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pivoinnne's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Comparing this book to Ursula LeGuin or Octavia Butler is an insult. The concept in the blurb is interesting, but the incomprehensible pacing, flat, dimensionless characters and weak writing muddle the whole story to the point where it’s hard to tell what it’s even about at all. None of the characters are compelling, nor do they really have any arcs, and on top of that they barely act like humans. They’re constantly bursting into dramatic fits of sobbing or throwing up at the most minor inconvenience, and even the side characters seem to have no backbone. People in both of the planet’s tidally-locked cities frequently form murderously violent mobs for, textually, no reason, and there’s a passage towards the later part of the book where groups of what are supposed to be hardened soldiers (I think? It’s unclear, like much of the rest of this book.) are throwing up and crying for their mommies just because of some turbulence while driving through the tundra. Meanwhile, the main characters are all fine despite being crybabies at every other turn, even the supposedly battle-hardened Mouth.
Speaking of Mouth, I loved her cool sci-fi name, but the rest of the characters, despite being descendants of a diverse number of Earth cities (Ulaanbaatar, Shanghai, etc.) have white person names like Sophie and Bianca - except for the characters that were implied to be Muslim (Ahmed and Ali). It was just strange. Paul Atredies and Luke Skywalker having normal American names works, but this doesn’t.
The switch between past tense third person and present tense first person for Mouth and Sophie’s chapters was constantly jarring, and I couldn’t find a single reason for that choice other than perhaps the author was worried the two characters voices wouldn’t be easy enough to distinguish between if they were written in the same person and tense - which is likely. Not a single character really had a unique voice, except perhaps Bianca, who was just a bitch. Not a conniving, manipulative mastermind, like I think she was supposed to come across- just a mercurial, annoying jerk.
For how time-obsessed the city of Xisophant supposedly is, time in this book is soupy and incoherent. Even within the Xisophant, I found myself wondering if their days passed at uneven intervals because the movement of the characters made no sense within a usual human circadian rhythm (Which was the whole point of the cities time regimens!). Several times, I thought perhaps only a few weeks had passed, but it might as well have been months, or even years. Bianca’s feeling of betrayal at Sophie not revealing herself as alive after her “execution” makes it seem like it’s been actual years since they last saw each other, but I had no way of verifying that. Similarly, at the end, Sophie and Mouth’s stay in the midnight city could have lasted anywhere between a month and ten. This unclear passage of time contributes to the absurdly poor pacing, and overall I felt like I was grasping trying to understand anything about the timeline.
The last thing I’ll say (and I have plenty more, but this review is plenty long) is that the whole political intrigue plot was absurdly messy and should have been completely scrapped. Who were the governments ? What did they stand for? The Xisophantian government apparently controlled people’s time, but the only time we see any evidence of this is when the police … attempt to extrajudicially execute Sophie for stealing three dollars? This isn’t a dictatorship, it’s just lunacy. The fact that this is the entire inciting incident of the book just makes it even more ridiculous. The Argelan “government” isn’t much better; after the girls arrive to Argelos, Bianca seduces her way (off-screen) into the good graces of one of the ruling families, which isn’t unreasonable, but there’s constant mention of her and Sophie being “heroes” to the city. What, precisely, did they do? Why do people in the city seem to know them? It’s bizarre. There certainly is an interesting seed for a gritty sci-fi political drama hidden in this book, but the execution scrambles it beyond comprehension.
There’s much more to discuss - the disappointingly weak world building for such an interesting concept, the pointless character deaths and meandering, dropped plot lines, the ineffective commentary on climate change, not to mention the weak writing - but I’ll end here. I genuinely cannot believe this got the nominations it did. Go read Left Hand of Darkness instead.
Speaking of Mouth, I loved her cool sci-fi name, but the rest of the characters, despite being descendants of a diverse number of Earth cities (Ulaanbaatar, Shanghai, etc.) have white person names like Sophie and Bianca - except for the characters that were implied to be Muslim (Ahmed and Ali). It was just strange. Paul Atredies and Luke Skywalker having normal American names works, but this doesn’t.
