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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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:
Yes
The central premise is "Joan of Arc in space," but Genesis of Misery does so many things not necessary to fulfill that premise. The author takes an unreliable narrator who gets progressively less trustworthy as things go on, combines them with a sci-fi world of miracles and technology and things not quite either, and adds a nearly incomprehensible frame narrative. This novel has really interesting themes; fanaticism, self-mythology, trauma, polyamory, and it handles them well, with compelling characters. But many of the strange decisions the author makes just don't seem to be worth the difficulty they add to the reading experience. The sequel is unreleased at time of writing, but I suspect it answers the "why" questions that hold Genesis back.
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I liked the ideas but the execution did not sell it for me.
Much of the dialogue felt very wooden and the prose was extremely purple. Eg: human mortality described as "gelatinous". Some of the descriptions didn't make sense such as massaging the tension out of ones bones and tendon.
Felt like a story was written and then a thesaurus was thrown at it.
Much of the dialogue felt very wooden and the prose was extremely purple. Eg: human mortality described as "gelatinous". Some of the descriptions didn't make sense such as massaging the tension out of ones bones and tendon.
Felt like a story was written and then a thesaurus was thrown at it.
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was great, even if it was sad at the end. I loved Misery as a character and her relationship with Lighting made her even better. I also really loved Ruin, zie was such an interesting character to read about and hir personality was so much fun. I enjoyed hir attitude and sassieness. The ending of this was also amazing and I loved the writing (which is strange considering that was a hang up for me in The Black Tides Of Heaven). The use of neopronouns was great as well, the queernormative world made me very happy to read about. Overall, this was a lot of fun and is definitely a recommendation. I don't read a lot of spacey sci-fi, I prefer robots or superheroes, but this made me more excited to pick some up.
I wish there was a second one, it isn't needed, I just really like this world and these characters
I wish there was a second one, it isn't needed, I just really like this world and these characters
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
DNF at 31%.
Between the slow, deliberate audiobook narration (1.15 speed still felt slow as molasses) and the excessive and overblown language, I just couldn't power through. I wanted to get through the story, not listen about the specifics of holy stone or the perpetual sneer on the princess' face.
What really did this story in wasa review I read which spoiled the fact that she becomes (?) a heretic kaiju when the void madness takes her over (?) and I just had to nope out of the whole thing. I'm pretty sure I rolled my eyes and said, "Not doing this" out loud.
The cover art is pretty cool, though.
Between the slow, deliberate audiobook narration (1.15 speed still felt slow as molasses) and the excessive and overblown language, I just couldn't power through. I wanted to get through the story, not listen about the specifics of holy stone or the perpetual sneer on the princess' face.
What really did this story in was
The cover art is pretty cool, though.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I didn't understand what the point was. is it kinda like lolita, but about religious fanaticism?
the author starts with a dedication "to other Eva pilots", so that might tell you something about what the book is going to be like. I never found the idea of mecha fascinating, so I knew I wasn't the target audience.
Mc needs therapy. not like every person/character, really. Lightning needs therapy too.
but hey, if you force a guy to have sex with you in a dream enough times, he might just pull diplomatic strings and take a chance on you, to help you heal, or whatever his intentions are, even if you are a mass murderer, war criminal and have tortured him personally.
it would be interesting, i guess, to expand what Ruin's (spelling???) deal is.
third sci-fi this year to explicitly mention that they have other modes of food production, but real cow is a luxury. sure, the society is far from utopia, but it's still a choice to mention cows at all.
the author starts with a dedication "to other Eva pilots", so that might tell you something about what the book is going to be like. I never found the idea of mecha fascinating, so I knew I wasn't the target audience.
but hey, if you force a guy to have sex with you in a dream enough times, he might just pull diplomatic strings and take a chance on you, to help you heal, or whatever his intentions are, even if you are a mass murderer, war criminal and have tortured him personally.
it would be interesting, i guess, to expand what Ruin's (spelling???) deal is.
third sci-fi this year to explicitly mention that they have other modes of food production, but real cow is a luxury. sure, the society is far from utopia, but it's still a choice to mention cows at all.
The writing was middling to bad for the first half or so, with hints of editing failure (Duke Argan gets fully introduced twice, and not via character dialogue, in the first two chapters - sloppy!) sprinkled here and there. Misery is, well, miserable as a character until her road-to-Damascus moment a little over halfway through, but the narration isn't directly interior, so we miss out on more personalized feeling.
So I slogged it out, and although the style did improve and smooth out considerably after Misery's epiphany, I didn't care about what happened afterwards.
So I slogged it out, and although the style did improve and smooth out considerably after Misery's epiphany, I didn't care about what happened afterwards.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
I generally really like a lot of the building blocks that make up this story, but unfortunately the way they were assembled in this story just didn't hit well for me. I didn't find the story engaging to read because the characters were so self-center, close-minded, egotistical, and whatever the word is for when you don't care about anyone around you except how they can give you what you want. The characters only get worse. I think this is what the author intended, but the story didn't end up going anywhere that made me feel any of the concepts were well explored. In general it was a good idea, I'm sorry it just didn't land for me.
This book just lacked so much nuance. It was trying to be political but lacked understanding of multiple view points. Misery (FMC) is intolerable. She is narcissistic and just likes violence?? The book is based on religion and messiahs but there is so little information about the religion or the heretics. The gaps make it hard to fall into the story. Misery changes so much that it feels unbelievable. A lot of the ideas felt unfinished. The author might be saving some ideas for a sequel but it’s so clear.
The writing style is also so telly it’s constantly telling you how smart misery is without showing it. They put modern day slang in the book which pulled me out and will age the book. The book is not cheeky or humorous enough to make saying yeet work.
The saving grace of this is the setting. The space battling and the mecs are cool and fun.
The writing style is also so telly it’s constantly telling you how smart misery is without showing it. They put modern day slang in the book which pulled me out and will age the book. The book is not cheeky or humorous enough to make saying yeet work.
The saving grace of this is the setting. The space battling and the mecs are cool and fun.