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A review by lawbooks600
Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak by Charlie Jane Anders
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Representation: Black and Asian characters
Score: Five points out of ten.
One year ago, I read the first instalment of the Unstoppable trilogy: Victories Greater Than Death--a massive disappointment. One year later, it was time to read the second part of the series: Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak. Unfortunately, when I picked it up, read and finished it, it was equally underwhelming. No library has the third part, Promises Stronger Than Darkness, but I won't read that; I'm done with this author.
It starts (more like continues) with the characters that need no introduction: Tina, Elza and Rachel, all living separate lives but none of them are on Earth anymore. Elza desires to be the first human to enter The Palace of Scented Tears, while Rachel can't draw after encountering an alien artefact and Tina seizes an opportunity to study at the Royal Space Academy but unexpectedly does not fulfil others' expectations there. Sounds disjointed? It sure is. It was a struggle to read each individual narrative. Splitting the book into three parts each starring a protagonist would be better; not to mention I couldn't connect or relate to any of them in the first place. The character soup didn't help either, as there were so many non-human people I had to meet that I couldn't remember or keep track of them. Rachel goes to a black hole to attempt to restore her artistic abilities, and Elza meets the antagonist from Victories Greater Than Death, Marrant, all while Tina stumbles upon the Bereavement. Nothing much happened in the first 300 pages. Damina, Kez and Yiwei were predominantly in the background. However, the last 100 quickened the pace to its detriment as I couldn't comprehend all the events that occurred. The malicious organisation, the Compassion, returns to execute their vitriolic plan to extinguish entire species by inserting black holes that eat suns from the inside, slowly destroying civilisations. Which is what happened to the Irriyaians and why most of them are dead now, including another person, Yatto. Tina also ceased to exist during the disordered pandemonium when she transformed into captain Thaoh Argentian, which concluded Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak on a low note.
Score: Five points out of ten.
One year ago, I read the first instalment of the Unstoppable trilogy: Victories Greater Than Death--a massive disappointment. One year later, it was time to read the second part of the series: Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak. Unfortunately, when I picked it up, read and finished it, it was equally underwhelming. No library has the third part, Promises Stronger Than Darkness, but I won't read that; I'm done with this author.
It starts (more like continues) with the characters that need no introduction: Tina, Elza and Rachel, all living separate lives but none of them are on Earth anymore. Elza desires to be the first human to enter The Palace of Scented Tears, while Rachel can't draw after encountering an alien artefact and Tina seizes an opportunity to study at the Royal Space Academy but unexpectedly does not fulfil others' expectations there. Sounds disjointed? It sure is. It was a struggle to read each individual narrative. Splitting the book into three parts each starring a protagonist would be better; not to mention I couldn't connect or relate to any of them in the first place. The character soup didn't help either, as there were so many non-human people I had to meet that I couldn't remember or keep track of them. Rachel goes to a black hole to attempt to restore her artistic abilities, and Elza meets the antagonist from Victories Greater Than Death, Marrant, all while Tina stumbles upon the Bereavement. Nothing much happened in the first 300 pages. Damina, Kez and Yiwei were predominantly in the background. However, the last 100 quickened the pace to its detriment as I couldn't comprehend all the events that occurred. The malicious organisation, the Compassion, returns to execute their vitriolic plan to extinguish entire species by inserting black holes that eat suns from the inside, slowly destroying civilisations. Which is what happened to the Irriyaians and why most of them are dead now, including another person, Yatto. Tina also ceased to exist during the disordered pandemonium when she transformed into captain Thaoh Argentian, which concluded Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak on a low note.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Genocide, Grief, Death, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Vomit
Full trigger warnings: Blood, grief and loss depiction, death of a father in the past and a friend, dead bodies, genocide, earthquake, emesis, bullying and murder mentioned, physical assault and injury, fire, military violence and war themes