Scan barcode
A review by dubtek5000
The Sol Majestic by Ferrett Steinmetz
2.0
I am sure some people will love this book, but I was not one of them.
First, sometimes when someone touches your shoulder or you sip broth... it is just that, not everything needs to have 5000 adjectives described to it and dear God was the word orgasmic used a lot.
Second, there are so many nonsensical plot points. For example, they have supersonic ultra hand washers but they still use toilet paper?! And he uses his hand because he is poor!? It is called a bidet .... and it already exists. Also, I did not need 200 pages of him realizing his parents were trash, that was pretty clear seconds after meeting them. They are abusive narcissistic butt plugs and obviously their religion is too like they "wanna help the starving" but poor people are icky so don't touch them?
Third, it is the future where there is literally space travel and machines for everything, and not only do we still have crazy terrible slave labor (but only one lady for some reason?) But also gays are still bad? And the reasoning is that gay people can't have children? Again this is not a real problem, what about a surrogate or adoption? Or some crazy birth tube cause again, it is the future. That is a dumb reason to hate on being gay. And the brief scene where Kenna is confused by someone with a gender identity they did not expect is dumb, they literally have implants that keep people alive till 150 and this kid has been all over the universe and THIS is what confuses him.
Last, well not actually last but I am gonna wrap up here. What is with this world-building? There is only one place in the universe that doesn't have vending machines as the main food source and it is like on the outskirts of the universe? There is slave labor but no capitalist has figured out that opening up a chain of olive gardens would make them a fortune in this entirely untapped market? And in a world where there is sanitizing spray every couple of minutes why does everything have to smell like pee? And for a book almost exclusively about futuristic food, why is all they talk about broth? Not even broth, consumé, the boringest broth that is only consumed pre-colonoscopy.
Obviously this book is for some people, and it is not like I could or have written anything better, however I have not thought of a person I know yet that I would recommend this too.
If you are looking for a sci-fi, world-building, character-driven book with an LGBTQ+ romance. This is not it. If you want hundreds of flowery poetry-like sentences this book could be for you.
First, sometimes when someone touches your shoulder or you sip broth... it is just that, not everything needs to have 5000 adjectives described to it and dear God was the word orgasmic used a lot.
Second, there are so many nonsensical plot points. For example, they have supersonic ultra hand washers but they still use toilet paper?! And he uses his hand because he is poor!? It is called a bidet .... and it already exists. Also, I did not need 200 pages of him realizing his parents were trash, that was pretty clear seconds after meeting them. They are abusive narcissistic butt plugs and obviously their religion is too like they "wanna help the starving" but poor people are icky so don't touch them?
Third, it is the future where there is literally space travel and machines for everything, and not only do we still have crazy terrible slave labor (but only one lady for some reason?) But also gays are still bad? And the reasoning is that gay people can't have children? Again this is not a real problem, what about a surrogate or adoption? Or some crazy birth tube cause again, it is the future. That is a dumb reason to hate on being gay. And the brief scene where Kenna is confused by someone with a gender identity they did not expect is dumb, they literally have implants that keep people alive till 150 and this kid has been all over the universe and THIS is what confuses him.
Last, well not actually last but I am gonna wrap up here. What is with this world-building? There is only one place in the universe that doesn't have vending machines as the main food source and it is like on the outskirts of the universe? There is slave labor but no capitalist has figured out that opening up a chain of olive gardens would make them a fortune in this entirely untapped market? And in a world where there is sanitizing spray every couple of minutes why does everything have to smell like pee? And for a book almost exclusively about futuristic food, why is all they talk about broth? Not even broth, consumé, the boringest broth that is only consumed pre-colonoscopy.
Obviously this book is for some people, and it is not like I could or have written anything better, however I have not thought of a person I know yet that I would recommend this too.
If you are looking for a sci-fi, world-building, character-driven book with an LGBTQ+ romance. This is not it. If you want hundreds of flowery poetry-like sentences this book could be for you.