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qtcarolyn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Suicide
thecasualbooknerd's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Blood, War, and Gun violence
Moderate: Alcoholism and Murder
Minor: Grief, Death, and Suicide
ekcd_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
Where to start?
The characters are utterly forgettable and there is not a single redeemable or meaningful relationship between any of the characters or any facet of the story. They only existed so they could talk to each other as a way to move the plot along. Without the characters the whole book could be reduced to one, drunken rant about “like what if aliens lived on an unstable planet?” He put characters in so it wouldn’t just be a really bizarre lecture
This book reads as 350 pages of history and philosophical waxing and then 50 pages of shitty alien fan fiction that is really just the author patting himself on the back for creating analogies that are complicated enough for readers to think him smart but are ultimately meaningless.
By rooting a story in the present and then layering in completely absurd scientific magic over it really removed me from the story. The physics and math were really inaccessible and honesty glossed over that whole chapter.
Nothing in this story or it’s writing made me care about any of the individuals, civilizations, communities or social movements that were used.
I am gobsmacked that so many people praise this book so highly. I love science fiction and read it almost exclusively. The only thing keeping me from rage quitting half way through was rage reading so I could review this book without people saying “you didn’t finish it so you can’t comment on it”
It gets a 1.5 because I was able to finish it quickly (thank god)
Well screw you, fans of this book, I read it and I disliked it!
Graphic: War, Xenophobia, Violence, Suicide, Police brutality, Hate crime, Gun violence, Genocide, Death, Confinement, Colonisation, Classism, and Blood
Minor: Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, War, and Xenophobia
I don’t regret reading this because at least it gives me something concrete to point my unhinged anger at. Going to drink some tea and read something that I know is good and purejojo50's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, Death, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Suicide
savvylit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Additionally, the next two books in this series were overtly misogynist & this one was not. I think this book would be a great standalone novel.
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Gun violence, and Grief
gilchrist's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Violence and Death
Minor: Genocide
kstericker's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Colonisation
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Murder, Suicide, War, Blood, and Violence
Minor: Body horror
katrinarose's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Xenophobia, Death of parent, Death, Murder, and Torture
Moderate: Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Kidnapping
nny_c's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Overall, the parts in which we follow Ye Wenjie’s life were consistently more enjoyable for me to read than the rest of the book. She is the only mildly interesting character, which can in part be attributed to the Execution Scene in the beginning. It is through her that we are told the history of China’s Cultural Revolution, repressions, political agenda, and the state of the scientific community. But even here the book’s biggest shortcoming undercuts the enjoyment — this is by far the most exposition-heavy book I’ve read in a long time.
The very few characters that actually matter and stick around for long enough — Ye Wenjie, Wang Miao, Da Shi — just have things happen to them most of the time, their agency insignificant compared to the amount of information the book tries to force on you. And when they actually do something, although their motivations are for the most part clear, the lack of any kind of discernible personality behind these names on the page makes the stakes that much lower.
However, I feel like I must mention, that my issue with the amount of exposition, especially when it came to unbearably frequent crush-courses on physical phenomena and occasional mathematical theory, is much more personal because I have studied astrophysics. So I don’t want to make claims about how interesting these parts of the book may be to someone not connected to this topic at all. But I still believe that the delivery could have used a lot of work: the information is just being monologued to one of the main characters by slightly less important ones, the most ‘creative’ storytelling device was framing some info-dumping as an interrogation record by the very end.
I do feel bad for talking about this book in such a negative light, but it does surprise me just how praised it is, considering the experience I got from it. I can attribute at least part of its popularity in the West to a fascination with the themes of revolution and repressions under China’s communist party. But considering where I am from, it is an inseparable part of who I am and my culture, so these topics lack shock value for me.
Granted, it is only the first part of a trilogy, but I cannot imagine picking up the other two books, at least not in the foreseeable future.
5/10 — barely finished it tbh.
Graphic: Death and Death of parent
Minor: Suicide
isabelgalupo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Police brutality, and War