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rachaelbunny's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Kidnapping, Violence, Gun violence, Cursing, and Confinement
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Blood, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Classism
Natural disaster, terrorismemzconklin's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: War, Violence, and Gun violence
ekcd_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Abandonment, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicide, Body horror, Colonisation, Classism, Suicide attempt, War, Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Toxic relationship
Minor: Death of parent, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Cancer, and Pregnancy
iono's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Violence, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and War
Moderate: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racism, Pregnancy, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia
Minor: Child abuse, Grief, and Death
s_p_a_r_k_s's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Genocide, Gun violence, Grief, Murder, and Child abuse
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Sexual violence
A main character is kidnapped by her abusive ex and held captive by him for the majority of the book's run-time. He is extremely manipulative and emotionally abusive to hercaryndi's review against another edition
3.0
It was nice to know more about the crew, but I would have preferred it if everything we learned arise organically in the narrative rather than just being contained to one book. There were some pretty big backstory drops that could provide a LOT of interpersonal friction/conflict, but I think it's fair to say the authors of The Expanse are not as skilled in that aspect of storytelling. Though the larger conflict introduced in this book does make sense politically, it also had more distance from Holden & co., who somehow managed to once again <spoilers>insert themselves in the middle of a war, only this time, there weren't really any consequences for them as individuals.
I was also totally underwhelmed with the amount of emotional conflict in this book.
I don't know that I have a lot to say about most of the individual backstories because, as I said, this book sort of just seemed like a visit to these characters' pasts/their memories of their pasts in the middle of a large space adventure and I don't expect much of it to come forward into future books. Maybe I'll be wrong, but I felt all the stories were wrapped up by the end of the book.
I'm also not sure about what the direction for the next book will be; as I mentioned in my review for Cibola Burn, the first three books did a great job of building a larger arc using cliffhangers or raising questions at the end of a book to hint at where the story was going next. I didn't feel that coming into this book nor did it have a clear organic lead-in to what the next book will hold. I assume that's why they added the epilogue; though it did have ties to the story, they were little threads rather than strong foreshadowing.
I think part of this is because we turned away from the Weird Alien Shit to deal with personal crew matters. In terms of the protomolecule, it was hardly even mentioned
Recommend? Expect the tone to be different from previous books in the series, but at the very least, it fills in some gaps and questions about the crew of the Rocinante.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Violence
Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts