Reviews with content warning for Genocide - Exordia

What a strange and compelling book. I feel like I've never read a sci-fi book quite like it so I can't compare it. Except that I want more - which makes me have mixed feelings about the fact that it's not(?) a standalone. Every character is so compelling because of all of the trolley problems they are constantly facing.

Content Warnings

third_bookworm's review

Go to review page

dark reflective tense medium-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

5.0

Truly loved this book. Deeply bizarre, quite upsetting at points. I love and respect Seth Dickinson's ability to introduce a horrible possibility that all the characters work to try to avoid, and then to investigate what happens if that comes true. Deeply compelling relationships between characters.

Content Warnings

ayang0321's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

sincetheflood's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

cptn_dr's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

kagedbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8s5Tp8a/

What the hell did I just read?

That question pretty much sums up my thoughts at the end of this overly complicated trolley problem of a book.

Exordia by Seth Dickinson opens on a really interesting premise of Anna Sinjari a survivor of genocide and now an unhappy office worker making first contact with an eight headed alien that’s casually eating the turtles out of a pond in the middle of Central Park.

It only gets weirder from there as she gets pulled into an alien war for something referred Blackbird that has appeared on earth. Neither side of this war seems overly concerned over what happens to the planet and humans being humans have taken both sides and yet must work together to try and stop the inevitable destruction of earth.

The premise here is really strong but for me, the story lost its way a bit by shifting the focus to other characters, being really into the hard science of it, and using a lot of military jargon.

I listened to the audio which is just over 26 hours, and while Sulin Hasso does a great job narrating the story if they would’ve shaved some pages/hours off it I think it would’ve been a better story.

This book I think is trying to trigger a lot of introspection while keeping the action going but doesn’t really ever give the reader a chance to breathe and take in the implications before moving on.

I believe this book has a very specific audience that will truly appreciate it, but while I did like many elements of it I think ultimately I’m not going to be in that camp of loving it.

I do thank NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen to this book early. I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Content Warnings

crothe77's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging slow-paced

5.0

This review was made possible via an ARC through NetGalley

Exordia by Seth Dickinson is a science fiction story where a young Kurdish woman, Anna, meets an alien, Ssrin, with eight snake heads. Their chance encounter in a park reveals that nobody but Anna can see Ssrin in her natural form and Ssrin comes to live with Anna. Ssrin is learning everything she can about humanity, becoming more and more familiar with pop culture as time goes on. The alien culture is fascinating and was probably my favorite part.

When Ssrin is discovered by others, the novel switches more to a very grounded military story that switches POV and takes its time. There’s a lot of characters that get introduced and the narrative takes breaks to add more depth to the world and characters and forcing the reader to ask a lot of questions about what is happening on the page.

I would recommend this to fans of military sci-fi and of slower paced science fiction with aliens.

Content Warnings

More...