The switch between past tense third person and present tense first person for Mouth and Sophie’s chapters was constantly jarring, and I couldn’t find a single reason for that choice other than perhaps the author was worried the two characters voices wouldn’t be easy enough to distinguish between if they were written in the same person and tense - which is likely. Not a single character really had a unique voice, except perhaps Bianca, who was just a bitch. Not a conniving, manipulative mastermind, like I think she was supposed to come across- just a mercurial, annoying jerk.
For how time-obsessed the city of Xisophant supposedly is, time in this book is soupy and incoherent. Even within the Xisophant, I found myself wondering if their days passed at uneven intervals because the movement of the characters made no sense within a usual human circadian rhythm (Which was the whole point of the cities time regimens!). Several times, I thought perhaps only a few weeks had passed, but it might as well have been months, or even years. Bianca’s feeling of betrayal at Sophie not revealing herself as alive after her “execution” makes it seem like it’s been actual years since they last saw each other, but I had no way of verifying that. Similarly, at the end, Sophie and Mouth’s stay in the midnight city could have lasted anywhere between a month and ten. This unclear passage of time contributes to the absurdly poor pacing, and overall I felt like I was grasping trying to understand anything about the timeline.
The last thing I’ll say (and I have plenty more, but this review is plenty long) is that the whole political intrigue plot was absurdly messy and should have been completely scrapped. Who were the governments ? What did they stand for? The Xisophantian government apparently controlled people’s time, but the only time we see any evidence of this is when the police … attempt to extrajudicially execute Sophie for stealing three dollars? This isn’t a dictatorship, it’s just lunacy. The fact that this is the entire inciting incident of the book just makes it even more ridiculous. The Argelan “government” isn’t much better; after the girls arrive to Argelos, Bianca seduces her way (off-screen) into the good graces of one of the ruling families, which isn’t unreasonable, but there’s constant mention of her and Sophie being “heroes” to the city. What, precisely, did they do? Why do people in the city seem to know them? It’s bizarre. There certainly is an interesting seed for a gritty sci-fi political drama hidden in this book, but the execution scrambles it beyond comprehension.
There’s much more to discuss - the disappointingly weak world building for such an interesting concept, the pointless character deaths and meandering, dropped plot lines, the ineffective commentary on climate change, not to mention the weak writing - but I’ll end here. I genuinely cannot believe this got the nominations it did. Go read Left Hand of Darkness instead.
keen23's review against another edition
3.0
This book got really weird in the middle, and I never really got over that part.
lucardus's review against another edition
2.0
Ich habe hier nach etwas mehr als der Hälfte abgebrochen. Ich konnte weder mit den Charakteren etwas anfangen noch hat mich das World-Building überzeugt. Es wird zwar immer wieder erwähnt, dass diese Welt sehr lebensfeindlich ist, und das ist ja auch die Prämisse des Buches, aber es wird nicht wirklich viel damit angestellt. Ein ähnliches Setting hat mich z. B. in Kim Stanley Robinsons Roman "2312" auf dem Merkur total mit Sense-of-wonder erfüllt, hier spüre ich als Leser nichts dergleichen. Die Lebensformen sind entweder mehr oder minder unvorhergesehen auftauchende Raubtiere oder dann von den Kolonisten verkannte, aber wohlwollende Intelligenzen, die sich sogar relativ einfach mit der Protagonistin verständigen können und damit auch gleich ziemlich am Anfang des Romans ohne viel Federlesen "entzaubert" werden. Man könnte argumentieren, Anders legt den Schwerpunkt auf das Innenleben der Protagonisten, aber auch das haut für mich nicht hin, ich bin emotional nur wenig an ihnen interessiert. Die autokratisch wirkende Gesellschaft in Xiosphant mit den strikt zeitgesteuerten Abläufen, wirkt auf mich nicht annährend so stimmig und bleibt nur eine Art Bühnenbild, es ergibt für mich keine Stimmung wie z. B. die bedrückende gesellschaftliche Atmosphäre in "Handmaid's Tale". Die Handlung selbst wirkt auch nicht spannend genug und nach einer gewissen Zeit eher wie von einer Ereignis-Liste abgehakt, als sei dies ein Pen&Paper Rollenspielabenteuer: Spieler dringen in eine Stadt ein als Schmuggler; Spieler müssen einem Aufstand mit brutaler Ordnungsmacht entkommen; Spieler müssen auf der Flucht diverse Begegnungen in der lebensfeindlichen "Wildnis" überstehen. Dann werden sie aus hoffnungsloser Lage gerettet, ohne dass mich das irgendwie überrascht hätte. Es geht weiter in der nächsten Stadt, die aber auch nur eine 08/15 Stadt ist und auch in einem beliebigen Fantasy-Roman als Hintergrund dienen könnte. Das alles zusammen hat mich dazu bewogen, den Roman hier abzubrechen. Möglicherweise wird später alles ganz toll, aber soweit will ich nicht mehr lesen, mir geht hier die Puste und auch die Geduld aus.
timinbc's review against another edition
2.0
Coulda been great, wasn't. DNF.
Not the first story ever set on the narrow strip between burn and freeze. I have yet to read one that really worked.
Xiosphanti bugged me right away, with the implausibly rigid rules, not least of which is a grammar that changes by time of day as well as other more plausible rules. But Anders gives no example of explanation.
I kinda like books that drop us in a strange setting without explanation, then gradually reveal it in the flow of the plot. But there isn't quite enough of the reveal here, and the setting feels like sparse pencil sketching. They have something like pagers, but no sign of a comms network to support it. They have guns and ammo, but there's no sign of an industry that would make them.
Similarly sparse is the encounter with the pirates. At one point a pirate boat is RIGHT UPON THEM, but someone makes a sharp turn (in the boat that was just described as being mostly unsteerable) and it's as if that attacker never existed. Turned out OK, though, there was another attacker.
Just how narrow is the habitable band here anyway? At one point they were bouncing off ice floes while also watching the sea boil within sight. What are the physics and meteorology and geology that allow usable water in the middle strip? They arrived by spaceship but have no solar panels? Do they have storage warehouses just next to the cold zone? Pizza ovens that stick into the hot zone? Your world sounds interesting; show it to me!
The whole thing with the "crocodiles" showed great promise, and probably stayed strong. I didn't get to find out because the characters turned me right off. Bianca and Sophie seem to be attached like Gorilla Glue, but I didn't catch why. Bianca is so obviously toxic that anyone with half a brain would have run away by Chapter 3. However, I admit that pairings like this DO happen in real life, and when they do there is often a story to be told.
Mouth's obsession with The Invention (which I assumed had to be a chronosynclastic infundibulum gun but turned out to be a book of poems and rituals) was also annoying. Perhaps it too it just a symbol for something else that a broken person might latch onto just to have a goal in life.
The book lost me about halfway, when Sophie goes out with the Scavengers, all of whom are killed, and wanders back apparently thinking, "well, there goes another two hours of my life I'll never get back." This while Bianca is with Dash, who is obviously an evil fairy prince who fell in from another book entirely.
Feh.
CJA writes good prose, and I'd like to see what a co-author might do.
Not the first story ever set on the narrow strip between burn and freeze. I have yet to read one that really worked.
Xiosphanti bugged me right away, with the implausibly rigid rules, not least of which is a grammar that changes by time of day as well as other more plausible rules. But Anders gives no example of explanation.
I kinda like books that drop us in a strange setting without explanation, then gradually reveal it in the flow of the plot. But there isn't quite enough of the reveal here, and the setting feels like sparse pencil sketching. They have something like pagers, but no sign of a comms network to support it. They have guns and ammo, but there's no sign of an industry that would make them.
Similarly sparse is the encounter with the pirates. At one point a pirate boat is RIGHT UPON THEM, but someone makes a sharp turn (in the boat that was just described as being mostly unsteerable) and it's as if that attacker never existed. Turned out OK, though, there was another attacker.
Just how narrow is the habitable band here anyway? At one point they were bouncing off ice floes while also watching the sea boil within sight. What are the physics and meteorology and geology that allow usable water in the middle strip? They arrived by spaceship but have no solar panels? Do they have storage warehouses just next to the cold zone? Pizza ovens that stick into the hot zone? Your world sounds interesting; show it to me!
