Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
I didn’t know when I started this book that it had been marketed as a retelling of Joan of Arc. Now that I’ve finished reading, that influence is clear and I think did a disservice to what the story could have been. I felt dissatisfied with the way that Misery became a more static character, even as the plot unfolded and revealed more tension and nuance in the world (though this also counts as a character arc I suppose).
Despite spending nearly the entire book inside Misery’s head, nearly every character feels flat - including them. Their POV narration is so insular that other characters get very little development, despite nearly every other character being more immediately interesting.
The way that faith is handled in this book set a truly odd tone that resulted in several characters suddenly becoming flat caricatures of “faithful”. This includes Misery herself, who begins the book with a few redeeming qualities and loses them swiftly and without fanfare or (seemingly) remorse.
An interesting book with good and captivating worldbuilding, and I will say I felt compelled to finish. But between the flat characters and the odd tone/voice, it wasn’t for me.
Despite spending nearly the entire book inside Misery’s head, nearly every character feels flat - including them. Their POV narration is so insular that other characters get very little development, despite nearly every other character being more immediately interesting.
The way that faith is handled in this book set a truly odd tone that resulted in several characters suddenly becoming flat caricatures of “faithful”. This includes Misery herself, who begins the book with a few redeeming qualities and loses them swiftly and without fanfare or (seemingly) remorse.
An interesting book with good and captivating worldbuilding, and I will say I felt compelled to finish. But between the flat characters and the odd tone/voice, it wasn’t for me.
adventurous
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
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I wanted to like this so badly, and for the first chunk I actually kinda did. This book didn’t seem willing to actually wrangle with any of the topics it ostensibly engaged with.
torn about the rating because i’m a bit annoyed it didn’t wrap up but also i want more from this world anyway!
a beautiful story, beautiful cast, and incredible world-building. the portrayal of faith and the way it can be politicked is full of nuance and wonderfully profound and like even wonderfully profane
and it’s just a fun space fantasy with lots of action and sex and gender diversity so it’s right up my alley right now
a beautiful story, beautiful cast, and incredible world-building. the portrayal of faith and the way it can be politicked is full of nuance and wonderfully profound and like even wonderfully profane
and it’s just a fun space fantasy with lots of action and sex and gender diversity so it’s right up my alley right now
I really enjoyed this book. It didn't take me too long to get though, but I really loved the descriptive prose and narrative, and I really wish mech sci-fi was more popular in English-speaking countries, guess I have to lean into my Japanese studies more. If you want to read a similar book to this one, I would recommend The Archive Undying, though that one's pretty confusing.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
I enjoyed this book well enough most of the way through, but by the end, I couldn't ignore a lot of the issues I had with it anymore. I had to push myself to finish. First off, there is absolutely no depth to the characters. Spider, Tank, Shark...I have no idea who the heck these people are or why I should care about them. The brief glimspes I have of them are basic archetypal (nerd, hacker, pilot) outlines. They never speak more than a few words and don't provide anything to the plot. Secondly, the battle scenes were at the same time too short and very boring. I was super excited when I found out there would be mechs, but they don't do anything. These might as well have just been normal space ships. The other major issue I had was the way people talked. Either the characters were using highly formal language, where everything was redolant with meaning, or they were using cheeky turns of phrase (often in the very next sentence). This felt like it could have used a few more revisions, not like a thoughtful, final piece of fiction.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
The Genesis of Misery is insanity.
And I devoured every second of it.
(Thank you so very much TorBooks for sending me over a physical ARC to now cherish until book 2/3 are in my sights. I appreciate you guys as always.)
Anyways, this book was a ride. I’m definitely going to miss some points in my review because there’s so many potential topics I could bring up.
The prose, the use of gender pronouns, the science fictional world, the prophetic/religious aspects all blended together so seamlessly which is not what I would have expected going into this book. I was delighted that Yang ALSO managed to maintain all of these elements while giving us such a likable protagonist. The talent.
So to put it plainly, I was a massive fan of Misery; their internal struggle of experiencing a thing called “void sickness” whilst also having to come to terms with the idea that they might just be the Ninth Messiah was so captivating. Watching them battle those dichotomies made for such a good story, they couldn’t tell if they was one or the other, and neither could we.
Another cool element of this book was the writing device Yang used to tell parts of this story. They used a narrator set far into the future who reflected back on the events of Misery Nomaki’s role as the Ninth Messiah, and it made the story THAT much more intriguing.
The one downside I personally had—which is why this didn’t get 5 stars—were the supporting characters; Namely Alodia Lightning and their relationship with Misery. While I wanted to LOVE them and the dynamic constructed by Yang, they felt very stereotypical in a book that seemed like it was much too unique for such a rudimentary character with seen-before anger issues. Their entire personality for a good chunk of the book boiled down to an angry standoffish princess. And not that there’s an issue with that necessarily, but for some reason I didn’t personally appreciate it because everyone else felt so…unique. To add, Misery felt an instant urge to chase after her following ONE quick interaction and for me it wasn’t enough. Furthermore, when they begin to soften towards Misery…it felt rushed and not truly earned via their journey throughout the book. So, when very crucial moments occurred between them later on I was not as excited as I wanted to be, as I should have been.
Alodia aside, I had such a good time devouring this book and the world Yang has created. It’s delectable and unique and stands out from other sci-fi’s I have read. If you’re a Locked Tomb fan I would HIGHLY recommend this as something in that same vein!
And I devoured every second of it.
(Thank you so very much TorBooks for sending me over a physical ARC to now cherish until book 2/3 are in my sights. I appreciate you guys as always.)
Anyways, this book was a ride. I’m definitely going to miss some points in my review because there’s so many potential topics I could bring up.
The prose, the use of gender pronouns, the science fictional world, the prophetic/religious aspects all blended together so seamlessly which is not what I would have expected going into this book. I was delighted that Yang ALSO managed to maintain all of these elements while giving us such a likable protagonist. The talent.
So to put it plainly, I was a massive fan of Misery; their internal struggle of experiencing a thing called “void sickness” whilst also having to come to terms with the idea that they might just be the Ninth Messiah was so captivating. Watching them battle those dichotomies made for such a good story, they couldn’t tell if they was one or the other, and neither could we.
Another cool element of this book was the writing device Yang used to tell parts of this story. They used a narrator set far into the future who reflected back on the events of Misery Nomaki’s role as the Ninth Messiah, and it made the story THAT much more intriguing.
The one downside I personally had—which is why this didn’t get 5 stars—were the supporting characters; Namely Alodia Lightning and their relationship with Misery. While I wanted to LOVE them and the dynamic constructed by Yang, they felt very stereotypical in a book that seemed like it was much too unique for such a rudimentary character with seen-before anger issues. Their entire personality for a good chunk of the book boiled down to an angry standoffish princess. And not that there’s an issue with that necessarily, but for some reason I didn’t personally appreciate it because everyone else felt so…unique. To add, Misery felt an instant urge to chase after her following ONE quick interaction and for me it wasn’t enough. Furthermore, when they begin to soften towards Misery…it felt rushed and not truly earned via their journey throughout the book. So, when very crucial moments occurred between them later on I was not as excited as I wanted to be, as I should have been.
Alodia aside, I had such a good time devouring this book and the world Yang has created. It’s delectable and unique and stands out from other sci-fi’s I have read. If you’re a Locked Tomb fan I would HIGHLY recommend this as something in that same vein!
At first I was skeptical, I couldn't quite buy the protagonist's constant doubt in themselves as the ninth prophet, since we are privy to Misery's visions (which she labels as delusions). Also the use of pronouns frustrated me in the beginning (Misery explains their They/She pronouns towards the middle of the novel, which I think would have been better served earlier on). If disclosing pronouns is so commonplace in this future society, I would think they'd have come up with a more streamline way to do it.
That said, both the protagonist's internal doubts and the author's utilization of pronouns bothered me less and less as I proceeded through the novel, and by the end I was actually quite enraptured with it. Yang leaves plenty of space for a sequel, and since this is a Joan of Arc story we know there is more left. Finally, the cover and the title screamed Neon Genesis Evangelion to me, and I think this novel actually delivers on that promise. We get internal character struggles, we get an unknown seemingly inhuman threat, and finally we get our mech robot battles, all sprinkled with a seasoning of religious fervor and iconography. Good stuff, and I look forward to the second book of what looks to be a trilogy.
That said, both the protagonist's internal doubts and the author's utilization of pronouns bothered me less and less as I proceeded through the novel, and by the end I was actually quite enraptured with it. Yang leaves plenty of space for a sequel, and since this is a Joan of Arc story we know there is more left. Finally, the cover and the title screamed Neon Genesis Evangelion to me, and I think this novel actually delivers on that promise. We get internal character struggles, we get an unknown seemingly inhuman threat, and finally we get our mech robot battles, all sprinkled with a seasoning of religious fervor and iconography. Good stuff, and I look forward to the second book of what looks to be a trilogy.