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jenibus's review
3.0
It bummed me out that I didn't *love* this book. I have enjoyed some of Wagers' previous works and had high hopes for this one. But it was slow to get into and I found myself struggling to care equally about the dual Pre-lim Games plot and *actual* space coast guard mysteries. I still would recommend this book to other people who enjoy found family, no alien, our world based sci-fi. If I had enjoyed the characters more off the bat, I think the dual plots would have been easier for me to get through. But there are so many and I often found myself confused.
maeve_spry's review against another edition
4.0
Another excellent space opera from Wagers
Another excellent space opera from Wagers, with mystery elements and an interesting several-hundred years post apocalypse setting. A great read.
Another excellent space opera from Wagers, with mystery elements and an interesting several-hundred years post apocalypse setting. A great read.
guardyourhonor's review
4.0
A fun, leisurely sci-fi adventure in the vein of "ship full of characters who become family". It had enough of a plot to keep me engaged, though it was ultimately far more about the characters and their relationships than about the mystery. Definitely not typical military space opera, but not in a bad way. The writing was a little bit uneven at points, but the characters and story made up for it. Though the intense focus on the Games did challenge my disbelief slightly, I was able to work around it. I'll happily spend more hours reading about Zuma's Ghost in the future.
rhodesee's review
3.0
Really enjoyable, low stakes/angst space adventure. It has a similar future setting to the Expanse, hundreds of years from now with humans spread out around the solar system and beyond. It doesn't get to into the science of how everything works though so if you don't need realistic sci-fi and just want a rag-tag found family situation in space (a la The Wayfarers) this might be for you. I'm excited to jump into book 2 and see how these characters continue to develop.
bory's review
1.0
I was excited coming into this book. A female-lead, lgbtq+ packed space opera? Yes, please. But, man, was this bad. I've tried reading K.B.Wagers' Behind the Throne before and DNF'ed. I had to force myself to finish a Pale Light in the Black.
There are problems aplenty here. There are two plots in A Pale Light - the Boarding Games and the mystery - that are not interconnected, at all. The Boarding Games are meaningless and mind-numbingly boring. The different branches of the in-universe military competing between each other for... nothing? Recognition that potentially leads to more allocation of funds to the winning branch? Can the takes be any lower? The mystery plot is more interesting, though that is a very low bar to clear, but it is delegated to the background for the majority of the book, to the point that when Wagers re-introduced it post-Games, I had almost forgotten about it.
The characters are very poorly developed. The author has this really bad habit of characterization through monologging (either internal or observational) - all telling, no showing. Sapphi and Temago are non-entities. Max is the personification of beige - bland and tedious. Jenks had the potential to be interesting, if Wagers hadn't shacked her with the boring romance to a nice guy sub-plot.
Speaking of romance, Wagers spent the first half of the book developing the relationship between Max and Jenks. If there ever was an opportunity in this story for an interesting romance, it was between these two and it was squandered. But Jenks is angst-ing over her feeling for nice-guy Luis, and Max develops - kind of - a relationship with nice-guy Nika... oh, and said relationship development occurs in letters these two exchange between chapters.
I'm done. I won't be picking up anything else by K.B. Wagers in the foreseeable future.
There are problems aplenty here. There are two plots in A Pale Light - the Boarding Games and the mystery - that are not interconnected, at all. The Boarding Games are meaningless and mind-numbingly boring. The different branches of the in-universe military competing between each other for... nothing? Recognition that potentially leads to more allocation of funds to the winning branch? Can the takes be any lower? The mystery plot is more interesting, though that is a very low bar to clear, but it is delegated to the background for the majority of the book, to the point that when Wagers re-introduced it post-Games, I had almost forgotten about it.
The characters are very poorly developed. The author has this really bad habit of characterization through monologging (either internal or observational) - all telling, no showing. Sapphi and Temago are non-entities. Max is the personification of beige - bland and tedious. Jenks had the potential to be interesting, if Wagers hadn't shacked her with the boring romance to a nice guy sub-plot.
Speaking of romance, Wagers spent the first half of the book developing the relationship between Max and Jenks. If there ever was an opportunity in this story for an interesting romance, it was between these two and it was squandered. But Jenks is angst-ing over her feeling for nice-guy Luis, and Max develops - kind of - a relationship with nice-guy Nika... oh, and said relationship development occurs in letters these two exchange between chapters.
I'm done. I won't be picking up anything else by K.B. Wagers in the foreseeable future.
mousie_books's review
4.0
the good: The action and plot were really fun! The latter half of the book was hard to put down. I would definitely read the next in the series.
the bad: It was a slow start for the first 10% - 15%, and the inclusiveness felt like tokenism; like a checklist; like name dropping. I only remember a handful of instances where it mattered for the plot or the character.
the bad: It was a slow start for the first 10% - 15%, and the inclusiveness felt like tokenism; like a checklist; like name dropping. I only remember a handful of instances where it mattered for the plot or the character.
abhrasach's review
4.0
After a run of seriously bleak SF reading, this was a hopeful romp with lots of snappy dialogue, broad representation, and the distinct feeling that we're going to get through this together. (In short, a great read for week 1 of avoiding social media during C-19 social distancing.) Though the Boarding Games are central to the plot, the fast pace keeps it focused on people, never bogging down in sports commentary (beloved by some but totally not my thing), and the portrayal of human team dynamics is spot-on. I agree with the blurb: if you enjoyed Becky Chambers's Wayfarers trilogy, you'll probably enjoy this too. I'm hoping for sequels!
herroharey's review
adventurous
lighthearted
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? It's complicated
4.0
majkia's review
5.0
A character driven science fiction story, with lots of action and great world-building. Hopeful, and funny, and poignant too.