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natcat's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This book absolutely blew me away, wow, what a ride! I couldn’t remember why I’d put this on hold at the library so went into it without any expectations and, wow, I loved it! I loved the ride it took me on, and the inventiveness of the worldbuilding is amazing and the way that world building unfolds is incredibly compelling - I thought all of that was just super well done.
This is a pretty grim book, in a lot of ways - the universe it takes place in is a dark one, in which lives are incredibly disposable, and a lot of people die in this book, many of them from the actions of our main characters - and it doesn’t shy away from that, but it’s not depressing, either. The characters might exist in a universe where lines of morality are drawn differently, but their emotions and motivations are not alien and are very compelling and are very much looking at those moral lines.
The way the story unfolds is fascinating, and I was very impressed with how the author started weaving in short segments from a wide variety of characters in the second half of the book - some of them were very short, but each character felt different and fully realized. I really liked our main perspective character, Kel Cheris, and her relationship - the central relationship of the book - with Shuos Jedao is fascinating, and I think would be very rewarding on a reread.
I also really liked the casual way sexuality and gender and queerness worked in this book - several of the characters have same-sex relationships, and the way this is portrayed feels very convincingly like all the people involved haven’t grown up in our societies, with our hang ups and perceptions of ‘normal’, all of which was really lovely to read.
Inventive, emotionally compelling, and entirely engrossing - I highly recommend this book!
This is a pretty grim book, in a lot of ways - the universe it takes place in is a dark one, in which lives are incredibly disposable, and a lot of people die in this book, many of them from the actions of our main characters - and it doesn’t shy away from that, but it’s not depressing, either. The characters might exist in a universe where lines of morality are drawn differently, but their emotions and motivations are not alien and are very compelling and are very much looking at those moral lines.
The way the story unfolds is fascinating, and I was very impressed with how the author started weaving in short segments from a wide variety of characters in the second half of the book - some of them were very short, but each character felt different and fully realized. I really liked our main perspective character, Kel Cheris, and her relationship - the central relationship of the book - with Shuos Jedao is fascinating, and I think would be very rewarding on a reread.
I also really liked the casual way sexuality and gender and queerness worked in this book - several of the characters have same-sex relationships, and the way this is portrayed feels very convincingly like all the people involved haven’t grown up in our societies, with our hang ups and perceptions of ‘normal’, all of which was really lovely to read.
Inventive, emotionally compelling, and entirely engrossing - I highly recommend this book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and War
kalteherz's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
A little bit slow to start, and can feel like you're missing a lot of information, but if you can push past it, it gets really good
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and War
nico_asteri's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I don't read a lot of sci-fi these days, so this book was a little out of my comfort zone. At first, I was really not sure about it. It had a lot of the things I find off-putting about sci-fi, namely it's a dystopia future riddled with war, death, and corruption. I don't hold that against the book, by the way, it's just something that I don't tend to seek out.
However, I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I was going to, especially the last third or so.
Even though I really hated all the death, and I reached the end of the book still not really understanding how the formations or the calendar works, I really liked Cheris and Jedao. I feel like it's not really that important to understand the calendar and the formations completely. It's more about seeing how Cheris starts to break out of that instinct and understanding that perhaps Jedao isn't the madman it seems like he is. I think Cheris' pivot is really well done. She doesn't just immediately turn coat upon seeing the first sign of corruption. It takes a lot of time. I'm anxious to know what happened to Jedao and if he still somehow survived. Or if he and Cheris are just one being now? Either way, I'm really looking forward to the next book!
However, I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I was going to, especially the last third or so.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and War
Moderate: Sexual assault
lucystolethesky's review against another edition
challenging
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, and War
Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, and Forced institutionalization
reebeee's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Good book if you enjoy sci-fi warfare and military strategy—as other reviews mention, it requires a tolerance for a wide array of made-up terms. Also as other reviews have noted, Cheris could have used some more development—we don’t get much of a backstory, or motivation, or relationships for her. She’s mostly a foil for Jedao and a stand-in for the reader in her reactions. She’s not annoying though, and I appreciate that one of her defining features is loyalty, which is fun to play with when so many narratives start with rebellious protagonists.
