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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
SETH. You ok?
This was supposed to be a fun little SF break before you give Baru the magnificent ending she deserves and instead it was so grimdark I had nightmares about the nuclear apocalypse. Felt like I was reading Kameron Hurley (whom I just adore but damn I need painkillers for all the heartache she's caused me)!
I really enjoyed the classic immersive worldbuilding and the vicious hydra-Naha aliens but listen, Seth, I'm starting to feel a bit conflicted about the absolutely f***ed up traumas you put your female protagonists of color through. Reading what you did to a child in this one while a genocide is carried out in Gaza almost made me put it down a few times. This book made it very hard to root for the humans, I have to say.
I hope we get Baru 4 before a sequel to this one. After what you just put your readers through I think we deserve to see her burn the whole Incrastic Empire down next.
This was supposed to be a fun little SF break before you give Baru the magnificent ending she deserves and instead it was so grimdark I had nightmares about the nuclear apocalypse. Felt like I was reading Kameron Hurley (whom I just adore but damn I need painkillers for all the heartache she's caused me)!
I really enjoyed the classic immersive worldbuilding and the vicious hydra-Naha aliens but listen, Seth, I'm starting to feel a bit conflicted about the absolutely f***ed up traumas you put your female protagonists of color through. Reading what you did to a child in this one while a genocide is carried out in Gaza almost made me put it down a few times. This book made it very hard to root for the humans, I have to say.
I hope we get Baru 4 before a sequel to this one. After what you just put your readers through I think we deserve to see her burn the whole Incrastic Empire down next.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Absolutely horrific read. Really enjoyed the main female characters. Did not really care about the military details but some of it was interesting. Added .25 for discussing a certain man’s fondness for using drone strikes on innocent people and for the quote at the beginning. That being said, I disagree with what I understand the framework to be. I don’t think a utilitarian framework works here because I don’t think those drone strikes are for the greater good and I’m not even convinced the drone striker in question thinks they are. But maybe he does. I’m going to keep thinking about what the author was trying to say, though, because it was an intense read and I feel like it needs to keep fermenting in my brain.
It was really interesting to read about a potential apocalypse and how that could be experienced by people who have already experienced the end of the world and had to keep going after. Dickinson does great characters. Really sickening stuff in here as well (complimentary)
It was really interesting to read about a potential apocalypse and how that could be experienced by people who have already experienced the end of the world and had to keep going after. Dickinson does great characters. Really sickening stuff in here as well (complimentary)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape
challenging
dark
funny
informative
mysterious
tense
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
This book started out incredibly funny and interesting; as a sort of mutual fish-out-of-water comedy with the alien and her human discovering each others' deals. But (as is so often the case) the military shows up and makes things worse. It becomes a mix of military sci fi and meta commentary. There were still plenty of parts that I liked but after 500 pages it was a bit much.
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
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
this guy is insane
extremely weird one. like the baru series, there's a lot of faffing about with politics and mechanisms, which I don't mind up to a point, but this book crossed it. I have a deep appreciation and respect for the amount of research that goes into writing from so many diverse characters' different perspectives in such detail, but. it starts to prompt skimming at some point. BUT as with baru, i could not physically stop myself from reading this, so it sure didn't get in the way too much.
he's very, very good at writing complicated people. it's fun. but I do vastly prefer all of baru. I'll read the sequel if there is one, and I'll probably have a great time, but I would also be fine if there wasn't one.
he says in the afterword that this was intended to be a short story, a break from his main series, and you can really feel the dissonance between its beginning and the point at which its scope ballooned. I think it would've served the narrative much better if a good 150-200 pages were thinned off. I probably would've felt okay with it if it were fully self-contained and didn't hint at a sequel :p I wanted narrative completion for reading all that dense math-speak.....
extremely weird one. like the baru series, there's a lot of faffing about with politics and mechanisms, which I don't mind up to a point, but this book crossed it. I have a deep appreciation and respect for the amount of research that goes into writing from so many diverse characters' different perspectives in such detail, but. it starts to prompt skimming at some point. BUT as with baru, i could not physically stop myself from reading this, so it sure didn't get in the way too much.
he's very, very good at writing complicated people. it's fun. but I do vastly prefer all of baru. I'll read the sequel if there is one, and I'll probably have a great time, but I would also be fine if there wasn't one.
he says in the afterword that this was intended to be a short story, a break from his main series, and you can really feel the dissonance between its beginning and the point at which its scope ballooned. I think it would've served the narrative much better if a good 150-200 pages were thinned off. I probably would've felt okay with it if it were fully self-contained and didn't hint at a sequel :p I wanted narrative completion for reading all that dense math-speak.....
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A wild ride. Probably trying to tackle too much in its scope in a way that can be overwhelming but ultimately a fun read.
Not what I expected, nor exactly what I wanted, from a new Seth Dickinson book. I grew tired of the American military speak that makes up the middle 550 pages of this 650 page book; The first 50 pages were interesting, and so were the last 50, perhaps.
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes