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A review by laurenfro22
The Principle of Moments by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson
slow-paced
3.0
I desperately wanted to like this book. Queer rep, time traveling, prophecies, space travel, big big themes? I love all those things. Which is why I am SO bummed I didn’t care for this. It did a lot well and I definitely think it is a middling read, I think it just wasn’t for me unfortunately.
Plot: the word ambitious comes to mind. The author has great ideas and huge aspirations and that’s super evident in this multi-time/world universe they’ve created. Extremely challenging to follow when there’s a lot of set up for future books. There were also sections where there were time jumps spliced in or weird pacing that made the story hobble along a little bit.
Prose: I didn’t feel close to the writing, like everything was happening at arms length and we weren’t really *there* in the midst. Some really well done sections, flowery language in appropriate places, and then other times it was super choppy, anachronistic, and flat.
People: it was difficult to feel connected to the characters and feel that the characters were connected to each other. One of the 3 important Heros felt like a Flat Stanley, just like super underdeveloped. The other two were certainly more fleshed out but even then there were a lot of moments of ‘why should the reader care,’ which was frustrating because you can tell that the plot hinges on these relationships working.
General: I feel it could’ve used another editing pass. I noticed a couple of spots with missing words and then an entire chapter heading missing a piece of the equation. I think tightening up the threads of the story would help it flow a lot better and improve areas where it struggles more.
Overall I think this book is interesting and full of potential and I want to see what the author does next.
Plot: the word ambitious comes to mind. The author has great ideas and huge aspirations and that’s super evident in this multi-time/world universe they’ve created. Extremely challenging to follow when there’s a lot of set up for future books. There were also sections where there were time jumps spliced in or weird pacing that made the story hobble along a little bit.
Prose: I didn’t feel close to the writing, like everything was happening at arms length and we weren’t really *there* in the midst. Some really well done sections, flowery language in appropriate places, and then other times it was super choppy, anachronistic, and flat.
People: it was difficult to feel connected to the characters and feel that the characters were connected to each other. One of the 3 important Heros felt like a Flat Stanley, just like super underdeveloped. The other two were certainly more fleshed out but even then there were a lot of moments of ‘why should the reader care,’ which was frustrating because you can tell that the plot hinges on these relationships working.
General: I feel it could’ve used another editing pass. I noticed a couple of spots with missing words and then an entire chapter heading missing a piece of the equation. I think tightening up the threads of the story would help it flow a lot better and improve areas where it struggles more.
Overall I think this book is interesting and full of potential and I want to see what the author does next.