The side characters are vivid and interesting, but ultimately don’t play large or long-lasting roles in the narrative not least because practically all of them die at the end of the book . I appreciated the way that Lee emphasized the brutality of war and the abruptness of death—some of the passages reminded me of the Iliad in that sense. But a book is a narrative, after all, and it would be nice for at least one interesting side character other than Kujen to have lived. Not every side character has to be gun-fodder to demonstrate the futility of war, and any plot- or world-building potential of characters like Nerevor, Vahenz, and Zai remains unused.
I enjoyed this book's premise and characters, and I'll probably end up reading the sequels, but in the end, Ninefox's potential was more promising than its actuality.
The side characters are vivid and interesting, but ultimately don’t play large or long-lasting roles in the narrative
I enjoyed this book's premise and characters, and I'll probably end up reading the sequels, but in the end, Ninefox's potential was more promising than its actuality.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, and War
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Animal death
hauntedtesty's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, and War
Moderate: Rape
evilscientist's review against another edition
5.0
-i really really enjoyed this book. cheris and jedao were charming protagonists
-the world building and writing style took some time to get used to but it’s very interesting
-idk what it is about possession/bodysharing but i enjoy it, i gotta find more books that feature that trope
-i haven’t read any other sci-fi/fantasy novels that are also hardcore war novels like this one, particularly where the main characters are on the side of the imperialists rather than the rebels. some of the scenes from other POVs are brutal
-jedao is an interesting and scary character to me. you want to like him sometimes but then he reminds you that he is always trying to advance his goal no matter the cost. it’s hard to tell how much of him is genuine and how much is manipulation. the scene where he pretended to ‘go mad’ was very unsettling. also when it’s revealed that he’s [redacted] i was like wowww he’s just like me
-the world building and writing style took some time to get used to but it’s very interesting
-idk what it is about possession/bodysharing but i enjoy it, i gotta find more books that feature that trope
-i haven’t read any other sci-fi/fantasy novels that are also hardcore war novels like this one, particularly where the main characters are on the side of the imperialists rather than the rebels. some of the scenes from other POVs are brutal
-jedao is an interesting and scary character to me. you want to like him sometimes but then he reminds you that he is always trying to advance his goal no matter the cost. it’s hard to tell how much of him is genuine and how much is manipulation. the scene where he pretended to ‘go mad’ was very unsettling. also when it’s revealed that he’s [redacted] i was like wowww he’s just like me
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and War
Moderate: Genocide, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts
confusedmuse's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Dysphoria
Minor: Confinement, Self harm, Torture, Grief, Murder, and Colonisation
annakait's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and War
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
ailsaod's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book took a bit of getting into - the first chapter is set in a battle scene in which horrible things that are both gory and confusing happen to the soldiers. It took quite a while to figure out what the deal was with this book (when people say it is ancillary justice crossed with divergent they are certainly right!). This combination sounds improbable and when I first saw it did not fill me with joy but it is more like Ancillary Justice (in that the setting is a massive evil space empire and everyone is queer) with the faction system being a little more complex than that of Divergent and there is a bunch of stuff a bit like astrology? I'm not a fan of astrology so those elements took a bit of getting used to. Lee also has a somewhat disorienting way of progressing a story which was the only thing that stopped me from giving this book five stars. Sometimes scenes or joins between scenes were a little disorienting or I found it difficult to visualise what was happening with the tactics.
However, despite these obstacles in the way of my enjoyment I still had a great time reading this book. Something about Lee's characters made me get very attached to them in very short amounts of time - even minor side characters - so when they inevitably met a nasty end I was like :( . Cheris and Jedao are the main characters and I liked both of them (for very different reasons!). Jedao is terrifying! From the beginning we know his reputation while his motivations are very much unknown and this combined with him basically being a ghost make him a little scary already. Then Lee wrote a couple of terrifying scenes and the I was feeling just as scared as Cheris! Jedao is the kind of person MCU Loki wishes he was! I think Lee does a good job explaining why Jedao went on his murder spree without forcing the reader to sympathise.
I would advise anyone who doesn't like reading about genocide, weapons of mass destruction (and their gory effects on squishy humans) to maybe skip this one as although the way people are killed is very abstract it is still quite disturbing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, and War
Moderate: Body horror, Genocide, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Colonisation
Minor: Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, and Dysphoria