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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
This was a delightful romp, and I'm so glad I found it on a booklist.
This book is very puddle-like: wide but very shallow. Although it's ostensibly 'adult fiction', it reads like YA, complete with Divergent-level 'factions' and AdjectiveNoun combos for names. The prose was fine, but again, read very like YA or fanfic.
Characterisation is, unfortunately, weak; the protagonist just looooves a quip, which grows tiring very fast, and the deuteragonist has very few character traits that differ her from the protagonist.
The 'heist' is very shallow and ultimately doesn't matter. I also couldn't get invested in any of the plot as it all, again, felt very shallow--I had no reason to be invested in anyone as I largely found them annoying and didn't care to see them reach their goals.
Also,dropping the guns in the fire at the end made me laugh aloud.
This is a first novel and in the author's note, the author explains how they wrote this during uni. You can tell.
Characterisation is, unfortunately, weak; the protagonist just looooves a quip, which grows tiring very fast, and the deuteragonist has very few character traits that differ her from the protagonist.
The 'heist' is very shallow and ultimately doesn't matter. I also couldn't get invested in any of the plot as it all, again, felt very shallow--I had no reason to be invested in anyone as I largely found them annoying and didn't care to see them reach their goals.
Also,
This is a first novel and in the author's note, the author explains how they wrote this during uni. You can tell.
I feel like I'm being thrown into a book, and not in a good way. More in a "stuff is happening and I don't know why I should care about any of these character" sort of way. From what I read of the book it seems like the main character is pretty one dimensional. Just not my cup of tea.
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
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:
Complicated
adventurous
funny
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:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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:
Yes
A fun romp that is entertaining and well enough written to enjoy. The world, plot, and characters are all fun. It’s nothing super special, and the plot is often moved forward through inexplicable actions of the characters, but it’s a fun and easy read the entire way through
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book shows that the author has promise, but isn't fully developed as a writer. I found out that this is their first book and written at 21. It does show.
What we were promised and did we get it:
The writing: This book was billed as adult, but the writing feels YA. Maybe New Adult but without the connotation of sex scenes. The writing wasn't bad though, and it makes me feel that if this author gets more years of experience, I could come to like them. It still isn't a writing level I was initally promised.
The setting: It does have factions, but I felt the world was under developed. Mile wide and inch deep is a good descriptor. The factions felt essentially space Harry Potter houses or Hunger Games districts. Except for 1 faction (Ossuary) they felt bland. We're told a lot more than shown. Like the main character will say "Ascetic always lies" but we are never shown them lying. You just have to take that the factions are bad based on that alone because it doesn't dive into the actual horrors on any real level. The aliens are not alien. They could really just be different humans and it would have made no difference. You aren't going to find anything unique in the world building.
I felt there are some things probably stolen from Star Wars (Hard Light) and Star Trek DS9 (Grace), but it's not annoying. Still, definitely notable.
The Characters: I did not like the main character Rig. If you dislike quippy characters, you will also not like Rig. Rig also didn't really grow at all.We find that Rig knowingly made weapons for genociding her species. You would think that this being the case, her guilt would be a far bigger theme than it is. She never really condones for these actions and it defintely made me feel that if the other characters knew, they would want to have some sort of fitting punishment for Rig. I mean it's kind of like if the Nazi who designed the showers were just running around on adventure and get immediate forgiveness for their past.
I did like Ginka, to the point I just wish the book were about Ginka. She grows, she shows remorse, she shows deconstruction. Ginka has a reasonable motivation. The girlfriend June was fine, but nothing notable until the last 20% of the book. The other side characters were more convenient plot points than actual real people.
The kidnapped sister did not matter one bit. I am not joking when I say if the author had replaced the kidnapped sister with a rare artifact, it would have been a far more understandable thing to use as blackmail against Rig.
These characters all feel very young. I don't remember the age being stated, but they feel firmly late teens early 20s. Additionally, if you hate the "I'm a navy seal, a doctor, and an astronaut and I did it in 3 years" trope, you will have issues with the characters. Also it has the "I don't trust anyone" people who then immediately trust strangers. The characters doing these kinds of things is one way the author's age is showing in the writing.
