Scan barcode
saurin's review
3.0
I liked it, but I think this book would benefit a lot from sitting in the author's drawer for a year or two.
Weird alien aside (feathers, breasts and forked tongue...? She kept reminding me of Mushu (yes, from Mulan) every time she took a sniff at something) what bothered me the most was the writing. It wasn't bad, but it was confusing when the dialogue from character A wasn't followed by their speech tag (which is fine), but by a action from character B (not fine). So you have something like this:
"Do you love me?"
"Yes." He hugged her.
"Then stay."
Where I need to take a moment to figure out who said what. This isn't an excerpt from the book, btw. Anyway, for me that's almost as bad as having two speakers in the same paragraph.
As for the plot, a couple of things bothered me. The friends didn't feel particularly necessary because there wasn't really any angst between (any of) them. It's like the author couldn't bear to keep them apart, so from the moment they met, that was it. No awkwardness, no doubt (aside from the first day, I guess), no drama, there wasn't even any conflict of cultures. There were some differences, but they were just that. Differences. There wasn't anything to overcome between them. Oh, there was racism. In passing.
Come to think of it, the end was rushed.
All in all I still think it's worth a read for the communication alone. That is a rare sight among these bands.
Weird alien aside (feathers, breasts and forked tongue...? She kept reminding me of Mushu (yes, from Mulan) every time she took a sniff at something) what bothered me the most was the writing. It wasn't bad, but it was confusing when the dialogue from character A wasn't followed by their speech tag (which is fine), but by a action from character B (not fine). So you have something like this:
"Do you love me?"
"Yes." He hugged her.
"Then stay."
Where I need to take a moment to figure out who said what. This isn't an excerpt from the book, btw. Anyway, for me that's almost as bad as having two speakers in the same paragraph.
As for the plot, a couple of things bothered me. The friends didn't feel particularly necessary because there wasn't really any angst between (any of) them. It's like the author couldn't bear to keep them apart, so from the moment they met, that was it. No awkwardness, no doubt (aside from the first day, I guess), no drama, there wasn't even any conflict of cultures. There were some differences, but they were just that. Differences. There wasn't anything to overcome between them. Oh, there was racism. In passing.
Spoiler
When it became an issue they just up and left Earth, so...Come to think of it, the end was rushed.
Spoiler
Her dad showed up for some reason in the end, said one sentence about filthy humans and then disappeared forever after the mess. They also settled in her hometown in the epilogue...? There was a mushy "home is where you are" theme going on, but after spending most of the book in Seattle where they seemed happy and then some time in the alien town (sorry, names are hard) which they could barely tolerate, the place where they ended up living felt kind of an important plot point. But the end was all "that's it folks" and there's hardly a sentence about where they lived.All in all I still think it's worth a read for the communication alone. That is a rare sight among these bands.
shoddybudget's review
Pretty good. Not what I would have picked to read but I like alien sci fi romances.
More...