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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Two time-traveling lesbians, here to save the world. All of this man’s book give me the same feeling of hope and wonder that I get from hearing the kitchsy “to boldly go where no one has gone before…”
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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:
Complicated
God, just, so fun! So mind-bending! So jam-packed with ideas and twists! "Communist transexual cavemen" !! Ice fish supercomputers! The Nazi billionaire dies at the end!!!!! Lesbians and a genius trans woman!!!!!!! What more could you ask for??
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
fast-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 don't quite know how I feel about this. I did enjoy it but I am not entirely sure why. I did feel like quitting about 40% in but I sort of speed read a couple of chapters and it picked up a bit.
4 stars. A little denser than my average read and it read more like watching a movie than going on an adventure with friends, but still very enjoyable. The science was unique and brilliant, the world building intense and precise, the complexity incredibly creative.
Alternate history is usually discussed in very human-centric terms that revolve around fixed points in human history. Here, however, Tchaikovsky took alternate history to the next level and suggested a universe in which parallel Earths emerged at significant points in evolutionary history. This concept offers a limitless playground, and oh how much fun I had meeting Dr. Rat and his translator (from a world in which rats are the prosperous race), the dinosauroids (from a world in which the dinosaurs did not die out so mammals never really rose), or the space saavy Neanderthals.
These worlds all must work together to save the universe from going from fissuring to shattering, and at the helm is our Earth's most brilliant mathematician, Dr. Khan (who is a Trans woman, by the way, and how refreshing to see a badass lead Trans character), a not-couple-but-acts-like-a-couple from the secret service, and two cryptid hunters who were in a relationship since their youth until one woman was separated from the other on a cryptid hunting mission and disappeared for four years.
I'll remember the concepts more than the individual characters, but honestly a really fun and creative read.
Thank you to Hachette Book Group and Edelweiss for the ARC!
Alternate history is usually discussed in very human-centric terms that revolve around fixed points in human history. Here, however, Tchaikovsky took alternate history to the next level and suggested a universe in which parallel Earths emerged at significant points in evolutionary history. This concept offers a limitless playground, and oh how much fun I had meeting Dr. Rat and his translator (from a world in which rats are the prosperous race), the dinosauroids (from a world in which the dinosaurs did not die out so mammals never really rose), or the space saavy Neanderthals.
These worlds all must work together to save the universe from going from fissuring to shattering, and at the helm is our Earth's most brilliant mathematician, Dr. Khan (who is a Trans woman, by the way, and how refreshing to see a badass lead Trans character), a not-couple-but-acts-like-a-couple from the secret service, and two cryptid hunters who were in a relationship since their youth until one woman was separated from the other on a cryptid hunting mission and disappeared for four years.
I'll remember the concepts more than the individual characters, but honestly a really fun and creative read.
Thank you to Hachette Book Group and Edelweiss for the ARC!
Sometimes the idea of starting a Tchaikovsky novel is daunting, but then you are rewarded for doing so. He's just on another level.
adventurous
informative
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No