The whole thing with the "crocodiles" showed great promise, and probably stayed strong. I didn't get to find out because the characters turned me right off. Bianca and Sophie seem to be attached like Gorilla Glue, but I didn't catch why. Bianca is so obviously toxic that anyone with half a brain would have run away by Chapter 3. However, I admit that pairings like this DO happen in real life, and when they do there is often a story to be told.
Mouth's obsession with The Invention (which I assumed had to be a chronosynclastic infundibulum gun but turned out to be a book of poems and rituals) was also annoying. Perhaps it too it just a symbol for something else that a broken person might latch onto just to have a goal in life.
The book lost me about halfway, when Sophie goes out with the Scavengers, all of whom are killed, and wanders back apparently thinking, "well, there goes another two hours of my life I'll never get back." This while Bianca is with Dash, who is obviously an evil fairy prince who fell in from another book entirely.
Feh.
CJA writes good prose, and I'd like to see what a co-author might do.
all_kat's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
boytrouts's review against another edition
5.0
It's taken me ages to figure out what I wanted to say besides, "this book is incredible." I still don't know how much else I can say. This book makes you consider how devastating of a thing hope can be and how there are people in our lives we may always be dragged back to despite how bad that can be for us. The world Anders created is flawed and fractured and so detailed you can taste it. This immediately became one of my favorite books I've read in years.
sntidy_soup_'s review against another edition
1.0
I really liked the setting and characters but the plot and ending were not good.
justmesamb's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I thought the world this took place in was very interesting and had a lot of potential but I absolutely despised every single character and the plot really dragged. Also the ending was unsatisfying; it felt like there was going to be another book but there’s only a short story from a minor characters perspective from what I can tell.
carlyxdeexx's review against another edition
4.0
I was so excited to read this after buying it at BookCon and chatting with Charlie Jane—I knew I needed to read more by her after reading her short story in last year’s BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY.
This book didn’t disappoint. It’s unlike any other fantasy I’ve read, and the themes are so relevant: time and and individualism as tools of oppression, the power of community and collaboration and sharing ideas, embracing instead of fearing uniqueness, evolving as the environment evolves, there’s so much here.
Also, there’s barely a man in this book and it’s a breath of fresh air to follow a main cast of women with men in supporting roles. You’ll find plenty of romantic tension, but romance isn’t everything in this story—building relationships is difficult and complicated, and sometimes our emotions get in the way of our seeing who someone really is. There’s no predicting where Anders will take you and the characters next, each new development building on the last in a way that feels organic, almost meandering. This is a book that takes its time, which isn’t to say it’s slow or padded, but it doesn’t feel precisely scripted.
This is a quality I like, but I find it can sometimes stifle my reading momentum. It’s not necessarily bad for pacing, but I’m not quite used to it. Still, in a book about time, moving from regimented time to a near lack of it, this kind of feel makes sense.
I love the Gelet, and the concept of January, and the plausibility of this future, albeit a terrifying plausibility. Maybe we can foster the community we need to foster across the borders we create now, to prevent our own climate crisis from pushing us off-world.
This book didn’t disappoint. It’s unlike any other fantasy I’ve read, and the themes are so relevant: time and and individualism as tools of oppression, the power of community and collaboration and sharing ideas, embracing instead of fearing uniqueness, evolving as the environment evolves, there’s so much here.
Also, there’s barely a man in this book and it’s a breath of fresh air to follow a main cast of women with men in supporting roles. You’ll find plenty of romantic tension, but romance isn’t everything in this story—building relationships is difficult and complicated, and sometimes our emotions get in the way of our seeing who someone really is. There’s no predicting where Anders will take you and the characters next, each new development building on the last in a way that feels organic, almost meandering. This is a book that takes its time, which isn’t to say it’s slow or padded, but it doesn’t feel precisely scripted.
This is a quality I like, but I find it can sometimes stifle my reading momentum. It’s not necessarily bad for pacing, but I’m not quite used to it. Still, in a book about time, moving from regimented time to a near lack of it, this kind of feel makes sense.
I love the Gelet, and the concept of January, and the plausibility of this future, albeit a terrifying plausibility. Maybe we can foster the community we need to foster across the borders we create now, to prevent our own climate crisis from pushing us off-world.