I think the characters are the biggest issue I had with the book. If you need good characters, I would read something else.
The Plot: If you want a low key, turn your brain off, kind of sci-fi plot, you'll like this. It is very straightforward, but does need tightening. It's really just a run around and shoot kind of vibe. Some of the action scenes are well done, but due to the convenient side characters, they don't feel tense. You feel like everyone has plot armor. The ending felt extremely naive,(We've taken out the bad guys and are in charge now. Everything is fixed!) another showing of the author's age. There are plot holes.
This book was shy of being a fully real world with fully real people. I am interested in the future works of this author though.
What we were promised and did we get it:
The writing: This book was billed as adult, but the writing feels YA. Maybe New Adult but without the connotation of sex scenes. The writing wasn't bad though, and it makes me feel that if this author gets more years of experience, I could come to like them. It still isn't a writing level I was initally promised.
The setting: It does have factions, but I felt the world was under developed. Mile wide and inch deep is a good descriptor. The factions felt essentially space Harry Potter houses or Hunger Games districts. Except for 1 faction (Ossuary) they felt bland. We're told a lot more than shown. Like the main character will say "Ascetic always lies" but we are never shown them lying. You just have to take that the factions are bad based on that alone because it doesn't dive into the actual horrors on any real level. The aliens are not alien. They could really just be different humans and it would have made no difference. You aren't going to find anything unique in the world building.
I felt there are some things probably stolen from Star Wars (Hard Light) and Star Trek DS9 (Grace), but it's not annoying. Still, definitely notable.
The Characters: I did not like the main character Rig. If you dislike quippy characters, you will also not like Rig. Rig also didn't really grow at all.
I did like Ginka, to the point I just wish the book were about Ginka. She grows, she shows remorse, she shows deconstruction. Ginka has a reasonable motivation. The girlfriend June was fine, but nothing notable until the last 20% of the book. The other side characters were more convenient plot points than actual real people.
The kidnapped sister did not matter one bit. I am not joking when I say if the author had replaced the kidnapped sister with a rare artifact, it would have been a far more understandable thing to use as blackmail against Rig.
These characters all feel very young. I don't remember the age being stated, but they feel firmly late teens early 20s. Additionally, if you hate the "I'm a navy seal, a doctor, and an astronaut and I did it in 3 years" trope, you will have issues with the characters. Also it has the "I don't trust anyone" people who then immediately trust strangers. The characters doing these kinds of things is one way the author's age is showing in the writing.
I think the characters are the biggest issue I had with the book. If you need good characters, I would read something else.
The Plot: If you want a low key, turn your brain off, kind of sci-fi plot, you'll like this. It is very straightforward, but does need tightening. It's really just a run around and shoot kind of vibe. Some of the action scenes are well done, but due to the convenient side characters, they don't feel tense. You feel like everyone has plot armor. The ending felt extremely naive,
This book was shy of being a fully real world with fully real people. I am interested in the future works of this author though.
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book just didn't click with me. It took me forever to read. My main issue was the writing style - nothing against Pierlot, it's definitely competent and gets the job done but it felt a bit too YA for me (although this book isn't YA), and I have started to struggle mightily with that kind of writing.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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
A thrilling sci-fi adventure featuring a badass heroine trying to atone for her mistakes, teamed up with an assassin brainwashed since childhood into giving her name and her body over to the religious sect she belongs to, protecting a futuristic nanotech weapon from falling into the imperialistic supremacist colonizer hands while trying to keep their loved ones safe. Queer romance, forbidden love, swashbuckling piracy, thrilling heists, double-and-triple-crossing bad guys, strong political themes of decoloniality, of fighting for freedom from imperial fascistic religious powers, and the downsides of doing science and developing technology without thinking of the consequences, witty dialogue, and exciting hand-to-hand and spaceship-to-spaceship combat! What’s not to love, especially when narrated beautifully in an audiobook that had me in its thrall for the past few days?
adventurous
funny
hopeful
fast-paced