Reviews

The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang

mortiorchis's review

I want to love this book so much but I just couldn't settle into the world and its characters. I adore how confident the writing is and how unique the world and lore is. And no book should feel obligated to hold the hand of its readers, but it's odd because I felt equal parts horribly confused as well as overexplained to. The writing itself also felt a bit padded at times. I really wanted to try and give this a fair shot but after 85 pages I realized I can't really keep pushing through it. Maybe I'll give it another shot in the future when I'm more seasoned in sci-fi

kirani's review

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

4.5

Another great read from Neon Yang! I love a good framing narrative, gives me folklore vibes, and this was very well done. Can’t wait for the sequel!! 

maramergens's review

challenging dark mysterious

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

I don’t read a lot of sci-fi, so this book was not easy to wrap my head around. As can happen with a lot of SFF books, I didn’t always fully grasp the world building or how exactly certain tech or magic worked. I took some long-ish breaks from this book and that might be a part of why I struggled to understand the different political/religious factions and how they worked together or against each other. I know it’s not the elegant way to do it, but sometimes I just want a breakdown at the beginning of what we’re walking into.

I enjoyed the shifts in Misery’s perspective, and how they were never really a reliable narrator.

Her quick jump from lying about being a Messiah to fully believing it was a little too fast for me. But I guess that’s how it goes. It reminded me of Paul’s transformation in at the end of the second Dune film.

Looking at the book as a whole, it definitely seems like a critique of the uber religious. It displays how people can be misguided by their religious zeal so that they are unable to empathize with others or be able to fully observe situations.

This book is truly exemplary in its use of personal pronouns. We are viewing the world through Misery’s perspective, and so the narration uses the neutral xie/hir for any character we meet until hir pronouns are revealed to Misery/us. A great example of how we can avoid gendering folks until they identify themselves to us. The last book of Yang’s I read had very interesting gender lore (people using magic to suspend the development of external sex characteristics until they decide for themself how they would like to identify - but a stigma exists in this world against non-binary people who are seen as not being able to “choose”) and it was nice to read another book of theirs, this one where there seems to be no prejudice against any particular gender (and many more than two exist).

kdahlo's review

5.0

Maybe more of a 4.5 star book for me, but I really liked this! Neon Yang is one of my faves and I really loved the new universe they designed for this book. I really appreciate how their books explore morally ambiguous protagonists and the pursuit of power. This book definitely calls out for a sequel in the same vein as their prior works. If they do one, I would love to see their thoughts on the other perspective for this world. So much of this book involves a tension of what the main characters are willing to see and willing to blind themselves against. I got the sense that Neon has hidden a ton of revelations and facts about the alternate view of the world right below the surface.

jenja's review against another edition

i did not gel with the writing

heartmonster's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

evehatfield's review

adventurous funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This book is such a fun ride, with a very casual and modern writing style. The end unfortunately left me with more questions than answers and not in a good way, but perhaps I should have expected that.

seaweed's review against another edition

young adult writing, meaning 0 respect for the reader's ability to process and/or retain information

crimsoncor's review

5.0

I didn't know what to expect, at all, when I started this book. And, to be honest, the prologue and epilogue left me more confused about everything else that happened in the book. But the rest of the story is just *chef's kiss.* The "magic" system brought very strong vibes of [b:Ninefox Gambit|26118426|Ninefox Gambit (The Machineries of Empire, #1)|Yoon Ha Lee|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1446557461l/26118426._SY75_.jpg|46065520]'s calendar system (but with rocks!?!?!). And the empire locked in self-struggle came with a strong [b:A Memory Called Empire|37794149|A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan, #1)|Arkady Martine|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1526486698l/37794149._SY75_.jpg|59457173] feel. And we've got an ironic self-doubting hero in the mold of [b:Gideon the Ninth|42036538|Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1)|Tamsyn Muir|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546870952l/42036538._SY75_.jpg|60943229] complete with her own Harrow. It isn't any of those books, but it is pieces of what made them great molded into a compelling story.

Spoiler

The ambiguity of the ending was fascinating too. Definitely could revisit this world for more stories but could also just let it hang there.

lothtor's review against another edition

It was an interesting book - I’ll come back to it eventually just wasn’t in the mood