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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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
challenging
dark
emotional
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
not sure the turn in genre is for me and so i fell off. can't get back on that horse
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
General concept of story was good. 2 aliens show up on Earth and it is difficult to figure out which is good or evil. Leads to a not so friendly alien encounter for the entire planet. My issue with the book is the bogging down of the story with very detailed math/science explanations for how the alien technology may or may not work. These got super complicated and for me really stalled out the book. The ending was also just ok for me. Not recommended.
i had originally planned to make a long review of this book while i was reading it, but upon finishing, i'm just so relieved to be done with it i think i'm just going to leave it here. good book. not for me.
Switched from the audiobook to the physical... and back to audio.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-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
seth dickinson you got me again!!! consider this: a kurdish genocide survivor meets an 8 headed snake alien in central park, and independence day shenanigans ensue. holy shit, right!!!
this book focuses on a world-spanning sci-fi military romp focused on the choice of pulling the trigger, solving a scientific/mathematical/metaphysical anomaly, and stopping invading alien species while folding in very cutting and specific critiques of american imperialism.
the world building in exordia is incredibly well thought out, with the lore of the universe quite thorougly constructed with a focus on slightly dramatized irl mathematics, science, physics, and metaphysics to make it all flow. furthermore, it spotlights a group of people often ignored by american stories of military might — the kurds — and creates some very complicated and masterfully woven narratives about and between the kurdish pov characters. which i am not kurdish myself, i did end up feeling those characters were given the necessary complexity and depth in character. they do not feel like perfect victims or maligned freedom fighters. they are complex, heroic, tragic, angry, vengeful, listless, loving, strange, and wonderful.
character voices across the novel are all strong — the novel in general is quite modern and funny (our first pov character anna references neon genesis evangelion more than once, an alien character corrects himself mid-sentence so he uses the word "dope" to be better understood). the way povs are broken up are unique to each character (i.e. a religious character has her povs listed as a bible verse would be, and a mathematician character has her pov switches titled with prime numbers) which make all the pov switches feel novel and important to them. furthermore, the characters are often at odds with each other which creates a good sense of tension within yourself as you root for people you understand pretty deeply to solve their damn problems so they can come together and save the world. the one thing that can be said negatively though is that sometimes the characters seem almost Too Much themselves and feel a bit caricature-ish...however there are some story aspects that allow me to wave that away as part of the experience. on the whole, the characters they are also quite diverse and grounded firmly in their unique culture contexts while not feeling like they are the singular monolithic representations of those cultures. they feel like complicated individuals being tugged on by a web of geo-political contexts which information their position.
pacing-wise the book hits the ground sprinting so fast that it takes you a second to catch up to it all, and it keeps sprinting. it does take moments to synthesize and combine all the elements, but it takes about halfway through the book to start to tip its hand and the back half unfolds in ways that i genuinely couldn't see coming despite being an avid fan of dickson's works.
the overall craft of the novel is stellar for me. despite being 500 pages, it doesn't feel like there is a lot of fat to trim IMHO. if anything, i actually want more on page. especially as this book is very funny and that is driven by the crafted self reflexion and the authors awareness of tropes allows him to create a stark and acerbic taxonomy of violence, coercion, and american imperialism.
my biggest complaint is that in the 5th part of the novel you get everyone on page at once for an extended time and you can start to feel there are little gaps or lapses where more context about character motivations would have been explored in previous sections and it feels a little incomplete especially as some of them feel tangentially relevant to the final twist. it can feel like in that 5th part there is a competition between the action scenes and the character parts because both of them feel a bit under-explained. however, none of it ruins the book for me.
the ending might not be for everyone because it does feel like it kind of quickly wraps it up and isnt necessarily the punchiest, but it is serviceable for me especially since it is leading to a sequel.
i really highly recommend it!!!!!!!
this book focuses on a world-spanning sci-fi military romp focused on the choice of pulling the trigger, solving a scientific/mathematical/metaphysical anomaly, and stopping invading alien species while folding in very cutting and specific critiques of american imperialism.
the world building in exordia is incredibly well thought out, with the lore of the universe quite thorougly constructed with a focus on slightly dramatized irl mathematics, science, physics, and metaphysics to make it all flow. furthermore, it spotlights a group of people often ignored by american stories of military might — the kurds — and creates some very complicated and masterfully woven narratives about and between the kurdish pov characters. which i am not kurdish myself, i did end up feeling those characters were given the necessary complexity and depth in character. they do not feel like perfect victims or maligned freedom fighters. they are complex, heroic, tragic, angry, vengeful, listless, loving, strange, and wonderful.
character voices across the novel are all strong — the novel in general is quite modern and funny (our first pov character anna references neon genesis evangelion more than once, an alien character corrects himself mid-sentence so he uses the word "dope" to be better understood). the way povs are broken up are unique to each character (i.e. a religious character has her povs listed as a bible verse would be, and a mathematician character has her pov switches titled with prime numbers) which make all the pov switches feel novel and important to them. furthermore, the characters are often at odds with each other which creates a good sense of tension within yourself as you root for people you understand pretty deeply to solve their damn problems so they can come together and save the world. the one thing that can be said negatively though is that sometimes the characters seem almost Too Much themselves and feel a bit caricature-ish...however there are some story aspects that allow me to wave that away as part of the experience. on the whole, the characters they are also quite diverse and grounded firmly in their unique culture contexts while not feeling like they are the singular monolithic representations of those cultures. they feel like complicated individuals being tugged on by a web of geo-political contexts which information their position.
pacing-wise the book hits the ground sprinting so fast that it takes you a second to catch up to it all, and it keeps sprinting. it does take moments to synthesize and combine all the elements, but it takes about halfway through the book to start to tip its hand and the back half unfolds in ways that i genuinely couldn't see coming despite being an avid fan of dickson's works.
the overall craft of the novel is stellar for me. despite being 500 pages, it doesn't feel like there is a lot of fat to trim IMHO. if anything, i actually want more on page. especially as this book is very funny and that is driven by the crafted self reflexion and the authors awareness of tropes allows him to create a stark and acerbic taxonomy of violence, coercion, and american imperialism.
my biggest complaint is that in the 5th part of the novel you get everyone on page at once for an extended time and you can start to feel there are little gaps or lapses where more context about character motivations would have been explored in previous sections and it feels a little incomplete especially as some of them feel tangentially relevant to the final twist. it can feel like in that 5th part there is a competition between the action scenes and the character parts because both of them feel a bit under-explained. however, none of it ruins the book for me.
the ending might not be for everyone because it does feel like it kind of quickly wraps it up and isnt necessarily the punchiest, but it is serviceable for me especially since it is leading to a sequel.
i really highly recommend it!!!!!!!
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes