Scan barcode
corriejn's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Gaslighting
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Cancer
Minor: Vomit, Blood, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Sexual content
five_rats_in_a_trenchcoat's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Gaslighting, and Cancer
Minor: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, War, Excrement, and Medical content
This book was an emotional roller coaster, I'm going to have to sit with it for a bit and when I'm done orocessing I can't wait to reread it. The big plot twist was perfectly executed, you get the exact amount of information to be able to guess, but not enough to fully know what's coming, it was a perfect mix of "Oh shit, I think x is what's happening" and "what the fuck is going on". If you like sci-fi thrillers with horror elements I highly recommend this book, what an amzing read. I listened to the audiobook and if that's your cup of tea you should give it a listen, the narrator did an amazing job voicing the main characters and his imitation of different robot voices made me giggle a couple of times! Beware of the warnings though, this book can get very heavy at times and has some content that could be triggering. The ending was absoluoltely worth the tears I cried though, 5/5 starslivlamentloathe's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-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
Fascinating. I didn’t stop thinking about this while reading—it just moved to my subconscious and then came back anytime it was relevant again. Heavier than many of the other SciFi books I’ve read. When I got home, and before I turned off my car, I often had to just sit there, over-emotional, before pausing it to continue about my day/night. Especially in the final third of the book, I was struggling with a lot of the thoughts of Ambrose on his journey.
This also introduced many new concepts to me that I wish we had on our Earth in 2023. Like the discussion of gender and homophobic and top/bottom dynamics. There was also a paragraph where Ambrose considered “love” and his preconceived notions of what it is and is meant to be—this actually helped my autistic brain to better rationalize the differences between media-based interpretations of love and what I’ve genuinely experienced.
This book was raw and honest in a way I don’t often see in sci-fi. I mean, I’m biased as I don’t consume a ton of science fiction, but I find a lot of the tech and discussion to be pretentious and unnecessarily complex, but this was relatable and real and genuine. I really enjoyed following the relationship of Ambrose and Kodiak. And I’ll almost miss them.
Highly recommend to anyone who likes Sci-Fi and dislikes gender/sexuality binaries. To anyone who wants to better understand love and what it means to be human.
This also introduced many new concepts to me that I wish we had on our Earth in 2023.
This book was raw and honest in a way I don’t often see in sci-fi. I mean, I’m biased as I don’t consume a ton of science fiction, but I find a lot of the tech and discussion to be pretentious and unnecessarily complex, but this was relatable and real and genuine. I really enjoyed following the relationship of Ambrose and Kodiak. And I’ll almost miss them.
Highly recommend to anyone who likes Sci-Fi and dislikes gender/sexuality binaries. To anyone who wants to better understand love and what it means to be human.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, and Confinement
Moderate: Death and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Cancer, and Abandonment
lets_b_libros's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, Cancer, Confinement, Medical content, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Vomit, Terminal illness, War, and Xenophobia
annikaa's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Body horror, Death, Grief, Suicide, Vomit, Excrement, Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Terminal illness, Violence, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Xenophobia and War
Minor: Misogyny
augustar14's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Another gay space story where something isn't quite right. That being said, I didn't see the twist/what wasn't right coming. Don't recommend reading before bed- there's no good place to put it down. This book makes you think about what it means to be human, to connect with another. It explores what someone will do to survive, and to save the one they love.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Gaslighting, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Grief, Murder, Violence, Death, and Blood
Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: War, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Medical content, and Transphobia
akirokis's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content
welgan's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Spoiler-free review
This book is BRILLIANT. It was well-crafted, met all my expectations and went beyond it, even while not meeting my usual cosy preferences. I will need a bit of time to let it sink and mature in my heart, I can't skip to something else immediately.
If you consider reading it, please do not read reviews. Prevent yourself from getting spoiled, it's an experience best consumed while knowing nothing. I'll do my best to review its qualities without spoiling its content.
I was looking for a sci-fi book with characters isolated in a station in space, and it delivered over my expectations. The feeling of space and of isolation is stellar. The wordsmithing is clever and really made feel it, feel the danger, alienness and distant, icy beauty of space.
I was looking for feelings, and it delivered that with brilliance too. The way how the developpement of the two main characters' relationship was explored was amazing. It was tense, emotional, and it took time to explore so many different angles.
The characters are lovable, human, and you can feel their training in their interactions (especially training in psychology and communication when isolated in space, through Ambrose's narration).
As a personnal opinion, I enjoy when characters from different cultures interect and this was nice. It was also a bit strange for my asexual self to read the horny main character Ambrose is, but felt it was very well managed. It goes so well with the rest of development I wouldn't want it other wise. Also reading him made me fear the sexual content would be a bit too present, but it is definitely not. Intimacy scenes are subtle and often very emotional.
