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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
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:
Yes
This story follows 6 different characters, and I really enjoyed all of them, but Lee and Mal who are basically the main 2 of the 6 characters, were my favorites. Especially after the way Tchaikovsky introduced them in chapter 1, I immediately was interested to see how their stories played out. Though there wasn’t a ton of character development with the characters, he did a great job of creating a very diverse cast of characters, including gay and trans characters that played pivotal roles.
This is a plot driven story based in London with many tense scenes filled with mystery and adventures. It had a good medium pacing to it, not too slow, not too fast. Some of the worlds were so fascinating in how they work, if left me in a bit of awe and wonder. There was one major HOLY CRAP moment I had, I was just absolutely stunned that it happened! I also got a few chuckles out of the many pop culture references that were dropped throughout the story, from Alice Through the Looking Glass, to Jurassic Park, to Star Wars, the story was littered with them. The narration by Sophie Aldred was pretty phenomenal, she did such a great job of getting into the characters emotions and voices. One voice in particular, Stig, reminded me of Sigrud from Robert Jackson Bennett’s, Divine Cities trilogy.
“You’re quiet, now, subdued by what we’ve shown you. How many times can you watch the world end, after all, even if it’s not your world?”
This is a really well written story and clearly well researched, at the end of the book, Tchaikovsky has special acknowledgements where he gives credit to the help he got with research and getting information on the story to feel as accurate as possible from police procedures to paleontology and biology. This felt like a sci-if tv series that I would’ve loved to have watched unfold. Multiple worlds, one with freaking dinosaurs, that felt a bit like Land of the Lost could’ve been some inspiration, and a few others that would be too spoilery to mention. With that said, the interludes between most of the chapters, were a bit different and took some getting used to. At first I found them a bit boring and took me out of the reading experience, but they got better as I started to realize that they held integral bits of information to the story.
For someone who doesn’t actually read a lot of Science fiction, I found this to be quite interesting and it definitely made me want to check out more of Tchaikovsky’s work with how much he put into getting it to feel as accurate as he could with very likable characters. Aside from the interludes that took me out of it for the first part of it, I really enjoyed the complexity and the creativity with some ideas that were very outside of the box, with building this tantalizing story.
I liked the concepts explored in the book, and I liked some side-characters who played a smaller role than I'd wanted.
I also liked how the nature of humanity was put into contrast through interactions in the story.
I didn't, however, like the ending very much. I understand what the author was trying for, but it ended up feeling rushed and underexplored compared to the rest of it.
I also liked how the nature of humanity was put into contrast through interactions in the story.
I didn't, however, like the ending very much. I understand what the author was trying for, but it ended up feeling rushed and underexplored compared to the rest of it.
More a 2.5, I’ve been generous with a 3. I really like this author and I love sci fi. The concept of this book really appealed and I expected to really like it. Sadly I was very disappointed. There were too many characters, none of them were likeable and some seemed to be there for no other reason than to tick an inclusivity box. This author is known for his very long technical chapters explaining - for example - the evolution of fictional species from other worlds, over thousands of years. He does this exceptionally well and in a realistic, believable way. How then has he written an entire book about parallel earths, communication between a myriad of life forms across said parallel earths and the technology each have independently developed with absolutely no attempt at explanation. Other reviewers have made this criticism much better than I can so I won’t go into detail, I just found that most of the book was full of silly, random far fetched things happening and working because they just do. I think he needs to read some Michael Crichton to see how it can be done properly. This hasn’t put me off the author, but sadly, I can’t recommend this particular book to anyone. Very disappointed.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
This book was such a trip! another absolute banger from Tchaikovsky. loved it.
extra .5 stars for two queer South Asian POV characters (!!), though I'm being biased (as a queer South Asian)
extra .5 stars for two queer South Asian POV characters (!!), though I'm being biased (as a queer South Asian)
adventurous
challenging
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:
No
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Speculative evolution is the genre I never even knew I needed. He's so dang good at what he does.