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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I'm not much of a fantasy person, but I enjoyed this well enough despite that. Kai was pretty interesting in a depressing origin kind of way. I rather liked Ziede. Action scenes were super fun and other scenes super stood out.
I might come back to this. Its written well but I just couldnt get into it and felt like a chore to read even those pages. However I am still interested to see where its going so ill come back to it when im in the mood for a book like this.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
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
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
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:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This one both reminded me why I don't usually read "epic" fantasy yet also why I love and trust Martha Wells's writing lol 😅 I had to get both the audiobook and physical book to follow along properly as there were so many names and new concepts and places and sometimes I wasn't sure if we were just giving flavor to the world or if it was new info I actually needed to pay attention to. That said, I love Wells's characters, and her found family groups- Kai's clear pain at having been betrayed multiple times in the past (and all the loss he's been through) and the way he tries to cover it up with nonchalance & seeming apathetic really got me, plus the development of his and Bashasa's relationship ☹️☹️☹️ I also loved Ziede ruthlessly pursuing getting her wife back in the present and seeing those two start to fall for each other in the past ! I still feel pretty confused on some concepts (like what actually are expositors, what's the difference between immortal blessed & lesser blessed, etc) which is frustrating to feel at the end of the book. That said, I'll probably still pick up the next one because I do want to see where these characters go, and hoping it will not be such a huge effort next time since I already am familiar with the world lol!
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Original statement from January 15 2025:
I borrowed a sample of the audiobook from libby, but the list of meaningless names at the start literally took up all but 50 seconds of the 5 minute sample, which means I got to "sample" nothing of the actual story to see if I want to read more. So that's not looking promising at all.
Seriously, I haven't even read the book yet. Why are you telling me all this nonsense about characters I haven't met yet and have no reason to care about yet?
The fact that we're getting random little bits of information along with their names that seems like it should be in the actual plot, makes me fear that they're not actually going to get introduced or explained properly when they do show up, and I'll have been expected to just memorize the nonsense at the start to know who they are.
I really hope I'm wrong about that but I can't see any other reason you would put this at the start of the book instead of the back unless that weren't the case. It feels like the author couldn't keep track of the characters so had to write these notes to herself and now I'm just supposed to memorize them all.
I'll update this review and rating when I get to listen to more of it, since they only have the audiobook, not the book itself.
There's an aproximately 24 week wait until I get to borrow the audiobook. So. Bye until then.
______
Upate June 14 2025: I'm literally still waiting to borrow the audiobook. But I was able to find a hardcover copy at Goodwill for a few bucks so I bought it.
It took 27 and a half hours for me to read this book.
This is one of the worst books I have ever read in my entire life. I cannot fucking believe anyone let this get published, let alone thought it was reasonable to charge $28.99 for it.
This book is horribly written, it's racist, it's misogynistic, it tries to normalize pedophilia and eugenics, Martha Wells continues to be a fucking bigot towards nonbinary people, it's pretentious, it reads like a highschooler who bullshitted their way through an essay, then got out a thesaurus to replace every other word with a "more smart sounding" synonym.
This book is shit. There is no worldbuilding. There is no exposition. There is hardly any setting.
The characters have no personality outside of being edgy for the sake of being edgy, and it is utterly fucking ridiculous.
I'll write a more detailed review later. This book is so fucking bad. Do not let anyone convince you it's some fucking genius. It's written like shitty fanfiction, as though it's book 4 of a series and not book 1 that was supposed to be standalone.
Shitty pathetic cashgrab taking every flaw of Martha Wells' writing and magnifying it tenfold, because apparently the fame of The Murderbot Diaries has convinced her to double down on everything she's ever done wrong instead of learning and growing and improving as a person and as a writer.
Cis people are fucking pathetic. This book is just more cissexist, biological essentialism masquerading as gender essentialism as though that isn't just as fucking bigoted and short sighted. Holy shit.
Feel free to watch my "liveblog" of this on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpFcEwm88RUvOvHxrKsM1Am6aJwZoCel5. Transcript version coming...relatively soon. For the videos, click the fast forward key until you see me talking again.
I borrowed a sample of the audiobook from libby, but the list of meaningless names at the start literally took up all but 50 seconds of the 5 minute sample, which means I got to "sample" nothing of the actual story to see if I want to read more. So that's not looking promising at all.
Seriously, I haven't even read the book yet. Why are you telling me all this nonsense about characters I haven't met yet and have no reason to care about yet?
The fact that we're getting random little bits of information along with their names that seems like it should be in the actual plot, makes me fear that they're not actually going to get introduced or explained properly when they do show up, and I'll have been expected to just memorize the nonsense at the start to know who they are.
I really hope I'm wrong about that but I can't see any other reason you would put this at the start of the book instead of the back unless that weren't the case. It feels like the author couldn't keep track of the characters so had to write these notes to herself and now I'm just supposed to memorize them all.
I'll update this review and rating when I get to listen to more of it, since they only have the audiobook, not the book itself.
There's an aproximately 24 week wait until I get to borrow the audiobook. So. Bye until then.
______
Upate June 14 2025: I'm literally still waiting to borrow the audiobook. But I was able to find a hardcover copy at Goodwill for a few bucks so I bought it.
It took 27 and a half hours for me to read this book.
This is one of the worst books I have ever read in my entire life. I cannot fucking believe anyone let this get published, let alone thought it was reasonable to charge $28.99 for it.
This book is horribly written, it's racist, it's misogynistic, it tries to normalize pedophilia and eugenics, Martha Wells continues to be a fucking bigot towards nonbinary people, it's pretentious, it reads like a highschooler who bullshitted their way through an essay, then got out a thesaurus to replace every other word with a "more smart sounding" synonym.
This book is shit. There is no worldbuilding. There is no exposition. There is hardly any setting.
The characters have no personality outside of being edgy for the sake of being edgy, and it is utterly fucking ridiculous.
I'll write a more detailed review later. This book is so fucking bad. Do not let anyone convince you it's some fucking genius. It's written like shitty fanfiction, as though it's book 4 of a series and not book 1 that was supposed to be standalone.
Shitty pathetic cashgrab taking every flaw of Martha Wells' writing and magnifying it tenfold, because apparently the fame of The Murderbot Diaries has convinced her to double down on everything she's ever done wrong instead of learning and growing and improving as a person and as a writer.
Cis people are fucking pathetic. This book is just more cissexist, biological essentialism masquerading as gender essentialism as though that isn't just as fucking bigoted and short sighted. Holy shit.
Feel free to watch my "liveblog" of this on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpFcEwm88RUvOvHxrKsM1Am6aJwZoCel5. Transcript version coming...relatively soon. For the videos, click the fast forward key until you see me talking again.
Got about halfway through then had an emergency 3 week work trip. Every ounce counted for the flights so couldn't bring this book with. Someone requested my library copy while I was away so I had to return it unfinished when I got back. Will hopefully pick up again.
adventurous
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated