Reviews

I was still a little iffy after the abomination that was Absolution Gap and the yawners with the elephants, but AR's other books earned him another chance, and I'm glad.

The overall idea is good, even if the first half moves at the pace of an 1850s sailboat in a light breeze.
Then the confusion starts. There are enough good characters to excuse the odious Topolsky.

Then we start to repeat. The pace picks up, but not much, and I found myself skimming.

We end up facing a sketchily-described opponent, and on reflection that's just as well.

What's going on is explained adequately, but I must have missed WHY we are

Spoiler

semi-looping

Some didn't like the ending; I liked it, and I can see it spawning some interesting discussions about whether it's ethical to

Spoiler

turn off an AI that either is self-aware or at least thinks it is. Do you give it a processor of its own and let it play out? If so, how do you someday wrap it up?

galaheadh's review against another edition

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nearly gave this one up <50 pages because the style grated on me so badly (especially the stilted and fake dialogue), but i had a free evening to read so went ahead and it turned out to be a neat and well put together story in the end - despite being quite hand-holdy for the reader. the style didn't improve or change but i managed to settle into and tolerate it, and it does suit the story so i'm giving it a pass. overall i would say this is a good book but not a great one

vengefuldime's review against another edition

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2.0

I finished this because I wanted to know the ending. The premise was definitely creative and interesting! I enjoyed the historical twist on a time loop story. The characters and descriptions were more difficult for me to get past. Coade didn’t convince me as a character early on, seeming younger and more modern than the reader is told. The other characters are simplistic but don’t have the same discordance as a result. I wish that they had felt more fleshed out to make it easier to care about them. There is a good back-and-forth pattern regarding the mystery, but the metaphors, descriptive language, and other hints were so ridiculously on the nose that it took away immersion. I promise I understand, I cried, have pity on me. Unfortunately this was present throughout nearly the whole book. At least having an unreliable narrator is fun. He also had a sexy hate situation with an aspect of himself? Curious to see what else could be done with this in other stories (with less of both of those aspects).

joanne_price's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

1.0

tashshaw's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.75

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