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slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Wow, what a disappointment. I opened this book hoping for a dystopian analysis of a post-climate change world and how the relationships between humans, animals, and capitalism clash. I was holding my breath for the feelings I got while reading How High We Go In The Dark, I Who Have Never Known Men, or similar thought-provoking novels. Instead, this story is bland, surface-level, and elementary. There are barely any critiques of society, government, or humanity, and when they are present, it’s like the sentences have been plopped on top of a pile of basic sentence structures and almost no character work.
To me, this felt super similar to The Phoenix Keeper, which was also trash. Like TPK, our main character here is bland and directionless, waiting for other people to drill lessons into her because she practices almost no autonomy. Then, a spunky, mysterious woman is introduced and forces our main character to consider ideas and people outside of her immediate circle. It’s so basic, the conversations were stale, and we haven’t even gotten to the plot (which didn’t start until 50% of the way into the book).
Again, the plot mirrors TPK in that there are groups of people who want to smuggle animals out of the zoo to the highest bidder. But it happens in an unrealistic yet uninteresting fashion. If I’m honest, I skimmed the last 100 pages just to see if I would be at all intrigued. I guess you could call the end a twist, but at that point I couldn’t give less of a shit.
If you want to read 300 pages of watching people shovel animal poop and clean enclosures, then fine, pick this up. But it’s a huge, huge missed opportunity for something great. We could have had such important, provocative conversations but this is, in its entirety, a waste of paper.
To me, this felt super similar to The Phoenix Keeper, which was also trash. Like TPK, our main character here is bland and directionless, waiting for other people to drill lessons into her because she practices almost no autonomy. Then, a spunky, mysterious woman is introduced and forces our main character to consider ideas and people outside of her immediate circle. It’s so basic, the conversations were stale, and we haven’t even gotten to the plot (which didn’t start until 50% of the way into the book).
Again, the plot mirrors TPK in that there are groups of people who want to smuggle animals out of the zoo to the highest bidder. But it happens in an unrealistic yet uninteresting fashion. If I’m honest, I skimmed the last 100 pages just to see if I would be at all intrigued. I guess you could call the end a twist, but at that point I couldn’t give less of a shit.
If you want to read 300 pages of watching people shovel animal poop and clean enclosures, then fine, pick this up. But it’s a huge, huge missed opportunity for something great. We could have had such important, provocative conversations but this is, in its entirety, a waste of paper.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Sexual content, Suicide, Trafficking, Classism, Deportation, Pandemic/Epidemic
dark
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I won an audiobook version of this from Macmillan Audio on this app.
I greatly enjoyed this book as it was very engaging, though I definitely got through it much faster than I would have if I had read it in print. I was on the edge of my seat for most of this book, nervous about when something bad would happen to these characters!
Not sure how well researched the animal facts are, but from my animal crazy person perspective, the author was correct for most of the facts stated. End of the word speculative fiction like this always makes me a bit nervous with how plausible it sounds. This is definitely a unique read, and one of the first of its kind that I’ve seen focus on animal and insect loss in an environmental mid-apocalypse setting.
I greatly enjoyed this book as it was very engaging, though I definitely got through it much faster than I would have if I had read it in print. I was on the edge of my seat for most of this book, nervous about when something bad would happen to these characters!
Not sure how well researched the animal facts are, but from my animal crazy person perspective, the author was correct for most of the facts stated. End of the word speculative fiction like this always makes me a bit nervous with how plausible it sounds. This is definitely a unique read, and one of the first of its kind that I’ve seen focus on animal and insect loss in an environmental mid-apocalypse setting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug use, Sexual content, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail