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A review by thefourthvine
Root of Unity by S.L. Huang
4.0
I genuinely do not know what to rate this book. Like, the characters and the general setup are so id-appealing to me that I'll pretty much always be delighted to read about them, but the structure of this book was weird and it was, in places, actively uncomfortable to read. It definitely wasn't as good as the first two books (both of which are GREAT), and yet I read it intently and quickly and cared deeply about it. I wasn't just engaged; I was well on my way to marrying it. So: four stars. But I think an honest rating would be more like two stars for the first half, five stars for the next 25%, three stars for the 5% after that, and then four stars for the remainder.
It's that kind of book.
So, basically, Cas Russell is back, and if you've read the first two books you know exactly what that means. More math! More action! More weird memory issues and total inability to handle or even recognize feelings! More bizarrest-found-family ever! (You can't even call them a family of choice, because Cas didn't choose them. She doesn't even really know the definition of family. And yet.) In this case, there is a problem involving two major (and I mean MAJOR) mathematical discoveries that miiiiiiiight possibly lead to the end of the world as we know it. (And no one feels all that fine about it.)
So far, so great, right? I mean, if you like action SF with spacetoasters, THIS IS YOUR JAM. But. But. The first half of the book is an overlong series of Cas making seriously bad decisions while getting injured. And injured. And injured again. For me, it ended up being like reading about a character holding their breath. And then after 30 pages, they still haven't breathed, and your lungs are starting to hurt, and also your disbelief is crashing to the ground because humans can't survive this, and it's anxiety-inducing and uncomfortable and it rips you out of the novel. I hope, I hope the point of this was to drive home that there are other weird things about Cas, that she can sustain more damage and heal more quickly than normal humans. Even so: weird and unnecessary and, for me, unfun.
During this part, Huang also walks back Cas's character significantly from the point in her overall arc that she reached in the last novel. Which, again, I did not enjoy all that much.
Then the nonstop action cabaret ends, for which I was devoutly grateful, and Cas takes a giant step forward on her arc, or is sort of dragged along it, anyway. That was great! And then Cas does the Bad Decision Boogie, and when she does it, she really does it. Which, again, uncomfortable. But it does allow her to move forward on her character arc yet again, so it's an understandable justification for my cringing.
So, I was actively uncomfortable through more than half of the book. But I finished it and hit the next button several times, hoping against hope for more. And I will now commence haunting Amazon, waiting impatiently for the next one.
Basically: I don't know for sure how I feel about this book. But WOW do I need more of it.
It's that kind of book.
So, basically, Cas Russell is back, and if you've read the first two books you know exactly what that means. More math! More action! More weird memory issues and total inability to handle or even recognize feelings! More bizarrest-found-family ever! (You can't even call them a family of choice, because Cas didn't choose them. She doesn't even really know the definition of family. And yet.) In this case, there is a problem involving two major (and I mean MAJOR) mathematical discoveries that miiiiiiiight possibly lead to the end of the world as we know it. (And no one feels all that fine about it.)
So far, so great, right? I mean, if you like action SF with spacetoasters, THIS IS YOUR JAM. But. But. The first half of the book is an overlong series of Cas making seriously bad decisions while getting injured. And injured. And injured again. For me, it ended up being like reading about a character holding their breath. And then after 30 pages, they still haven't breathed, and your lungs are starting to hurt, and also your disbelief is crashing to the ground because humans can't survive this, and it's anxiety-inducing and uncomfortable and it rips you out of the novel. I hope, I hope the point of this was to drive home that there are other weird things about Cas, that she can sustain more damage and heal more quickly than normal humans. Even so: weird and unnecessary and, for me, unfun.
During this part, Huang also walks back Cas's character significantly from the point in her overall arc that she reached in the last novel. Which, again, I did not enjoy all that much.
Then the nonstop action cabaret ends, for which I was devoutly grateful, and Cas takes a giant step forward on her arc, or is sort of dragged along it, anyway. That was great! And then Cas does the Bad Decision Boogie, and when she does it, she really does it. Which, again, uncomfortable. But it does allow her to move forward on her character arc yet again, so it's an understandable justification for my cringing.
So, I was actively uncomfortable through more than half of the book. But I finished it and hit the next button several times, hoping against hope for more. And I will now commence haunting Amazon, waiting impatiently for the next one.
Basically: I don't know for sure how I feel about this book. But WOW do I need more of it.