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A review by jesnevertheless
Annex by Rich Larson
3.0
Thank you to Orbit books for a copy of Annex for review!
When I first started reading this book I wanted as little information on it as possible. I knew nothing about its plot and I was so pleasantly surprised!
Annex follows our two main characters Violet and Bo. It is a duel perspective sci-fi/fantasy book. I was really interested in the story the farther in it I read. Our story begins following Violet while she navigates their city following an alien invasion that has left everyone but the children vacant shells. Very soon in the story you start to piece together that Violet is transgender and I thought it was represented so well.
Another very interesting part of this book is that despite being an adult novel all of our characters are under 18 years old. Bo, the second half of the duel perspectives, is very young. Which is one thing I really struggled with with this book. I found it incredibly hard to imagine the children (seriously, some of them are under 8 years old) doing what they're doing in this book. But I very much so enjoyed the character growth they all go through. Namely Violet. Bo sort of lacked as a supporting character to me.
I thought the first half of this book was strong and interesting. I liked the Lost Boys (an obvious nod at Peter Pan) especially because of Violet being male to female transgender. I found the aftermath of the alien invasion to be something I wanted to keep reading about and I was thoroughly impressed with the world, but I must say I wouldn't have said no to a bit more development on the aliens. Although I imagine we'll see more of them further along in the series.
Overall the characters were interesting, albeit a little hard to imagine at their age. The story was both heart breaking and unsettling. I found the aliens a little lack luster, but I'm more than willing to continue the series to see what happens.
You may like this book if:
You're looking for transgender rep
You like young children left to fend for themselves trope
You enjoy duel perspective
You enjoy books with aliens
You may not like this book if
You're sensitive to bullying. There is quite a bit of it in this book.
You are not a fan of representation.
You find it hard to imagine young children doing adult things.
When I first started reading this book I wanted as little information on it as possible. I knew nothing about its plot and I was so pleasantly surprised!
Annex follows our two main characters Violet and Bo. It is a duel perspective sci-fi/fantasy book. I was really interested in the story the farther in it I read. Our story begins following Violet while she navigates their city following an alien invasion that has left everyone but the children vacant shells. Very soon in the story you start to piece together that Violet is transgender and I thought it was represented so well.
Another very interesting part of this book is that despite being an adult novel all of our characters are under 18 years old. Bo, the second half of the duel perspectives, is very young. Which is one thing I really struggled with with this book. I found it incredibly hard to imagine the children (seriously, some of them are under 8 years old) doing what they're doing in this book. But I very much so enjoyed the character growth they all go through. Namely Violet. Bo sort of lacked as a supporting character to me.
I thought the first half of this book was strong and interesting. I liked the Lost Boys (an obvious nod at Peter Pan) especially because of Violet being male to female transgender. I found the aftermath of the alien invasion to be something I wanted to keep reading about and I was thoroughly impressed with the world, but I must say I wouldn't have said no to a bit more development on the aliens. Although I imagine we'll see more of them further along in the series.
Overall the characters were interesting, albeit a little hard to imagine at their age. The story was both heart breaking and unsettling. I found the aliens a little lack luster, but I'm more than willing to continue the series to see what happens.
You may like this book if:
You're looking for transgender rep
You like young children left to fend for themselves trope
You enjoy duel perspective
You enjoy books with aliens
You may not like this book if
You're sensitive to bullying. There is quite a bit of it in this book.
You are not a fan of representation.
You find it hard to imagine young children doing adult things.