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katka_11's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage and Sexual assault
sierraknits's review against another edition
As many others have said, I really wanted to like it.
None of the characters are well fleshed-out. Even this far through I have no sense of what the main character is like. When it's mentioned that she enjoys painting, I was so confused, because she is never mentioned to be artistic at all. This seemed like a strange detail added with nothing to support it.
The characters are supposed to be in their 30s, but their actions are like teenagers. Despite having numerous female characters, there seems to be a real lack of meaningful interaction, and lots of catty name calling. It feels immature and off-putting, and I'm surprised nobody has been described as 'shrill' so far. Also, it seems like everyone is white, and the one character with, "dark hair and dark eyes" is bad.
What really killed it for me was the treatment of serious concepts.Sussman attempts to rape Max, films video of violating her in her sleep, and attempts murder, and yet she asks for his name to be recognized on the dinosaur presentation? Are you kidding me? In addition, management forbids her from telling anyone about what he did. It's absurd. Then there's a sex scene out of nowhere, which feels unbelievable. From reading other reviews, I've been tipped off to some more disappointing plot points ahead, so I decided to stop here.
None of the characters are well fleshed-out. Even this far through I have no sense of what the main character is like. When it's mentioned that she enjoys painting, I was so confused, because she is never mentioned to be artistic at all. This seemed like a strange detail added with nothing to support it.
The characters are supposed to be in their 30s, but their actions are like teenagers. Despite having numerous female characters, there seems to be a real lack of meaningful interaction, and lots of catty name calling. It feels immature and off-putting, and I'm surprised nobody has been described as 'shrill' so far. Also, it seems like everyone is white, and the one character with, "dark hair and dark eyes" is bad.
What really killed it for me was the treatment of serious concepts.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Murder, and Death
sara_fangirl98's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Rape, and Sexual assault
Minor: Ableism and Misogyny
sassyshark's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, War, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Medical content, Sexual assault, Rape, Stalking, Body horror, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, and Colonisation
Moderate: Miscarriage
Minor: Abortion and Ableism
bebidocrimes's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
With such an incredible set up for time travelling historians, you'd think they would think a bit further out than Europe/Mediterranean. Sure, a good chunk was in dinosaur times, but even history mentioned in passing was limited. Despite that, this was a really fun read! Super fast, fun characters, and some surprisingly realistic heavy moments. Gotta say, I liked the romance because it made sense that those characters were good for one another, BUT (present) time passed so quickly it felt super rushed. Like, yeah they'd get there eventually, but it feels a bit soon, what do you mean it's been 5 years? I'd kill for more focus on the Wardrobe department and the Research & Development team (those mad scientists are gay, change my mind). I couldn't stand that all the women had negative attributes to them (she's a bitch, she's not friendly, she's stuck up), and most of them got better developed throughout, but would it kill the author to give Max some female friends? Or at least give her and Kal more on screen friendship development. Overall, ups and downs for this whole book, but it was exciting and I own the next 3 so I'm sticking around.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Cursing, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death, Violence, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, and Medical content
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, and Miscarriage
kabaum's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
sallysimply's review against another edition
adventurous
3.0
I dove into this anticipating a fun, lighthearted read and was not prepared for all the darker events, so please do check out the content warnings!
I love The Nothing Girl and enjoy Jodi Taylor's writing in general. This felt really long to me and not always engaging. I can see myself picking up another book in the series, but I'm not in any rush to do so, nor do I feel the need to go in order. I might see which ones are most beloved and keep those in mind for if/when I'd ever like to spend some more time in this world.
I love The Nothing Girl and enjoy Jodi Taylor's writing in general. This felt really long to me and not always engaging. I can see myself picking up another book in the series, but I'm not in any rush to do so, nor do I feel the need to go in order. I might see which ones are most beloved and keep those in mind for if/when I'd ever like to spend some more time in this world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Death, Miscarriage, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Grief
schnaucl's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
I really enjoyed it. It was witty, fun, and well written. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Miscarriage
thesubwayreader's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Madcap adventure definitely describes this book. The historians of St. Mary's “investigate major historical events in contemporary time.” We follow Maxwell from her childhood to her orientation and training at St. Mary's to her first few trips into time. This book is a great combination of mystery, history, and sci-fi. There were a couple of aspects that I thought could have been elaborated on (i.e. the aftermath of Max's run-in with Sussman), but overall the characters are well drawn. I particularly enjoyed Mrs. Partridge. The scenes bounce around a bit, which isn't surprising considering we're dealing with time travel. I'm interested in seeing how St. Mary's is going to deal with the rogue time travelers, so I'll put the next book on my TBR pile.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
mulvama3's review against another edition
A character out of the blue becomes a sexual predator because now you’re supposed to dislike him. It didn’t forward the story, it wasn’t necessary and the author did not handle sexual assault in an appropriate light: the survivor just moves on? No lingering trauma? Several colleagues know all about it and no one ever does anything about it? Their biggest problem with the predator is that he was going to steal her work, not that he assaulted her multiple times or that he tried to kill her. This is an issue that should be handled with care and responsibility, not tossed out as a plot device and then discarded like it has no weight on anything moving forward.
I could have enjoyed the story in spite of a lack of character depth and character inconsistencies, but unnecessary and mishandled sexual assault put it over into DNF territory. I just wanted more stories like Connie Willis, but I’ll go reread her work instead of plodding through another book in this series.
I could have enjoyed the story in spite of a lack of character depth and character inconsistencies, but unnecessary and mishandled sexual assault put it over into DNF territory. I just wanted more stories like Connie Willis, but I’ll go reread her work instead of plodding through another book in this series.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault