Reviews

Perhaps the Stars by Ada Palmer

jrlagace's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

clarkeyhk's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

cynicalplankton's review

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adventurous dark informative mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

A good conclusion to the series. The last hundred pages or so are mostly characters giving philosophical monologues, which kind of drags the pacing to a halt. I personally would have been fine with a less tidy and wrapped up ending, yet from the meticulousness of the rest of the novels, it is to be expected that all plots needed neat resolutions. 
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jimincarnate's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.0

crimsoncor's review

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3.0

This book took me almost 5 months to finish. I had to take breaks and read other stuff, just to remind myself that I'm actually capable of finishing a book. And it isn't that I didn't like the book. It was just so long and so dense. Too long and too dense. Almost twice the length of anything else in the series and really felt like it was an attempt to cram 2 or 3 books worth of stuff into a single volume. There were parts that were magnificent.
Spoiler The attack on the Utopian space settlements was a torrent of shock and awe that brought to mind some of the most shocking epic destruction sequences in written scifi (the end of Donaldson's Gap Series and the ending of Stross's Merchant Princes). And then it all gets hand-waved away with some Deus ex machina. I mean, it is a book about gods (kinda), but still felt like someone let all the air out of the balloon.
And I think that has to be one of my main criticisms, which is that this book is never afraid to let its ideas get in the way of the story.
Spoiler Something else which bugged me, oddly enough in a book full of mystical shit, was the continued reincarnation of Mycroft. I know, like the 20th least weird thing in a book where Achilles from the Illium returns, but it just really bugged me.
. At the end of it, I still don't think I would really recommend this series to someone, but I didn't dislike it. But it feels like if you want a weird future scifi series about building a better society replete with Greek gods and a war over Mars, you'd go with the the Dan Simmons' Illium. And if you wanted a weird but cool model of future political and social then Malka Older's Centenal Cycle or maybe The Actual Star by Monica Byrne. I don't know. This entire series feels like a massive missed opportunity, but I'm still glad it exists. And that I've finally finished reading it.

cavetoad's review

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slow-paced
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

Wraps a saga up pretty well but very very heavy in the Greek myth and European philosophers departments. Would have been improved with some editing.

linekgh's review against another edition

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challenging inspiring reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

zaeritha's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is the answer to the thesis statement(s) crafted over many books. It will take me tike to synthesize its full meaning. Go with kindness, seak and cherish connections, be better, not next time, but this time. Focus on what matters. And seek the stars. 

samhenrichs's review

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad fast-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

4.0

erinflight's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful reflective 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

5.0