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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
adventurous
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:
Complicated
I tried this as an audiobook because it had multiple narrators but the accents were really bad - I might try it as an ebook
adventurous
challenging
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:
Complicated
Quite an epic story - took me a while to finish. A really interesting story, but does finish with a lot of open questions (ready for the sequel)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking
Moderate: Rape, Kidnapping
Minor: Pregnancy
adventurous
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
YA sci-fi set across 6066 and 1812, with time travel, mystery, violence, friendship, and a bit of romance - this was definitely not a boring read. The pace is full-on, and it kept me turning the pages even when I wasn’t fully sold on the characters.
I read a beautiful edition that included character art and visuals of this imagined future, which really helped bring the world to life. This is the author’s debut - written when she was just 16 - and I was impressed. There’s a lot of promise here, and I can only imagine how her storytelling will grow with each book.
With that in mind, I don’t think I was the intended audience. I didn’t fully connect with the characters, but I was still intrigued enough to stay with them.
*The idea of a real historical figure being used as a love interest was unexpected and oddly compelling.
*The sci-fi is fairly light - if you’re not deep into the genre, it won’t overwhelm you - and in some places it read more like fantasy than hard science fiction.
This is the first in a series, so there’s no big resolution at the end, which is always a little disappointing when you’re already mid-way through a dozen other unfinished trilogies. But overall, it’s a strong debut, and I’d love to see more diverse voices in sci-fi like this one. It’ll probably hit better if you’re a younger reader or just in the mood for a fast-paced YA story with a big imagination.
3.5/5 ⭐
I read a beautiful edition that included character art and visuals of this imagined future, which really helped bring the world to life. This is the author’s debut - written when she was just 16 - and I was impressed. There’s a lot of promise here, and I can only imagine how her storytelling will grow with each book.
With that in mind, I don’t think I was the intended audience. I didn’t fully connect with the characters, but I was still intrigued enough to stay with them.
*The idea of a real historical figure being used as a love interest was unexpected and oddly compelling.
*The sci-fi is fairly light - if you’re not deep into the genre, it won’t overwhelm you - and in some places it read more like fantasy than hard science fiction.
This is the first in a series, so there’s no big resolution at the end, which is always a little disappointing when you’re already mid-way through a dozen other unfinished trilogies. But overall, it’s a strong debut, and I’d love to see more diverse voices in sci-fi like this one. It’ll probably hit better if you’re a younger reader or just in the mood for a fast-paced YA story with a big imagination.
3.5/5 ⭐
adventurous
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:
Yes
I’m glad that my DNFing of a book I thought was terrible only thirty pages in led to me picking this book up much, much sooner than I would have otherwise, because I really enjoyed myself, despite some nitpicks I have with this, mostly to do with the author being a debut author, and an extremely young one. Overall, she feels like an author who could have some really, truly great books down the line.
This book, which the author started writing when she was in high school, is about three people whose fates are tied together through the ages. There is a prophecy, there is time travel, there are anti-monarchy gay English princes. Most of it takes place split between two timelines: the far future in 6066, and in Regency England 1812. And all of it centers people of color. The author, a self-identified Black nerd girl, wrote this book because it’s the kind of story she loves*, and she wanted to write a story with someone like her inside of it. The joy and imagination is just brimming from this thing, but at the same time that also works to its detriment. The structure and plot are a little overly complicated, and it definitely reads like a debut.
*She is clearly a massive Doctor Who fan.
I find myself feeling similarly towards this book as I did when The Bone Season, Samantha Shannon’s precocious debut, popped up on the scene. This is a person who can write, and will write some bangers in the future, but they do need some more time to mature before that can happen. I do like this book a lot better than I liked The Bone Season, though, for a couple reasons. First, this is a nerd in her element, having fun with her imagination, whereas Shannon went pretentious with it. She eventually learned to reign those instincts in, but nerdy joy is always going to win out over pretentiousness with me. Second, Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson is writing not just about people of color in a market (sff) that doesn’t see many women even get a chance to succeed, but she’s also writing in science fiction and adventure, two genres that are white male-dominated. There were A LOT of special girl falls in love with dark brooding guy who should be an enemy books even back in 2013, and there just aren’t that many fun adventure books that play with romance and time and obscure physics concepts. It feels fresh.
Anyway, all that long-windedness to say that I think this is a book worth checking out, and I can’t wait to see what this author does in the future.
