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mellomorissa's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Racism, and Suicide
trips's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book is tough to write about, on one hand I do applaud the author for trying to write something that is rather nuanced and complex as this story. But on the other hand, I have to cut the applause short because I think the author took on a little too much and maybe should have stuck to 1 or 2 of the conversations it was trying to have.
This book at its core is a "Huckleberry Finn"-like book. The MC however, is pretty insufferable for the first half of the book. More than just being an ignorant product of her upbringing, Valkyr is a huge bully and is genuinely mean to almost everyone she speaks with. She has dashes of homophobia and racism at the beginning as well. She needed a BIG arc showing her reconciling with herself as her world is blown wide-open but...she doesn't really get it because the playing field changes so often and so quickly in the 2nd half of the book.
I could really tell this book was trying to be a little bit like...Enders Game for children, but it just didn't entirely work.
A lot of the action was quite interesting but ultimately at the end, I felt like the characters needed more onscreen growth rather than split decisions to do the right thing...shrug.
This book at its core is a "Huckleberry Finn"-like book. The MC however, is pretty insufferable for the first half of the book. More than just being an ignorant product of her upbringing, Valkyr is a huge bully and is genuinely mean to almost everyone she speaks with. She has dashes of homophobia and racism at the beginning as well. She needed a BIG arc showing her reconciling with herself as her world is blown wide-open but...she doesn't really get it because the playing field changes so often and so quickly in the 2nd half of the book.
I could really tell this book was trying to be a little bit like...Enders Game for children, but it just didn't entirely work.
A lot of the action was quite interesting but ultimately at the end, I felt like the characters needed more onscreen growth rather than split decisions to do the right thing...shrug.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Suicide, and Murder
Moderate: Homophobia and Sexual assault
Minor: Sexual violence
elee2013's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This was fantastic and Kyr goes on the most dramatic character journey of all time
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Suicide, Sexual assault, and Child abuse
Moderate: Transphobia, Homophobia, and Adult/minor relationship
Phobia towards genderqueer/nongendered peoplemgouker's review
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Part of my Hugo reading. I enjoyed the story and the technology, but the main focus was the meaning of humanity in desperate times. The character grew a great deal in the story. The lack of diversity was a key point in the story.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual harassment and Sexual assault
ddclarke's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I wasn't sure what to expect of this book when I started. I went in knowing nothing but the back blurb (which felt very trope-heavy and YA focused) and the Hugo nom, and the beginning of the book propped that up...
... but then I couldn't stop reading, and by about halfway through it was clear there was something great happening.
I loved the turning of the tropes, the themes, and all they wonderful grey. I also love that this seems to be a standalone book; while I'd love more from the universe, I hope the characters specifically are let to rest.
... but then I couldn't stop reading, and by about halfway through it was clear there was something great happening.
I loved the turning of the tropes, the themes, and all they wonderful grey. I also love that this seems to be a standalone book; while I'd love more from the universe, I hope the characters specifically are let to rest.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Xenophobia, War, Violence, Sexism, Murder, Suicide, Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Genocide
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Rape
sincetheflood's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
tbh going into this book i really disliked how much of an asshole the mc was and i expected it to be more of a 4 star read, but she grew on me so much. banger of a book
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, War, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Rape, Homophobia, and Sexual assault
avacadosocks's review
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, Suicide, and War
Moderate: Violence, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Homophobia, Death, Sexism, and Transphobia
Minor: Genocide, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Death of parent
emily_mh's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I read this book on a friend’s recommendation and honestly bless her, because it was phenomenal. It’s the kind of story where I had no idea what was going to happen next, and I mean that in the best possible way. Every time I would be like “ah, it’s this trope”, and then pages later Tesh would flip everything on its head. I was sooooo invested and truly hooked by this fresh, original approach.
The plot was not the only mind-blowing thing about the book. It was also packed with existentialism, posing questions such as: what choices in the past lead us to our current reality? Are there certain outcomes which are inevitable in every reality? Who gets to decide what is for the “greater good” - who gets to even DEFINE the “greater good”? I love when books pose these ethical and philosophical questions and then the whole narrative is an exploration of them. Some may be answered, some may be left open, ultimately beyond the scope of the story to answer. But in every case the reader is challenged to consider things they may never have before.
Tesh also tackles extremist indoctrination as a main theme, as MC Kyr (along with most of the SCs), experiences this having grown up on Gaea Station, a military post containing the humans who survived the destruction of Earth and seek revenge from the alien perpetrators. This was heavy to read about. Gaea’s society is founded on eugenics (specifically relating to race and ability), as well as misogyny, sexism, queerphobia, and bioessentialism, and the sexual violence these engender. And Kyr, at the beginning of the book, is the poster child for Gaea. Her character arc is inexplicably wrapped up in deprogramming her indoctrination as she is exposed to the world outside Gaea. It is truly astonishing how much Kyr changes over the course of the novel, and how much she discovers about herself when free from oppressive social constructs. Kyr is by no means perfect at the end of the book, but she also isn’t the same person she was in the first chapter. It is important to note that Tesh as the author always presents the above topics (eugenics, sexual violence) as abhorrent. Even when Kyr doesn’t understand their horrors, you as the reader know that Gaea is deeply, deeply wrong, that Kyr is deeply, deeply wrong, and Tesh does too.
I wouldn’t say this is “found family” like the synopsis proclaims. Every relationship in the book is too complicated and messy and often filled with both love AND hate, to fit neatly into a usually wholesome and straightforward trope. And that’s to this book’s credit. The characters all feel real because none of them can be perfectly squared away into an archetype, their understandably complicated reactions to one another birthed out of the complex situations they find themselves in.
I am so glad my friend recommended this to me and that I decided to give it a go. The only criticisms I can think of right now are that I wish the commentary on eugenics and disability had been made more explicit, and that the ending felt a touch deus ex machina (but maybe that was ironically intentional). Regardless, this book deserved its 5 stars.
Rep: queer MC, queer SCs, Afro-Latina SC
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, War, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Suicide, Child abuse, Murder, Violence, Genocide, and Gun violence
Moderate: Ableism, Homophobia, Cursing, Sexual harassment, Body horror, Animal death, Colonisation, Physical abuse, Sexism, Racism, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Vomit, Abortion, Rape, Torture, Blood, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Sexual content, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Self harm, and Drug use
Major: queer used as a slur 6 times, loss of a loved one, bioessentialism, eugenics, misgendering Minor: suicide ideationhanz's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Transphobia, Genocide, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Racism, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Ableism, and Violence
Moderate: Pregnancy
Minor: Abortion
rheagoveas's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
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? It's complicated
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, and Homophobia