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bookph1le's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
This was an absolute beast of a novel. I almost gave up on it before I finally got pulled in, and though I thought there were some glimmers of something really lovely and worth reading, there were two big downsides that tempered my enjoyment:
1. The beginning of the book is flat-out boring and unnecessary. Some parts of it do have relevance to the greater story, but all of Kaeda's tale could have been condensed into a few pages, thus doing the novel a service. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why what read like a synopsis of some random guy's life was given so much page space.
2. This book is much more flowery than it needs to be, to the extent that it slows the pace and drags down the narrative. This is one of those books that has lots and lots of words, many of which don't need to be there and are only there because they might strike some as pretty. That's fine, and if you enjoy long, poetic descriptions where something more succinct would suffice, then that's what you should get. Unfortunately, for someone like me who tends to get impatient with lots of flowery prose, this ended up tilting the novel toward the sort of book that isn't to my tastes.
And these two major gripes of mine are what ultimately prevented me from enjoying the novel as much as I might have liked, despite my interest in the world building and the interesting pearl of a suspenseful plot involving technology run amok. This was a marathon of a book, one where the closer I got to finding out the answers to the questions that had initially spurred me on, the farther away the end seemed to grow until, ultimately, I limped over the finish line, more glad that it was over than that I had taken the journey.
This was an absolute beast of a novel. I almost gave up on it before I finally got pulled in, and though I thought there were some glimmers of something really lovely and worth reading, there were two big downsides that tempered my enjoyment:
1. The beginning of the book is flat-out boring and unnecessary. Some parts of it do have relevance to the greater story, but all of Kaeda's tale could have been condensed into a few pages, thus doing the novel a service. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why what read like a synopsis of some random guy's life was given so much page space.
2. This book is much more flowery than it needs to be, to the extent that it slows the pace and drags down the narrative. This is one of those books that has lots and lots of words, many of which don't need to be there and are only there because they might strike some as pretty. That's fine, and if you enjoy long, poetic descriptions where something more succinct would suffice, then that's what you should get. Unfortunately, for someone like me who tends to get impatient with lots of flowery prose, this ended up tilting the novel toward the sort of book that isn't to my tastes.
And these two major gripes of mine are what ultimately prevented me from enjoying the novel as much as I might have liked, despite my interest in the world building and the interesting pearl of a suspenseful plot involving technology run amok. This was a marathon of a book, one where the closer I got to finding out the answers to the questions that had initially spurred me on, the farther away the end seemed to grow until, ultimately, I limped over the finish line, more glad that it was over than that I had taken the journey.
atgerstner's review
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
lauracousineau's review
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.75
supersabs's review
adventurous
emotional
sad
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
psfordo's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
sophia_alex's review
adventurous
dark
sad
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
3.5
kokorobosoina's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
applekettle's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
the_wandering_library's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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