The first and second parts of the book were tense, packed with mystery and powerful feelings, with incredibly emotional and tense conclusions, reaching a peak at the end of part 2.
The third part was brutal. Definitely brutal.
In the last parts, the build-up tension changes as the mystery of the first parts makes place to resolving the situation. It gradually unravels the plot and the book ends with calm and peacefulness, leaving me tranquil, fullfilled with my reading. Which is rather amazing for a book about two spacefarers alone in space featuring so much emotional tension.
Last but not least, I'd like to say that the author managed a trope he used very cleverly.
Read under spoiler for more details (still as vague as possible, but we enter in spoiler zone) :
The problem with tropes needing to narrated the same parts again, such as timeloops or what happens in The darkness outside us, is that it can be boring to re-read the same thing several times, to undo all progress and redo it. Here, it is very well managed. The "redo" part goes quickly, with only some key passages being retold, and as readers, we fill in the blank by memory, until we reach a point were stories diverge. Each part is so different at core, each relationship exploring a different angle, it's amazing.
This book is BRILLIANT. It was well-crafted, met all my expectations and went beyond it, even while not meeting my usual cosy preferences. I will need a bit of time to let it sink and mature in my heart, I can't skip to something else immediately.
If you consider reading it, please do not read reviews. Prevent yourself from getting spoiled, it's an experience best consumed while knowing nothing. I'll do my best to review its qualities without spoiling its content.
I was looking for a sci-fi book with characters isolated in a station in space, and it delivered over my expectations. The feeling of space and of isolation is stellar. The wordsmithing is clever and really made feel it, feel the danger, alienness and distant, icy beauty of space.
I was looking for feelings, and it delivered that with brilliance too. The way how the developpement of the two main characters' relationship was explored was amazing. It was tense, emotional, and it took time to explore so many different angles.
The characters are lovable, human, and you can feel their training in their interactions (especially training in psychology and communication when isolated in space, through Ambrose's narration).
As a personnal opinion, I enjoy when characters from different cultures interect and this was nice. It was also a bit strange for my asexual self to read the horny main character Ambrose is, but felt it was very well managed. It goes so well with the rest of development I wouldn't want it other wise. Also reading him made me fear the sexual content would be a bit too present, but it is definitely not. Intimacy scenes are subtle and often very emotional.
The first and second parts of the book were tense, packed with mystery and powerful feelings, with incredibly emotional and tense conclusions, reaching a peak at the end of part 2.
The third part was brutal. Definitely brutal.
In the last parts, the build-up tension changes as the mystery of the first parts makes place to resolving the situation. It gradually unravels the plot and the book ends with calm and peacefulness, leaving me tranquil, fullfilled with my reading. Which is rather amazing for a book about two spacefarers alone in space featuring so much emotional tension.
Last but not least, I'd like to say that the author managed a trope he used very cleverly.
Read under spoiler for more details (still as vague as possible, but we enter in spoiler zone) :
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Vomit and Sexual content
Minor: Excrement
schnaucl's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
I liked it, though the ending felt a little unearned. It just seems far too risky to bet the whole of humanity on two people to raise a bunch of embryos. There's just a limit to the number of kids any two people can raise, especially if there's no other support (besides the AI). There's no community that can help. They had no way of knowing what conditions on the planet would be like. There might have been predators, they may not have been able to grow food, and yeah, I'm sure the ship had some food on it, but it wouldn't last forever, and they had no way of knowing what the weather or soil conditions would be like. I was willing to go with it until that point.
And the embryo reveal up just as I was thinking and the point of all this is...? since two men obviously can't reproduce. Although I suppose if there's cloning technology maybe there is a way. But the point is, sending only two people who we've already seen will probably die early deaths from radiation poisoning to raise a bunch of embryos on a completely unknown planet just seems like too fragile a hope to pin the survival of humanity on.
I did like the rest of it though. It was genuinely shocking when they were murdered the first time, and when they murdered the rest of their clones.
And the embryo reveal up just as I was thinking and the point of all this is...? since two men obviously can't reproduce. Although I suppose if there's cloning technology maybe there is a way. But the point is, sending only two people who we've already seen will probably die early deaths from radiation poisoning to raise a bunch of embryos on a completely unknown planet just seems like too fragile a hope to pin the survival of humanity on.
I did like the rest of it though. It was genuinely shocking when they were murdered the first time, and when they murdered the rest of their clones.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Cancer
Minor: Sexual content, War, and Xenophobia
doodleoodz's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-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
5.0
Could not put this book down, finished it in a day. Well worth the read; it kept me interested, heartbroken, and utterly in love with the choice of words.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Blood
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Cursing, Self harm, and Suicide