mood toward her shifted one way and then another, and at the same time, she wanted to know Colin better.”
“Ruby leaned over him and kissed his forehead. He spent his time organising people like she spent hers organising messages, but it wouldn’t be enough. Colin could never capture the attention of the people on gray.”
“Fox had been stronger than her when she met him, but she’d outgrown him; found he didn’t have passion for the same thing she did. She would not outgrow this man. He was going to run the ship when they won, and he would be surrounded with things to learn and do, with choices that mattered.”
The amount of time spent discussing the men she meets, their looks; flirtations and weirdly smells (so much different kinds of sweat, apparently) it seems clear that she’s supposed to be loved and admired by all the men. This is a trope that really bugs me. As it works to degrade the female characters to base level emotions and looks; she is, after all, told frequently of how beautiful she looks. There can be a difference between being admired for your strength of character and being admired as a sexual object.
The way she then moves from one (powerful) man to the next (more powerful) also suggests that she does use sex and attraction in similar ways to her mother.
Finally the most obscure thing in the book: Adiamo, home (apparently). We are told next to nothing about it; apart from it was a game for children on grey – which apparently ended up being more than a game. Was it a planet? A galaxy? A solar system? Who actually knows?
Why is it so important and why is it such a big deal that they are finally getting there? Why do people act like it’s a big secret that they’re close? And why do people act like the revolution needs to happen before they land, because somehow the workers can’t rebel once they’ve left the ship? Does this mean that the class structure would be completely removed when they land and that’s why those in charge want to make sure they get all the slave labour they can get before it’s too late?
There were so many promising ideas for this book; the premise is cool and a few of the characters seemed really interesting but we never got to know more about those characters and we never really got the revolutionary explosion the title and premise promised.
All in all it was just a thoroughly frustrating and disappointing read.
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