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3.43 AVERAGE
3.43 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ben H Winters is known for his speculative fiction being a true rollercoaster through genres, and Big Time is no exception. This novel follows Grace, a government bureaucrat tasked with reviewing medical devices, who is assigned to identify a medical port found on a mysterious woman. Grace, her child River, and many others are pulled into a vaster conspiracy around scientific experimentation, espionage, and what. While this was an engrossing tale that moved quickly, ultimately there were so many details and other narrative elements that did not stick the landing. While the explanation and the scientific details presented were intriguing and satisfying on the surface, I was left with a great deal of confusion over character motives and other narrative elements. For instance: Where the did the aspect of "Allie" originate from? Wouldn't the universe have added elements of "Allie" to the timeline as well if the goal was to replace Ana's disappearance? Was there any narrative purpose for Kendall Johns, the coworker, aside from being the one to report the crimes? The Last Policeman series is still the height of his works in my opinion, and maybe I align more with his longer fiction/series than his single entries. I appreciate that these series are better able delve into the implications and better round out the story and/or character beats due to the page time and word count available. Nevertheless, if you are looking for a quick blockbuster, genre fusion airport read, then this is the book for you.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
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:
Complicated
Just so good, the ending was a bit disappointing but I'm not sure what I would have rather had happen. It was really gripping and interesting and easy to read, highly recommend
fast-paced
Really interesting concept and a good story to support it. There’s a major element that needed more, though. It’s basically hand waved away by having another character clearly realize what happened, but it’s not spelled out for the reader and I didn’t get it. It was also a missed opportunity for character development, IMO.
Fun book with an extremely uninteresting ending. Allie having never existed really deflated a whole range of otherwise potentially compelling stakes, and the actual last chapter itself was just...not at all what I ever want a thriller to be trying to do. Some really shoved-in class commentary. Pacing was pretty wonky too, especially at the end :( SAD! The first 75% was really fun and I enjoyed it until it fell apart. Many such cases
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Clearly a far right author who is showing off how much he hates:
1) Government and government employees
2) The overuse of preferred pronouns (his narration "respects" the teenager's pronouns so much you can't tell what's going on in several scenes)
3) women in general (all the women are seriously flawed, and unlikeable).
The book is more about the flaws of the main characters than about the sci-fi aspects.
1) Government and government employees
2) The overuse of preferred pronouns (his narration "respects" the teenager's pronouns so much you can't tell what's going on in several scenes)
3) women in general (all the women are seriously flawed, and unlikeable).
The book is more about the flaws of the main characters than about the sci-fi aspects.