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essinink 's review for:
Noumenon Ultra
by Marina J. Lostetter
I don't like giving 1-star reviews. Usually, when I 1-star a book, it means I felt such intense dislike that I can't find a redeeming factor. But in this case, it's worse. In this case, Lostetter's grand ambitions for her universe grew so cosmically wide-reaching that she sacrificed the plot. And then on top of that, she took a hacksaw to language and grammar and called it art.
To the first point: I'm not a reader who requires a strong external plot if the journey can stand as its own plot. There are authors who do very well writing internal people-plots and concept-plots. The first book, [b:Noumenon|32600718|Noumenon (Noumenon #1)|Marina J. Lostetter|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1490802159l/32600718._SY75_.jpg|53181429], was good. Lostetter hit exactly the right balance between external and internal plot factors, and made me care about her characters despite time skips. By contrast, [b:Noumenon Infinity|35887265|Noumenon Infinity (Noumenon #2)|Marina J. Lostetter|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1517768510l/35887265._SY75_.jpg|57403777] had much weaker writing, and Ultra continued the downward spiral.
Here, at the close of the trilogy, the external pressure is too big, and too existential to impact the day-to-day lives of these characters. Worse, the timescale is so far forward and skipping so rapidly that I could not connect to those characters. I can summarize what happened in each chapter or interlude, but how that relates to the MacGuffin? Nope. The stories aren't bad, but in the context we're given, they're just... there. And there's no longer enough continuity to read it as "society fic."
And then there's the smaller writing issues, like the pronouns picked by Icelandic-Plus, and the way Icelandic-Plus' translations inconsistently drop the verb "to be." Or, heck, the entire definition given for the word "im," which is then thrown nonsensically at the text. There's an entire sub-plot thread concerned with how an alien species thinks and speaks... but the author doesn't seem to understand how language works. I can respect a nuanced analysis of gender and language, but this had all the elegance and subtlety of a sledgehammer wielded against fine china.
There's more, but at the end of it all I got the impression that Lostetter was aiming for a harder-SF Becky Chambers. Unfortunately, she didn't pull it off. Disappointing.
To the first point: I'm not a reader who requires a strong external plot if the journey can stand as its own plot. There are authors who do very well writing internal people-plots and concept-plots. The first book, [b:Noumenon|32600718|Noumenon (Noumenon #1)|Marina J. Lostetter|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1490802159l/32600718._SY75_.jpg|53181429], was good. Lostetter hit exactly the right balance between external and internal plot factors, and made me care about her characters despite time skips. By contrast, [b:Noumenon Infinity|35887265|Noumenon Infinity (Noumenon #2)|Marina J. Lostetter|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1517768510l/35887265._SY75_.jpg|57403777] had much weaker writing, and Ultra continued the downward spiral.
Here, at the close of the trilogy, the external pressure is too big, and too existential to impact the day-to-day lives of these characters. Worse, the timescale is so far forward and skipping so rapidly that I could not connect to those characters. I can summarize what happened in each chapter or interlude, but how that relates to the MacGuffin? Nope. The stories aren't bad, but in the context we're given, they're just... there. And there's no longer enough continuity to read it as "society fic."
And then there's the smaller writing issues, like the pronouns picked by Icelandic-Plus, and the way Icelandic-Plus' translations inconsistently drop the verb "to be." Or, heck, the entire definition given for the word "im," which is then thrown nonsensically at the text. There's an entire sub-plot thread concerned with how an alien species thinks and speaks... but the author doesn't seem to understand how language works. I can respect a nuanced analysis of gender and language, but this had all the elegance and subtlety of a sledgehammer wielded against fine china.
There's more, but at the end of it all I got the impression that Lostetter was aiming for a harder-SF Becky Chambers. Unfortunately, she didn't pull it off. Disappointing.