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sam__i__am 's review for:
Sea of Tranquility
by Emily St. John Mandel
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I was interested in the premise and once it revealed that premise - before then it was just a bunch of characters and random life stuff - I found it easy to read. I think there was potential but it was untapped. The time travel was interesting but it didn’t do anything with it. They brought up some stuff around ethics of time travel but didn’t ask any ethical questions. I did think it was fun to think about what life would be like in the future, things like what sentence illegal time travel would get you, or a fake river there for mental health reasons.
I do think “what was the point?” The protagonist got into it because she was bored, which is the dumbest, most privileged motivation I’ve ever heard. And they broke the rules straight away, because they cared about saving this person they’d never met I think…? But it was actually them all along, so it makes sense that they would care I suppose, if you had any sense it was another version of yourself you were talking to, which you surely would. I feel like there was opportunity to explore some interesting moral questions, but plot was prioritised instead (but what was the plot?).
I do think “what was the point?” The protagonist got into it because she was bored, which is the dumbest, most privileged motivation I’ve ever heard. And they broke the rules straight away, because they cared about saving this person they’d never met I think…? But it was actually them all along, so it makes sense that they would care I suppose, if you had any sense it was another version of yourself you were talking to, which you surely would. I feel like there was opportunity to explore some interesting moral questions, but plot was prioritised instead (but what was the plot?).