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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Dystopia standard fare with a multi-perspective twist. A good attempt at incorporating queer characters, but not as creatively as could have done.
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Better than the first one, love some queer wlw dystopia action, but I think the storytelling style just isn’t for me.
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Although I've marked it as a sequel, The Shutouts is more of a companion novel to Yours for the Taking (although I highly recommend reading the later first). While Yours for the Taking follows life inside of The Inside Project, The Shutouts follows life outside of it from a bunch of different perspectives. While I picked this one up because I enjoyed the first one so much, they are pretty different books. This one has more of a literary lean to it, following characters sometimes for only a chapter or two, but still painting an overall narrative. I'd highly recommend reading this book with your eyeballs instead of audio, since it does jump around quite a lot. I find it interesting how the author paints leaders and those in charge; a lot of the themes remind me of Fallout (at least the TV show). Both books together serve as nice counter pieces to the messiness of humans, how thier decisions impact the world beyond them, and how there's still hope for us all.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Somewhat unfortunately for me I did not realize this was the set in the same world as a previously published book (I would have read Yours For the Taking first had I known that). Fortunately this book worked just as well for me as a stand alone.
Also somewhat unfortunate for me is that I am notorious for not re-reading the blurb before starting a book (this is probably a character flaw). I see sapphic, I add it to my list, I don’t look back.
So that also means I went into The Shutouts having no idea what was going to happen, at all. No context, nothing. Which was most definitely confusing at first. Between the time jumps, chapters from different characters perspectives, and the letters interspersed, I was a bit confused as to how the puzzle pieces all fit together.
I remember telling my wife “I have no idea what’s going on in my book, every chapter is a different person so far… but I’m enjoying it.” Luckily I am patient when it comes to finding out the answers to questions I have because the best part of The Shutouts was seeing how all the threads wove together.
I wouldn’t say it was an action packed book or fast paced, but I enjoyed how a bunch of different aspects came together. I enjoyed the world building and the diversity. I found Orchid in particular to be an intriguing character. I enjoyed the bits of romance interspersed.
Overall, I finished this book feeling like I should read Yours For the Taking, and I would be interested in further books set in this world.
Thank you NetGalley for the free ARC. This review is being left voluntarily and all opinions are my own.
Also somewhat unfortunate for me is that I am notorious for not re-reading the blurb before starting a book (this is probably a character flaw). I see sapphic, I add it to my list, I don’t look back.
So that also means I went into The Shutouts having no idea what was going to happen, at all. No context, nothing. Which was most definitely confusing at first. Between the time jumps, chapters from different characters perspectives, and the letters interspersed, I was a bit confused as to how the puzzle pieces all fit together.
I remember telling my wife “I have no idea what’s going on in my book, every chapter is a different person so far… but I’m enjoying it.” Luckily I am patient when it comes to finding out the answers to questions I have because the best part of The Shutouts was seeing how all the threads wove together.
I wouldn’t say it was an action packed book or fast paced, but I enjoyed how a bunch of different aspects came together. I enjoyed the world building and the diversity. I found Orchid in particular to be an intriguing character. I enjoyed the bits of romance interspersed.
Overall, I finished this book feeling like I should read Yours For the Taking, and I would be interested in further books set in this world.
Thank you NetGalley for the free ARC. This review is being left voluntarily and all opinions are my own.
Solid enough follow up novel in the world that Korn created (what if Elon Musk was a woman???) that plays into how one of the major cults started and its aftermath. Its form fluctuated hard between wanting to be an epistolary and wanting to be interlocking narratives about queer people as the world starts fully falling apart, but it doesn't quite come fully together for me. Solid library read.
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
At over halfway through it was still unclear exactly what this book was about. And yes, it’s clear that climate change awareness and activism play a part.
I wanted to like the book; it’s an interesting premise. But the book itself is not interesting enough to make it worth the slog of getting to whatever may be the author’s real point.
It becomes clear with some digging that this is something of a sequel. The book should be marketed as such, because my suspicion is that it makes more sense when read that way. It is not effective or enjoyable as a standalone.
I wanted to like the book; it’s an interesting premise. But the book itself is not interesting enough to make it worth the slog of getting to whatever may be the author’s real point.
It becomes clear with some digging that this is something of a sequel. The book should be marketed as such, because my suspicion is that it makes more sense when read that way. It is not effective or enjoyable as a standalone.
This was a bit of a disappointment for me as I quite liked the first book (Yours For The Taking). I liked the dystopian world-building still, though the characters felt less compelling than in the first book. Half of the book is written in letter form, which felt a bit like a lazy way to pass off inelegant writing. The very end was also too schmaltzy for me and did not fit the tone of the rest of the book.
Overall, it was still a quick and easy read and I don't regret my time with it.
Overall, it was still a quick and easy read and I don't regret my time with it.