(the cover, however, is terrible; i personally don't like the look of it, but also, it makes the book seem like a middle grade story, a story for young readers, when really it's more of an all-ages story and is categorized as adult)
[3.5 stars, rounded up]
r/fantasy BINGO: Author of Color (Hard Mode)
This book, which the author started writing when she was in high school, is about three people whose fates are tied together through the ages. There is a prophecy, there is time travel, there are anti-monarchy gay English princes. Most of it takes place split between two timelines: the far future in 6066, and in Regency England 1812. And all of it centers people of color. The author, a self-identified Black nerd girl, wrote this book because it’s the kind of story she loves*, and she wanted to write a story with someone like her inside of it. The joy and imagination is just brimming from this thing, but at the same time that also works to its detriment. The structure and plot are a little overly complicated, and it definitely reads like a debut.
*She is clearly a massive Doctor Who fan.
I find myself feeling similarly towards this book as I did when The Bone Season, Samantha Shannon’s precocious debut, popped up on the scene. This is a person who can write, and will write some bangers in the future, but they do need some more time to mature before that can happen. I do like this book a lot better than I liked The Bone Season, though, for a couple reasons. First, this is a nerd in her element, having fun with her imagination, whereas Shannon went pretentious with it. She eventually learned to reign those instincts in, but nerdy joy is always going to win out over pretentiousness with me. Second, Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson is writing not just about people of color in a market (sff) that doesn’t see many women even get a chance to succeed, but she’s also writing in science fiction and adventure, two genres that are white male-dominated. There were A LOT of special girl falls in love with dark brooding guy who should be an enemy books even back in 2013, and there just aren’t that many fun adventure books that play with romance and time and obscure physics concepts. It feels fresh.
Anyway, all that long-windedness to say that I think this is a book worth checking out, and I can’t wait to see what this author does in the future.
(the cover, however, is terrible; i personally don't like the look of it, but also, it makes the book seem like a middle grade story, a story for young readers, when really it's more of an all-ages story and is categorized as adult)
[3.5 stars, rounded up]
r/fantasy BINGO: Author of Color (Hard Mode)
adventurous
emotional
fast-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:
No
DNF at 35%
I have no idea what to think of this book. So I asked myself: did I enjoy reading it? No, and that really bums me out, because I really wanted to. Main gripe is that Asha, who is an “indentured worker” (=slave) manages to self teach herself programming, flying etc. And when the 2 protagonists get caught she manages to create a cool weapon.
A lot of “this is how it is” instead of writing the story so that we the reader can grow with it. Like the love between George and Obi: in 1 sentence. And somehow we need to know/believe it’s true love.
I have no idea what to think of this book. So I asked myself: did I enjoy reading it? No, and that really bums me out, because I really wanted to. Main gripe is that Asha, who is an “indentured worker” (=slave) manages to self teach herself programming, flying etc. And when the 2 protagonists get caught she manages to create a cool weapon.
A lot of “this is how it is” instead of writing the story so that we the reader can grow with it. Like the love between George and Obi: in 1 sentence. And somehow we need to know/believe it’s true love.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-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
The story starts out really disjointed and difficult to follow. I think it's an intentional style choice, but there is a lot of really repetitive phrasing in the first few parts that makes it hard to really get into the narrative. The world is fascinating and full of really unique characters, and the beginning of the plot is compelling and feels like something new. As the story really begins to come together, things flow more easily and you get a deeper sense of some of the characters as you find out more of the backstory.
At the halfway point, I was well and truly into the story and really enjoying the characters. The plot manages to stay interesting without being too complex or too predictable, and I really liked all the layers to the characters' relationships.
At around the 90% point I started to catch myself skimming passages where I felt like there was too much detail about things that weren't super relevant to the story. In the end though, it managed to come back together into a really compelling end to the story that definitely left space for sequel. I would happily read the next book in the series if there is one because I do think that the overall world building and characters were really well done and that there is a ton of potential for this story too develop even further into something really amazing.
At the halfway point, I was well and truly into the story and really enjoying the characters. The plot manages to stay interesting without being too complex or too predictable, and I really liked all the layers to the characters' relationships.
At around the 90% point I started to catch myself skimming passages where I felt like there was too much detail about things that weren't super relevant to the story. In the end though, it managed to come back together into a really compelling end to the story that definitely left space for sequel. I would happily read the next book in the series if there is one because I do think that the overall world building and characters were really well done and that there is a ton of potential for this story too develop even further into something really amazing.