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As a piece of RPF, incredible. As a piece of speculative lit fic radio 2 book club book, incredible. As a slightly mismatched layering of these two things on top of one another, a bit less enjoyable for me personally - but still a lot to love!
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation
Moderate: Gun violence, Racism, Colonisation
Minor: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Cannibalism
I predicted one of the plot twists. Which is always annoying. I felt that the follow-through after that plot twist was slightly weak. Not bad, but just didn’t feel like it hit as hard as it ought to have done.
My god this author is great at writing steamy sex scenes. It was HOT as hell. Kaliane is a person who knows how to have a good time, and I am 100% here for it. Get it girl.
The book pacing was quick at the start, and deeply slow in the middle. Then at the end it was very fast paced. The middle of the book, while delightful, was a tad too slow fpr me. Could probably have used a bit more editing there as I felt at some points the writing was acting as filler. And didnt really add anything to the characters or story or didnt enhance my understanding i to the world.
The characters themselves are beautifully realised. They were all very unique and even their most intricate quirks made them feel so real. We love a LGBTQ moment. Arthur and Margaret are such loveable characters and oh how they PAINEDDD ME.
I really enjoyed the historic Gore excerpts in the book too.
It wasnt as much of a page turner as I hd hoped itd be. For me it was neither much of a romance nor a thriller nor a sci-fi.
Some of the diaglogue was so gorgeous and cinematic, and well placed. At other times, it felt rather floral. For example: Describing the arrival of autumn like a late man into a crowded room was sort of lost on me. But the image of a workday Wednesday is definitely cold flavourless porridge. So it was rather hit and miss.
Yes I think this book could very easily be a TV series, as it lends itself very visually. But I think there would have to be quite a bit of editing to get there. 6 or 8 episodes tops at 45 mins each I think.
I also think the boom tries to demand the reader’s attention to politics and climate emergency. And that seems to be a background motive for a good handful of the modern characters. But with so much going on in the book, it doesn’t have the opportunity to explore that in much depth. The overall message is bleak in that sense, the future is changeable but it will also be terrible.
Slightly confused because there was an anti-establishment thing, but at the end of the book no one actually … deals with that? The institution just continues to exist without much (seeming) impact. Like the institution gets away with it almost?
So overall, I’d recommend it as a fun wee book that plays with historic figures in a really charming way. Some intriguing flavours of sci-fi and thriller, and too see the grey ol modern world through the eyes of a victorian naval lieutenant - how silly and whimsical! A fresh perspective on the mundane. I think, the main reason to read this book is the character building. And - of course - some delicious sex scenes (although you have to get to the last two fifths of the book for that).
3 stars for me, I also don’t think the blurb quite describes the book well enough.
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual content, Violence, Cannibalism, War
Minor: Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Alcohol, Colonisation
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Racism, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Colonisation, War
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual content, Medical content, Murder, Colonisation, Classism
Minor: Racial slurs, Slavery
Graphic: Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Cannibalism, Murder, Toxic friendship, War
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Deportation
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Murder
Moderate: Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Grief, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, War
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Body horror, Torture, Cannibalism, Colonisation
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Sexual content, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug use, Blood, Colonisation, Classism
Minor: Cannibalism
Minor: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail