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4.29 AVERAGE
4.29 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was the first novel by V.Vinge I've read.
I felt the beginning a bit slow as I was at the same time getting introduced to a new (to me) universe but soon enough either I caught up or the story kicked into a higher gear.
The differences between the Emergents and the Qeng Ho get clearer as time goes by, and I found it interesting how things to be revealed much later were hinted at in the beginning. Not everything was explained, and not everything was shown. I am quite pleased that what we saw about Nau's and especially Brughel's hobbies ended right there and not a minute later.
Despite being spiders, I found the natives of Arachna endearing and quite interesting. Not everything on-planet was explained but left to the imagination, which I've always found a good sign in a book. We can imagine and speculate on what went on with Ritser Brughel and Sherkaner Underhill but I hope we will never get answers.
I'm quite curious to get my hands on the original book now.
I felt the beginning a bit slow as I was at the same time getting introduced to a new (to me) universe but soon enough either I caught up or the story kicked into a higher gear.
The differences between the Emergents and the Qeng Ho get clearer as time goes by, and I found it interesting how things to be revealed much later were hinted at in the beginning. Not everything was explained, and not everything was shown. I am quite pleased that what we saw about Nau's and especially Brughel's hobbies ended right there and not a minute later.
Despite being spiders, I found the natives of Arachna endearing and quite interesting. Not everything on-planet was explained but left to the imagination, which I've always found a good sign in a book. We can imagine and speculate on what went on with Ritser Brughel and Sherkaner Underhill but I hope we will never get answers.
I'm quite curious to get my hands on the original book now.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Murder
Minor: Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Really really enjoyed this one. Bit of a slow start but when it ramped up I was hooked and couldn't put it down
This was a struggle to get through. Much darker and harsher than the previous one, in my opinion.
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think this being in the Zones of Thought series is mostly incidental. There are some things this would spoil for A Fire Upon the Deep, but it absolutely sits well on its own.
I mentioned Children of Time in my review of A Fire Upon the Deep, having no idea what I would encounter here. I think this pales in comparison to that book both in sheer creativity and the scale of time. The spiders here are not exactly portrayed as spider-like for most of the book, and while there is an in-world reason for that, I still think it's a shortfall compared to Children of Time.
That being said, this was still a very intriguing book. There was some true evil at work here. Paying attention to details was rewarded. I also appreciated the flashback portions of the book, they felt like useful breaks that added a lot more depth to my understanding of Pham.
Having said details were important, I feel like I must have missed quite a few by the end of the book. There was a key development whose mechanics seemed to happen entirely off-camera, and I don't really feel like I picked up any hints that they were happening. Like I think the book had a fair amount of evil stuff happening off-camera (until it wasn't for one visceral scene), but the hints for that didn't seem extremely subtle. So I don't know if I missed it, or if things were truly as hand-wavey as they felt. Still, by this point, I think it was earned, so I went with it.
If anything, this book in concert with the last makes me wish there were many more entries in this series. I think it's a rich universe with tons of potential. Alas, we'll have to make do with what we have.
I mentioned Children of Time in my review of A Fire Upon the Deep, having no idea what I would encounter here. I think this pales in comparison to that book both in sheer creativity and the scale of time. The spiders here are not exactly portrayed as spider-like for most of the book, and while there is an in-world reason for that, I still think it's a shortfall compared to Children of Time.
That being said, this was still a very intriguing book. There was some true evil at work here. Paying attention to details was rewarded. I also appreciated the flashback portions of the book, they felt like useful breaks that added a lot more depth to my understanding of Pham.
Having said details were important, I feel like I must have missed quite a few by the end of the book. There was a key development whose mechanics seemed to happen entirely off-camera, and I don't really feel like I picked up any hints that they were happening. Like I think the book had a fair amount of evil stuff happening off-camera (until it wasn't for one visceral scene), but the hints for that didn't seem extremely subtle. So I don't know if I missed it, or if things were truly as hand-wavey as they felt. Still, by this point, I think it was earned, so I went with it.
If anything, this book in concert with the last makes me wish there were many more entries in this series. I think it's a rich universe with tons of potential. Alas, we'll have to make do with what we have.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
slow-paced
