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A review by djmcewen
Dropnauts by J. Scott Coatsworth
Did not finish book.
Tried to like it
Within the first chapter we got a gay guy, a trans woman, a bisexual guy and someone of an unknown sexuality who dates a non-binary person. I'm gay but this was already being on my nerves. These people live on the Moon and believe they're the last of humanity. IIRC, the specific number was 12,000. I have to assume that every citizen would be required to "do their duty" to make sure humanity continues to exist before anything else. Maybe they did prior to the beginning of the book. It's hard to tell because they act like children in a very literal sense. I was surprised when one of them said something about how adulthood sucks. I had assumed they were high school age teenagers based on their behavior.
Turns out there are a handful of people alive on Earth. The ones we meet are Aidan and Ally, siblings, who have twin brothers and a mother to look out for. That's the extent of their knowledge of anyone being alive. They're living under the assumption when they die then humanity will be extinct.
With that setup, the 'loonies' who came to Earth were blown out of the sky by a missile but they managed to parachute away. Rai and Tien are separated from Hera and Ghost. The first two go down in the water in view of Aidan and Ally, who come to their rescue. Good so far. Then we get something about Rai and Aidan locking eyes and something passing between them. This is while they're still trying not to drown. On top of that, given that the only people he knows are his family, I'd have to say he'd at best be confused over anything to do with sexuality outside of what he knows, which is a het family dynamic.
The thing that finally killed it for me? A memory of a mayor where the person was referred to as "Mx. Mayor" (or maybe surname was used, though I don't know how that's decided in a genderless society). I just can't deal with it. Just tell a story and stop trying to jam-pack it with gender politics.
I don’t know who the target audience is but it's not me. Shame, too, since I enjoyed Skythane and gave it four stars. If this is an example of what I can expect from future Coatsworth books then I won't even bother.
Within the first chapter we got a gay guy, a trans woman, a bisexual guy and someone of an unknown sexuality who dates a non-binary person. I'm gay but this was already being on my nerves. These people live on the Moon and believe they're the last of humanity. IIRC, the specific number was 12,000. I have to assume that every citizen would be required to "do their duty" to make sure humanity continues to exist before anything else. Maybe they did prior to the beginning of the book. It's hard to tell because they act like children in a very literal sense. I was surprised when one of them said something about how adulthood sucks. I had assumed they were high school age teenagers based on their behavior.
Turns out there are a handful of people alive on Earth. The ones we meet are Aidan and Ally, siblings, who have twin brothers and a mother to look out for. That's the extent of their knowledge of anyone being alive. They're living under the assumption when they die then humanity will be extinct.
With that setup, the 'loonies' who came to Earth were blown out of the sky by a missile but they managed to parachute away. Rai and Tien are separated from Hera and Ghost. The first two go down in the water in view of Aidan and Ally, who come to their rescue. Good so far. Then we get something about Rai and Aidan locking eyes and something passing between them. This is while they're still trying not to drown. On top of that, given that the only people he knows are his family, I'd have to say he'd at best be confused over anything to do with sexuality outside of what he knows, which is a het family dynamic.
The thing that finally killed it for me? A memory of a mayor where the person was referred to as "Mx. Mayor" (or maybe surname was used, though I don't know how that's decided in a genderless society). I just can't deal with it. Just tell a story and stop trying to jam-pack it with gender politics.
I don’t know who the target audience is but it's not me. Shame, too, since I enjoyed Skythane and gave it four stars. If this is an example of what I can expect from future Coatsworth books then I won't even bother.