Reviews

Victories Greater Than Death by Charlie Jane Anders

hneite's review

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted 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

4.25

melissaalgood's review against another edition

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3.0

I think my hopes were too high, because her book all the birds in the sky is one of my favorites of all time…I’m reread that one instead of finishing the series.

tricapra's review against another edition

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3.0

OK, so let me start by saying that this was adorable. YA is definitely not my thing and I have a ton of criticism ready to go after this paragraph, but first and foremost, if I was a young teen reading Scifi, I would be so happy to have this. I love Charlie Jane Anders and I think she's set up something lovely here.

Unfortunately, Anders has dumbed down her charming prose in favor of something that feels at times like a parody of tumblrspeak. Maybe this tested well and it's what teens like! However, I was hoping for something more akin to The City In the Middle of the Night, which could've been accessible to teens as it was, without any compromise. I don't know who is failing her here, but I felt that she made her world/prose/book lesser in pursuit of a younger audience, when that didn't need to happen. That aside, there were some issues with pacing and exposition dumps that weren't my favorite.
The cast is super inclusive and I loved that our heroes had relatable mental health issues, and that they spent an appropriate amount of time grappling with adjusting to suddenly being humans in space. The world building was fun and I liked the repeated interrogation of the Royal Army's motives and behaviors.

I'll continue to check out everything that Anders writes, I'll pick up a copy of this for my niece when its released for sure.

dawnwolf's review against another edition

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Felt too much like a middle grade novel. 

amlibera's review against another edition

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3.0

Probably more like 3.5 stars.
There's a lot to like here, interesting and complex world-building, character diversity of all kinds (and the central teenage characters are genuinely complex in this way), there's a kindness here that is a bit reminiscent of Becky Chambers books. It reads much longer than it is, I read it on Kindle and I was surprised to see that it was only 288 pages.

books4susie's review

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3.0

A little disappointed in this book but I didn't quit. Unfortunately it didn't hold my attention and I would get confused about what was happening. Took me forever to get through the audio version

armeenix's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

This was the first really diverse book I had read and it is also a book that I could re-read over, and over, and over again. Although the booked is short the author still gave us so much background and plot. I LOVEEEEEDDD all of the main characters, they were fun, emotional,complex and so much more, overall an amazing,inclusive, and diverse book!

verumsolum's review against another edition

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4.75

This was a 5-star book, deprived of its rating by its final chapter. This was a wonderful group of people unexpectedly caught up in space and in a war they knew nothing about a short time earlier. But while the war gets significant attention, Anders also gives us young people finding themselves and their values and their goals in the midst of dealing with life throwing them quite a bit that is unexpected.

What's wrong with the final chapter? It reveals a significant new piece of information that seems designed to shape the next book in the series: in short, it felt cliffhangery to me. If it had ended with the penultimate chapter, I probably would have given it 5 (and I still find myself quibbling whether I hate cliffhangers enough to deprive this book of a 5 and, sadly, I think I do. Authors! Trust your books to hook readers without resorting to gimmickry!)

freesiaelect's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25


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abethel's review against another edition

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4.0

Loved it!

Also, bonus interview on the audiobook was excellent.