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A review by eshurricane
Averted Vision by B.W. Moran
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
To me, science fiction is best when it has something to say. Don’t get me wrong, I love fun space things and aliens and pew-pews and interesting technology, but the best sci-fi shines a light on something important. This can be true of many genres, but it always feels so good in science fiction.
Averted Vision delivers what it says on the tin in so many ways, but it also hits a lot of issues that, even dressed up in alien warfare, are relevant. This is not a fun story. It’s intense, sad, dramatic, and the characters face just impossible difficulties. It’s also an important story, and beautifully written at that.
In a world not too unlike our own, people with disabilities have had to go into hiding or face extermination. The American government is wholly and disgustingly against human disability and the military executes innocent people with extreme prejudice. Dr. Joseph buck is our protagonist, and he works with the government as a scientist, trying to protect disabled people (including his own brother who is in hiding) and fight from the inside.
If that wasn’t intense enough, an alien coalition decides to open communication with Earth to begin friendly integration. Surely humans, being so empathetic and friendly, will work with the aliens to seamlessly integrate with the coalition. Surely they will be respectful and kind and excited about having new interstellar friends.
Surely.
Everything goes about as well as you would hope, while in between Joseph struggles to keep fighting the good fight when everything is falling to pieces around him. It’s so difficult to keep on when it feels like it does nothing and is never going to do anything, and I found this so painfully relatable. Joseph is such an interesting character to me, because he’s the protagonist, he’s ‘the good guy’ but humans are only so good. His most important priority is his brother, and sometimes one has to make difficult choices and they aren’t always selfless. I didn’t always like Joseph, but I love when I can still root for a character even when I don’t like them.
I don’t want to spoil anything because there’s so much going on in this story. The characters are interesting—even if most are terrible people. The plot never seems to go how I thought it would go, keeping me on my toes. The worldbuilding is excellent. The writing is gorgeous.
And I was very invested emotionally. As I said in the beginning, I connect best with science fiction when the stakes feel like real life. Despite the aliens and fantastical worlds, these are all beings with realistic emotional investment and difficult lives and their struggles are real. I felt so close to many of them.
I received an advanced review copy of this book and am leaving this review voluntarily.
Averted Vision delivers what it says on the tin in so many ways, but it also hits a lot of issues that, even dressed up in alien warfare, are relevant. This is not a fun story. It’s intense, sad, dramatic, and the characters face just impossible difficulties. It’s also an important story, and beautifully written at that.
In a world not too unlike our own, people with disabilities have had to go into hiding or face extermination. The American government is wholly and disgustingly against human disability and the military executes innocent people with extreme prejudice. Dr. Joseph buck is our protagonist, and he works with the government as a scientist, trying to protect disabled people (including his own brother who is in hiding) and fight from the inside.
If that wasn’t intense enough, an alien coalition decides to open communication with Earth to begin friendly integration. Surely humans, being so empathetic and friendly, will work with the aliens to seamlessly integrate with the coalition. Surely they will be respectful and kind and excited about having new interstellar friends.
Surely.
Everything goes about as well as you would hope, while in between Joseph struggles to keep fighting the good fight when everything is falling to pieces around him. It’s so difficult to keep on when it feels like it does nothing and is never going to do anything, and I found this so painfully relatable. Joseph is such an interesting character to me, because he’s the protagonist, he’s ‘the good guy’ but humans are only so good. His most important priority is his brother, and sometimes one has to make difficult choices and they aren’t always selfless. I didn’t always like Joseph, but I love when I can still root for a character even when I don’t like them.
I don’t want to spoil anything because there’s so much going on in this story. The characters are interesting—even if most are terrible people. The plot never seems to go how I thought it would go, keeping me on my toes. The worldbuilding is excellent. The writing is gorgeous.
And I was very invested emotionally. As I said in the beginning, I connect best with science fiction when the stakes feel like real life. Despite the aliens and fantastical worlds, these are all beings with realistic emotional investment and difficult lives and their struggles are real. I felt so close to many of them.
I received an advanced review copy of this book and am leaving this review voluntarily.