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bibliovino's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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? It's complicated
4.0
Seriously smart first-contact space opera romp! Ash is the perfect antihero and the crew is a delicious mix of lovable fallibility. This story is HARD, but I fell in love!
a_l_deleon's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
5.0
An engaging sci-fi read and thought provoking. Highly recommend it!
keyneston's review against another edition
adventurous
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
noisydeadlines's review
2.0
It started okay but then some ideas felt underdeveloped, and it was not clear how the alien technology worked and what was really going on with the characters' hallucinations. The writing style didn't attract me too much and I thought there was the overuse of metaphors to describe things. I was confused by some terms used to name objects, sometimes I found there was not enough context to understand what that object was. The ending was very abrupt and to be honest, I still quite didn't get it. I don't feel compelled to continue reading the next book.
sepptb's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
eitani's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
annasirius's review against another edition
4.0
Action-packed page turner with unique ideas and difficult moral choices.
Why not five stars?
* The setting could've been more fleshed out. It felt very generic and I did not understand why people's moral radars seemed to point differently than ours.
* The characters, while definitely 3-dimensional, felt much more defined by their social status than their personalities.
* I don't understand why this particular end was chosen.
* The main premise is great, but I wish these ideas were explored further.
Why not five stars?
* The setting could've been more fleshed out. It felt very generic and I did not understand why people's moral radars seemed to point differently than ours.
* The characters, while definitely 3-dimensional, felt much more defined by their social status than their personalities.
* I don't understand why this particular end was chosen.
* The main premise is great, but I wish these ideas were explored further.
childoftheninth's review against another edition
4.0
For such a short book I had a lot of things to say about it. It was a compelling story from the start. This book has a lot to like: fun characters, found family torn apart by betrayal, star crossed lovers, mysterious aliens that may not be as evil as everyone thought and the true villain, capitalism. Tor books really has the gays in space market cornered and I'm loving it.
My favorite thing about it is that Ash is a terminally ill main character. It's so uncommon to have sick main characters in regular novels, let alone scifi. I really liked how Ash's illness is ruining her life in every way possible, but she's still a badass and it's not *despite* her illness but because of it. And not because she's being stoic or emotionless about it. We get to experience how her symptoms affect her and it's not glossed over or shoved aside. She lives with the very real fear of being cast aside by society if anyone finds out she's sick, which is not unlike how many chronically ill people feel in today's world. I like how she would do literally anything for a cure.
This would be an easy book to sit down and read in one sitting. It's got the feel of a scifi epic but is actually quite short and a quick read. I took my time with it and used it to get through a reading slump. Sure, parts of it were a little clumsy but it didn't bother me. It didn't feel like it needed to be a masterpiece to be an enjoyable book.
I was a bit disappointed by some of the character deaths (one in particular) and the climactic event at the end so I'm curious to see where the next book takes it.
My favorite thing about it is that Ash is a terminally ill main character. It's so uncommon to have sick main characters in regular novels, let alone scifi. I really liked how Ash's illness is ruining her life in every way possible, but she's still a badass and it's not *despite* her illness but because of it. And not because she's being stoic or emotionless about it. We get to experience how her symptoms affect her and it's not glossed over or shoved aside. She lives with the very real fear of being cast aside by society if anyone finds out she's sick, which is not unlike how many chronically ill people feel in today's world. I like how she would do literally anything for a cure.
This would be an easy book to sit down and read in one sitting. It's got the feel of a scifi epic but is actually quite short and a quick read. I took my time with it and used it to get through a reading slump. Sure, parts of it were a little clumsy but it didn't bother me. It didn't feel like it needed to be a masterpiece to be an enjoyable book.
I was a bit disappointed by some of the character deaths (one in particular) and the climactic event at the end so I'm curious to see where the next book takes it.
evenstr's review
adventurous
emotional
sad
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? It's complicated
4.5
root's review against another edition
medium-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
2.75