Reviews

Altered Straits by Kevin Martens Wong

c3rem0nials's review

i really wanted to keep reading - the characters were promising, i liked that even formal displays of power like forms told their own stories. but i think where this book falters is that it just sinks itself into something that i couldn't comprehend. i think the premise was also just not built for a novel - as i read in the acknowledgements, this is a short story turned into a novel, and i suppose a lot of details were expanded too much and it just got very painful to read. i couldn't immerse myself in this, as much as i wanted to - kevin has a clear voice for the speculative that i enjoy, his works in lontar are really good so i was just disappointed i couldn't get into this as much as i'd liked. 

emburger's review

4.0

I love sci-fi, gory details, and the fact that this is Singapore reimagined makes Altered Straits the most memorable local novel. The world building, Naufal's in particular, is fascinating stuff and I want more. That said, if there was any parallelism between the wars of the respective worlds, I couldn't tell. Didn't understand the point of the Concordance either. Not sure why the author kept saying things like "Concordance knew that humanity stood no chance." and then really go ahead and have everything wiped out. The lack of an anticipated plot twist is, disappointment.

hightidesunday's review

adventurous challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

bbrights's review

sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

0.5

📚 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔: I really wanted to like this book. I read its description and I genuinely wanted the book to be good. 

It wasn’t. 

Okay, let me try to be a little optimistic and share some of its better aspects. (1) I think this book is written in a technically commendable or even beautiful manner and (2) I appreciated the slight LGBTQ+ representation in it too. But, that’s about all of the good things I have for the book. 

Regarding point 1, a technically well-written book doesn’t necessarily mean the end-result would be something enjoyable. This book is perhaps the best example. There exists a creative and complicated plot written in an overly convoluted manner, constantly trying too hard to play with structure and what not. This made it incredibly difficult for me to understand what is actually happening where meaning is lost in between the seemingly needless jumps between the minds and voices of different characters. If I had to summarise my review into one word, CONFUSING (to the point where you can’t actually understand the plot lines). 

Moreover, towards the end (last 8 chapters or so), the plot developed into something extremely cringey in a manner where I could already tell that the author was trying so hard to deepen his plot. The entire “we are after all just one mind of consciousness” trope to me was so lame and unfulfilling, and it almost seemed to me like a cop-out of a resolution. The last few chapters seriously did nothing but add additional layers of winter clothing to a plot akin to an Eskimo drowning in his own sweat in the Sahara desert. 

I also questioned heavily about how the Concordance was formed and what they really were. Sadly, the book didn’t fully establish their origins nor helped to begetter explain what they were. Surely, the abstract and “deep” nature of important plot points certainly didn’t help. 

Lastly, beyond just being a disappointing read, it was a depressing one. In most dystopian-like novels, there always seemed to be hope - something for readers to cling on to. Yet, this book is consistently filled with people dying in the most grotesque ways and I’m honestly not here for it - I read books to escape the harsh realities of life, not to feel disproportionately dejected. 

To be fair, some may characterise the plot as “creative”. I beg to differ. I just found it all ridiculous, almost as if the author has ran out of convincing ways to resolve the conflict and to provide us with a proper resolution. Lastly, the most infuriating part would probably be the extremely unfulfilling and unconvincing “conclusion”. However, at this point, I was just glad that I have reached the last page and wouldn’t have to read it further. 

OH AND DONT GET ME STARTED about how the whole LGBTQ+ aspect of this book was used in such a performative manner, it was almost as if the 2 queer characters were written for the sake of representation. Problematic Queerphobic sentiments in the plot were NEVER resolved nor addressed fully. Infuriating.

metafiktion's review

4.0

Wonderfully inventive and difficult to put down. Kevin Martens Wong weaves together two Singapores: one that could have been, had colonial history taken a significantly different path (with the assistance of some regional mythical creatures, because why not) and one that could be, with our patented blend of state authoritarianism, capital punishment, and natalism in a post-apocalyptic world. It features a cast of characters so unapologetically Malay there are two Naufals and military rollcalls that take forever (y’all, I loved this detail so much), female characters doing y’know, things that women do — including being dicks — and one of the cutest gay romances I’ve read ever. The bar is set so low for all of these things and yet Wong aimed so high (and scored!). The plot does get a bit convoluted at the end and I bought less into Titus’ relationship with his sister than with the others, but otherwise, I’m really looking forward to Wong’s future works.