venneh 's review for:

The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang

4.0

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I think this is Neon Yang's first full length novel, and as a step from their novella series, this is an interesting intermediary step. Yang shifts their writing style focus from a broader plot driven storytelling to a more character driven storytelling, and it doesn't entirely land for me. I can name two characters, tops, and the cast is significantly broader than that. It feels more like a broad pitch document for the first season of an anime that Yang then had to figure out how to then sketch out further and turn into a novel. It also can't decide if it wants to commit to the arch storytelling of a bard, or a more down to earth around the campfire story. It also took way longer than I was expecting to get to the mecha part of the novel. Like, in terms of the cliffhanger at the end of the novel, I am incredibly intrigued. This just feels like it can't quite decide what to be just yet. Still interested to see what comes next!