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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
This book reminds me how important a good editor is — the writing style is clunky and contains so many adjectives. I’m sure there is a good story here! I’m interested but got too annoyed to carry on.
The writing is gorgeous, but it feels too much like a copy of Neon Genesis Evangelion (complete with mecha called Angels--or seraphs here). It feels like the story is just sort of happening to the protagonist--they have no agency and it kind of icks me out.
What do you get when you take the story of Joan of Arc, put it in the blender with a huge helping of Neon Genesis Evangelion, a dash of Code Geass and Gideon the Ninth, and just a pinch of feudal lord/handmaiden? Well -- you get the Genesis of Misery, an unapologetically queer, unrecognizably religious space opera about a young nonbinary person (or 'nixen', the term they use in-text) who goes from con artist to zealot as they try to destroy their enemies, the Heretics, and defy the government to do so.
(Misery uses she pronouns in personal contexts and they pronouns in professional/report-style settings; a review is a report so I'm using 'they' here in general, but she for my personal feelings about her. That feels right.)
I thought this book was just extremely, extremely cool. The setting is extremely rich (an aeons-past-earth settler story! Voidmadness! Religious? angels? of the Forge? who left mecha for their blessed people! A decadent, decaying space-empire!). It's Joan of Arc's life story remixed, as I said, with a lot of deliberate Evangelion, and you can see the nods to it in plenty of places, ("all is right, all is right, all is right", making a hole through a base so the angel can descend into the depth, the non-religious religiousness of the whole thing) but it's nothing like a fanfic either; its world is unique.
I can understand why some people might not entirely jive with it, although I very much did. Like Gideon the Ninth, The Genesis of Misery plays with rapid whiplash between high and low language, going from religious speeches to a vulgar comment, or interrupting the strange, foreign fantasy of this place with quotes from our own modern era. This works for me given the themes and the characters. Likewise, Misery is not a nice person. She's selfish, self-centered, blames other people for her flaws, and refuses to ever doubt herself, even when murder is involved. But she's believable and she's engaging and fascinating.
This story is queer as hell, and I love how the pronouns are presented -- we are being TOLD the story straight up by a being in a culture where introducing yourself with your pronouns is standardized; why wouldn't it be listed in the text as specifically offered information? Everyone is pan, many characters are nonbinary.
The one flaw I personally had with it is that it felt unresolved at the end (in a way Joan of Arc's story isn't), and I would have been fine with it except that the frame narrative is very much... I want to know what decision he's making about Misery, and why he needs this information about them from their point of view, and we're not given that. So it doesn't feel quite complete to me, just, so close to being there but not quite. Perhaps this is the first part of a duology or trilogy (as in the Joan of Arc biography obviously there is.... a bit more to go) but if so, neither NetGalley nor Goodreads has said as much, which means my reading has to be informed as if this is a standalone.
I enjoyed this VERY much. Thank you to NetGalley and to Tor.com for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
(Misery uses she pronouns in personal contexts and they pronouns in professional/report-style settings; a review is a report so I'm using 'they' here in general, but she for my personal feelings about her. That feels right.)
I thought this book was just extremely, extremely cool. The setting is extremely rich (an aeons-past-earth settler story! Voidmadness! Religious? angels? of the Forge? who left mecha for their blessed people! A decadent, decaying space-empire!). It's Joan of Arc's life story remixed, as I said, with a lot of deliberate Evangelion, and you can see the nods to it in plenty of places, ("all is right, all is right, all is right", making a hole through a base so the angel can descend into the depth, the non-religious religiousness of the whole thing) but it's nothing like a fanfic either; its world is unique.
I can understand why some people might not entirely jive with it, although I very much did. Like Gideon the Ninth, The Genesis of Misery plays with rapid whiplash between high and low language, going from religious speeches to a vulgar comment, or interrupting the strange, foreign fantasy of this place with quotes from our own modern era. This works for me given the themes and the characters. Likewise, Misery is not a nice person. She's selfish, self-centered, blames other people for her flaws, and refuses to ever doubt herself, even when murder is involved. But she's believable and she's engaging and fascinating.
This story is queer as hell, and I love how the pronouns are presented -- we are being TOLD the story straight up by a being in a culture where introducing yourself with your pronouns is standardized; why wouldn't it be listed in the text as specifically offered information? Everyone is pan, many characters are nonbinary.
The one flaw I personally had with it is that it felt unresolved at the end (in a way Joan of Arc's story isn't), and I would have been fine with it except that the frame narrative is very much... I want to know what decision he's making about Misery, and why he needs this information about them from their point of view, and we're not given that. So it doesn't feel quite complete to me, just, so close to being there but not quite. Perhaps this is the first part of a duology or trilogy (as in the Joan of Arc biography obviously there is.... a bit more to go) but if so, neither NetGalley nor Goodreads has said as much, which means my reading has to be informed as if this is a standalone.
I enjoyed this VERY much. Thank you to NetGalley and to Tor.com for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
medium-paced
I am always on the lookout for sci-fi books that I'll enjoy because I am really picky about this genre for some reason. Unfortunately, this one did not hit the mark for me. I think there was a lot of potential in here, especially with the core ideas, but the writing style was very basic and simple and the dialogue often came across as a little clunky. I actually checked back to see if this was a YA or an adult book because a lot of how ideas were portrayed came across as the type of writing you would see in books aimed at younger audiences. If I were to explain the plot, this book would sound awesome and I really wish that awesomeness came through when I was actually reading it, but the tone broke the immersion for me. The front half is crammed with swearing and cursing that felt a little childish and people were introduced with their pronouns, which unfortunately didn't come across very smoothly. I kept thinking that there must have been a better way to do that.
Overall, I liked the basic plot and structure, but I feel like a couple re-writes were needed for me to be along for the ride this book had planned.
Overall, I liked the basic plot and structure, but I feel like a couple re-writes were needed for me to be along for the ride this book had planned.
So much potential, super poorly written
Update. This book is just... not grabbing me. You broke the narrative flow in the most obnoxious way to tell us the MC uses she/they pronouns, but then you only refer to them using she/her, so what was the point of that. Everything seems to have the same narrative weight, so the vibe becomes overwhelmingly static, like white noise rather than a symphony with dynamic rises and lulls. And despite my very best attempts to not make comparisons, all I'm getting from this book is that it very badly wants to be Gideon the Ninth, but it simply does not have the sauce.
adventurous
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-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
Man, what an absolutely wild ride. I loved this from start to finish. I LOVE a good trope subversion, and the “chosen one” trope is such a good one to mess around with.
Being inside Misery’s head was such a trip. She is so convinced that she’s mad and just creating these delusions, but she also has to play the part. When she finally embraces and accepts that perhaps she is the chosen one? The amount of religious fervour and righteousness that fills her was such a force to behold. She’s also so funny, and so casually crass and flippant that you can’t help but enjoy her character, even if you aren’t totally rooting for her.
I had such a fun time and can’t wait for the next one to get written!
Being inside Misery’s head was such a trip. She is so convinced that she’s mad and just creating these delusions, but she also has to play the part. When she finally embraces and accepts that perhaps she is the chosen one? The amount of religious fervour and righteousness that fills her was such a force to behold. She’s also so funny, and so casually crass and flippant that you can’t help but enjoy her character, even if you aren’t totally rooting for her.
I had such a fun time and can’t wait for the next one to get written!
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
tense
fast-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
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced