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A review by grumbletysnarl
Atlas Alone by Emma Newman
5.0
In [b:Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel|27833542|Story Genius How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel (Before You Waste Three Years Writing 327 Pages That Go Nowhere)|Lisa Cron|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1464018328s/27833542.jpg|47815529], the author asserts that readers wind up simulating the experience of a novel's protagonist. This wasn't a keen new insight to me, since I'm a big fan of [a:Emma Newman|3329042|Emma Newman|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1425124402p2/3329042.jpg]'s [b:Planetfall|24237785|Planetfall (Planetfall, #1)|Emma Newman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1424627926s/24237785.jpg|43823353] series. These are deep and detailed character studies and meditations on mental illness, sneaking past your eyes in a scifi costume, and because of the phenomenon described in Story Genius, reading each title absolutely guts me.
Naturally, I've given the four-book series 19 of a possible 20 stars, and had the latest entry available on my Kindle for something like 4 hours before I started in on it.
I've never been much for the book-report-style review. Instead, I'm just going to call out some things that I loved about the book, then throw some quotes at you and scurry out the door.
The book can be cynical:
pragmatic:
and keenly observant:
I mean, come on, that describes a feeling I've had my whole life!
Finally:
I know *I* thought about someone specific, and their book, when I read that, but maybe I'm wrong.
Naturally, I've given the four-book series 19 of a possible 20 stars, and had the latest entry available on my Kindle for something like 4 hours before I started in on it.
I've never been much for the book-report-style review. Instead, I'm just going to call out some things that I loved about the book, then throw some quotes at you and scurry out the door.
- The automated personal assistant, or APA, is one of the most prescient projections of existing software into a future plan that I've seen.
- Our protagonist suffers from capitalism-induced PTSD, which at our current rate should supplant most major causes of death in all non-American societies by 2040.
- Our protagonist is the first character in the history of English-language letters to be asexual on the page and suffer from PTSD and to never have the former ascribed to the latter.
- In the future, there's a Teddy Ruxpin analogue named Bobby Bear who rips my still-beating heart right out of my chest, holds it in front of my dying eyes, and then squee...sorry, that analogy got away from me there. Let's just say I find Bobby Bear quite moving.
The book can be cynical:
This is the sort of “friendship gets us through everything” bullshit sold by twats marketing nostalgic mersives that hark back to a time when people socialized outside of work.
pragmatic:
I need to bring my brain back into gaming mode. Not dredging-up-irrelevant-emotional-bullshit mode. That’s no use to anyone.
and keenly observant:
I rinse my face with tepid water in the hope it will make me feel better, but like all the times I’ve done this in the past, it doesn’t do as much as I hoped it would.
I mean, come on, that describes a feeling I've had my whole life!
Finally:
[t]hey're the same sorts of idiots who say that positive thinking helps to overcome systematic inequality
I know *I* thought about someone specific, and their book, when I read that, but maybe I'm wrong.