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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Lesbians :)
2025 read:
I wanted to go through this one again in preparation to continue and catch up with the series, and I must say knowing now what to expect, and having read more Sherlock Holmes in the interim, I enjoyed my time with this even more than the first time. Like all the best mysteries, imo, this was a joy to read even already knowing the solution from a previous read. 4 stars.
***
2023 (1st) read:
3.5 stars
I wanted to go through this one again in preparation to continue and catch up with the series, and I must say knowing now what to expect, and having read more Sherlock Holmes in the interim, I enjoyed my time with this even more than the first time. Like all the best mysteries, imo, this was a joy to read even already knowing the solution from a previous read. 4 stars.
***
2023 (1st) read:
3.5 stars
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
In this Holmsian sci-fi mystery, humanity evacuated Earth generations ago to live on Jupiter, surviving on man-made platforms in the thick gaseous atmosphere. Mossa is a detective investigating a strange disappearance. Pleiti is a researcher at an institute dedicated to trying to get humanity back to Earth - and also Mossa's ex-girlfriend. When Mossa determines the disappearance is related to Pleiti's institute, they'll have to work together after years without contact.
This is another case of me finding a cheap book that I had heard very little about and suffering for it. What did I like about this book? The setting is so fantastic. It's gaslamp, everything's hazy and atmospheric. The vibe was smokey, cinematic, almost western or steampunk. I haven't really read that before! I liked the idea of humanity in this strange new environment and so much of their resources being dedicated to trying to go back. What did I not like about this book? Unfortunately, a good amount. The language in this book made me disconnect from it so quickly. It was pretentious and stuck out like a sore thumb. I'm lucky nobody bet me to take a shot every time the author used "august" as an adjective because I would not have been able to get home. It felt so out of place, so distracting, that it made me focus on that and little else. I didn't connect to our characters at all. They felt as flat as could be. In fact, I wouldn't have thought they were exes until way into the book were it not for the synopsis because they are built out so little. Other than them being Holmes and Watson, I really couldn't name many (if any) character traits they inhabit, particularly Pleiti, which is criminal because she's the POV character. I thought this book was way too short to give a satisfying mystery, mostly to set up the world for the reader in which the mystery would make sense. Maybe I should listen to my gut and stay away from novellas, and from most sff murder mysteries, but sometimes a set-up is too good for me to not give it a shot. You gotta take a chance, and this chance just happened to not work out for me.
Overall, other than the setting, nothing really worked out for me here except for the very cool world.
This is another case of me finding a cheap book that I had heard very little about and suffering for it. What did I like about this book? The setting is so fantastic. It's gaslamp, everything's hazy and atmospheric. The vibe was smokey, cinematic, almost western or steampunk. I haven't really read that before! I liked the idea of humanity in this strange new environment and so much of their resources being dedicated to trying to go back. What did I not like about this book? Unfortunately, a good amount. The language in this book made me disconnect from it so quickly. It was pretentious and stuck out like a sore thumb. I'm lucky nobody bet me to take a shot every time the author used "august" as an adjective because I would not have been able to get home. It felt so out of place, so distracting, that it made me focus on that and little else. I didn't connect to our characters at all. They felt as flat as could be. In fact, I wouldn't have thought they were exes until way into the book were it not for the synopsis because they are built out so little. Other than them being Holmes and Watson, I really couldn't name many (if any) character traits they inhabit, particularly Pleiti, which is criminal because she's the POV character. I thought this book was way too short to give a satisfying mystery, mostly to set up the world for the reader in which the mystery would make sense. Maybe I should listen to my gut and stay away from novellas, and from most sff murder mysteries, but sometimes a set-up is too good for me to not give it a shot. You gotta take a chance, and this chance just happened to not work out for me.
Overall, other than the setting, nothing really worked out for me here except for the very cool world.
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a fun idea, but it was so poorly written that I almost DNF'd. Comma splices everywhere, characters who all sound the same as each other and the narration, serious white-room syndrome. No one is ever described! The first mention of the narrator being femme came at 71%, when she references having "womb-deep fear". As much as I was looking forward to many a space detective novella to come, I won't be continuing this series.
Like okay if you’re gonna have a second chance romance give me a character that deserved a second chance??? The reason they broke up in the first place was because Mossa was super self centered and the other girl didn’t like that and throughout the whole book Mossa was like hey btw i’m still super self centered and the girl was like oh that’s okay! Which is like fine ig but it was kinda annoying. The mystery was really good tho!