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kaybrooke 's review for:
The Terraformers
by Annalee Newitz
I had my issues with this book, mostly concerning the completely jarring section breaks. I got very invested in the characters in this one, to the point where I was tearing up whenever they went through some traumatic event. That in itself is worth four stars. I read mainly for characters, but too many books have lackluster, boring, half-assed, and/or shallow characters that I can never really muster up a care for. Whereas I was interested in nearly every character in this book, up to and including the Evil Capitalists. So it was actually kind of heartbreaking every time a section ended and the next section picked up centuries later with a whole new cast. Both times it happened I stopped reading for a bit because it killed my investment.
And there were definitely parts that got a bit too silly or a bit too preachy, but I was still having fun reading it. I can't quite give it five stars because of the jarring cast changes (even though I always ended up loving the new cast, too) and the parts of the worldbuilding that never quite made sense (like why were vocabulary limiters installed in people who had low intelligence ratings? What was the point? And why, when the vocabulary limiter malfunctioned, did these "low intelligence" people seem to be as intelligent as everyone else? Were they ever actually low intelligence or was the limiter just making it seem that way? Again I ask, what was the point?). But I was entertained and never bored, and I just can't give less than four stars to a book that has an adorable talking cat journalist as a main character.
And there were definitely parts that got a bit too silly or a bit too preachy, but I was still having fun reading it. I can't quite give it five stars because of the jarring cast changes (even though I always ended up loving the new cast, too) and the parts of the worldbuilding that never quite made sense (like why were vocabulary limiters installed in people who had low intelligence ratings? What was the point? And why, when the vocabulary limiter malfunctioned, did these "low intelligence" people seem to be as intelligent as everyone else? Were they ever actually low intelligence or was the limiter just making it seem that way? Again I ask, what was the point?). But I was entertained and never bored, and I just can't give less than four stars to a book that has an adorable talking cat journalist as a main character.