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singalana's review
challenging
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I went through the five stages of grief with this book. Either I’m not smart enough, or the author is not very good at explaining complex things and what the hell is happening at any given time.
Denial. I thought this book was about space vampires! (Something like the wraith in Stargate Atlantis or something, idk!) Well, there is one, but the vampire in this book is not at all what I expected them to be. The main character is missing half of his brain, and the rest of the characters are interesting in theory (one with multiple personalities, a cyborg etc.), but man, are they confusing and even boring on paper!
Anger. There are a lot of words and terms I don’t recognise, so at first, I have to look up a few words on every page. Then I basically give up and tried to decipher from the context what the words meant.
Bargaining. This is a First Contact story, just as it says on the tin. My feelings towards that aspects were also a rollercoaster. (Mild spoilers ahead!) I liked the better when they were talking. Then the stuff that was happening was eerie, sure, but was it that interesting? Where did my interesting aliens go? Why did they stop speaking?
Depression. The book spends some time on the main character’s backstory, especially his relationship with the women in his life: his mother and his girlfriend. Are they remotely interesting? Yes. Are they relevant? I don’t know, you tell me.
Acceptance. This book sure doesn’t ‘tell’ you anything. Mind you, it doesn’t ‘show’ much, either. As to my feelings about this book, either I’m not smart enough to understand half of what is happening here, or the author might have clarified the most crucial events in this book with a few more sentences to make sure that the reader understands what is going on. It’s not a bad book, I just didn’t get it.
A quote from this book: “You rationalize, Keeton. You defend. You reject unpalatable truths, and if you can’t reject them outright you trivialize them. Incremental evidence is never enough for you. You hear rumors of holocaust; you dismiss them. You see evidence of genocide; you insist it can’t be so bad. Temperatures rise, glaciers melt—species die—and you blame sunspots and volcanoes.”
Content Warnings
Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Rape, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Terminal illness, Violence, and War
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