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nerdicwalker 's review for:
This Mortal Coil
by Emily Suvada
A curious mix of dystopian, SF, genetics , adventure and self discovery that despite it’s complexity works in drawing you in.
The story line needs a lot of explaining on where it is set, about and going to go when it starts. The It is complex and as a result it may be hard to get past the first few chapters - I know that they took me longest and at the time I was thinking I am not too sure about this. Once past that stage it reads well and becomes fast paced and exciting. I throughly enjoyed reading this book and would totally recommend it to people interested in SF of a different kind than (only) space travel.
Initially the storyline can be divided into a number of sub plots/lines
The typical YA - love story
A father - daughter relationship
Friendship and how it can influence decisions making
A YA journey of self discovery that in this case is quite mind boggling and also inspirational
The dystopian/genetics SF topic.
But the great thing about the book is that those sublimes too are not quite what they seem. Nothing is typical in this book not only the characters in the book are on the wrong foot, so tends to be the reader. Cat really is not quite what she seems to be at the start She is a hero, but with flaws. Many younger readers will understand some of her struggles in the book. She is both a sympathetic and infuriating character. Other characters are less well fleshed out an end up being somewhat 2-dimensional and fall flat. The technical SF side of the book to me is novel and fun. It is hardcore SF with biology thrown in. So much fun. I love the explanations on the genetics side and one can read the research the author did come through.
I gave this hugely enjoyable book 4 stars.
The reasons are the start, the complexity of the story initially. The interlink tech/genetics though IMO not too far fetched ends up reading as the bees knees t and answer to just about everything, but this is at odds with some of the story line I think.
The support characters are somewhat too 2-dimensional. They fall flat and are one sided. Not all of them, but many do feel like props to Cat’s story and I think that could have been done better.
It makes up for a little too much to give it an upgrade, but it does mean that I fully intend to read part 2.
The story line needs a lot of explaining on where it is set, about and going to go when it starts. The It is complex and as a result it may be hard to get past the first few chapters - I know that they took me longest and at the time I was thinking I am not too sure about this. Once past that stage it reads well and becomes fast paced and exciting. I throughly enjoyed reading this book and would totally recommend it to people interested in SF of a different kind than (only) space travel.
Initially the storyline can be divided into a number of sub plots/lines
The typical YA - love story
A father - daughter relationship
Friendship and how it can influence decisions making
A YA journey of self discovery that in this case is quite mind boggling and also inspirational
The dystopian/genetics SF topic.
But the great thing about the book is that those sublimes too are not quite what they seem. Nothing is typical in this book not only the characters in the book are on the wrong foot, so tends to be the reader. Cat really is not quite what she seems to be at the start She is a hero, but with flaws. Many younger readers will understand some of her struggles in the book. She is both a sympathetic and infuriating character. Other characters are less well fleshed out an end up being somewhat 2-dimensional and fall flat. The technical SF side of the book to me is novel and fun. It is hardcore SF with biology thrown in. So much fun. I love the explanations on the genetics side and one can read the research the author did come through.
I gave this hugely enjoyable book 4 stars.
The reasons are the start, the complexity of the story initially. The interlink tech/genetics though IMO not too far fetched ends up reading as the bees knees t and answer to just about everything, but this is at odds with some of the story line I think.
The support characters are somewhat too 2-dimensional. They fall flat and are one sided. Not all of them, but many do feel like props to Cat’s story and I think that could have been done better.
It makes up for a little too much to give it an upgrade, but it does mean that I fully intend to read part 2.