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A review by cat_rector
Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden
5.0
4.5 stars rounded up. This was so weird and I loved it.
It's true that very little truly original anymore and this book is the closest I've come in a long time to reading something I've never read before. It has a colony of people living inside a giant space monster, with all the gross worldbuilding of that one episode of The Magic School Bus where they go inside the kid and explore his intestines.
This book is not for pearl-clutchers. It doesn't shy away from weird topics. Like...if you want to give flowers to your girlfriend but you're a parasite living in a giant space whale, what are the flowers? The word sphincter appears several times. There are also lots of tentacles. It's both funny and dark, occasionally bordering slightly into the realm of space horror. Many of the topics and moments of the book are dark in theme, reflecting a harsh, unfair life of survival.
If you're looking for diversity, this book has it all. It's a queer-positive world with large poly families and complicated relationships. The author has written a matriarchal society with flipped gender inequality and cultural norms that are based on the echos of abandoned Earth's varied Black cultures.
I don't know who I would recommend this book to but I loved it. I'm on to Book Two now and can't wait to see what weird surprises this one has for me.
It's true that very little truly original anymore and this book is the closest I've come in a long time to reading something I've never read before. It has a colony of people living inside a giant space monster, with all the gross worldbuilding of that one episode of The Magic School Bus where they go inside the kid and explore his intestines.
This book is not for pearl-clutchers. It doesn't shy away from weird topics. Like...if you want to give flowers to your girlfriend but you're a parasite living in a giant space whale, what are the flowers? The word sphincter appears several times. There are also lots of tentacles. It's both funny and dark, occasionally bordering slightly into the realm of space horror. Many of the topics and moments of the book are dark in theme, reflecting a harsh, unfair life of survival.
If you're looking for diversity, this book has it all. It's a queer-positive world with large poly families and complicated relationships. The author has written a matriarchal society with flipped gender inequality and cultural norms that are based on the echos of abandoned Earth's varied Black cultures.
I don't know who I would recommend this book to but I loved it. I'm on to Book Two now and can't wait to see what weird surprises this one has for me.