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A review by theshaggyshepherd
Those Left Behind by N.C. Scrimgeour
5.0
I was cutting it a little bit close to the end of this round with this title. I knew I wanted to read it but I also wanted to leave it for last as a reward since I was expecting to enjoy it quite a bit. Thankfully due to being able to listen to the audio as well as read the ebook, I was able to finish it on time and submit my score.
This book has the kind of beginning I love to have in a sci-fi book. The issues that need to be solved are introduced relatively early on and along with that we also already get an introduction to the ethical issues and tensions in the society at large as well as among the smaller assemble of characters. While these components have plenty added on later on in the book, this gives the story a very solid beginning foundation to build on.
There were a lot of characters to keep track of, but they were all very distinct from each other and I found myself deeply invested in all of them. The range of characters she created was also very wide, both in the sense of species as well as personality wise. I love how the majority of them seemed to be “good” or “bad” at first glance but later on revealed themselves to be scattered all across the spectrum between white and black. “Morally gray” is my favorite type of character because it often adds a lot more layers to their personality in stories. We were able to see the good and the bad in several of the characters, even those where you’d least expect it, which added a confusing sense of solidarity and compassion for all sides of the conflict.
There were only three things that I struggled with in this book but I would consider them all minor details. Nonetheless, despite being minor, I don’t really want to go into too much detail here because that would give away major plot lines that I don’t want to spoil for you. I just found one particular scene between characters somewhat unrealistic, thought it surprising for another character to have certain resources at her disposal, and one POV wasn’t quite as persuading to me as I would’ve liked because his experiences were fascinating so I would’ve loved for that to have been done a little more convincingly. Overall though, these didn’t affect my enjoyment a whole lot because there were just too many things that I absolutely adored.
Up until this round, this book has easily been my favorite in the competition. It was so well rounded, well written, and had me on the edge of my seat so many times. There is a finalist that I absolutely adore and will read for the third time to give an exact score for the competition but I expect it to be a tight race and believe that Scrimgeour has a very good chance to finish out with the top spot! I’m really looking forward to the books in this last round and how they compare to each other.
This book has the kind of beginning I love to have in a sci-fi book. The issues that need to be solved are introduced relatively early on and along with that we also already get an introduction to the ethical issues and tensions in the society at large as well as among the smaller assemble of characters. While these components have plenty added on later on in the book, this gives the story a very solid beginning foundation to build on.
There were a lot of characters to keep track of, but they were all very distinct from each other and I found myself deeply invested in all of them. The range of characters she created was also very wide, both in the sense of species as well as personality wise. I love how the majority of them seemed to be “good” or “bad” at first glance but later on revealed themselves to be scattered all across the spectrum between white and black. “Morally gray” is my favorite type of character because it often adds a lot more layers to their personality in stories. We were able to see the good and the bad in several of the characters, even those where you’d least expect it, which added a confusing sense of solidarity and compassion for all sides of the conflict.
There were only three things that I struggled with in this book but I would consider them all minor details. Nonetheless, despite being minor, I don’t really want to go into too much detail here because that would give away major plot lines that I don’t want to spoil for you. I just found one particular scene between characters somewhat unrealistic, thought it surprising for another character to have certain resources at her disposal, and one POV wasn’t quite as persuading to me as I would’ve liked because his experiences were fascinating so I would’ve loved for that to have been done a little more convincingly. Overall though, these didn’t affect my enjoyment a whole lot because there were just too many things that I absolutely adored.
Up until this round, this book has easily been my favorite in the competition. It was so well rounded, well written, and had me on the edge of my seat so many times. There is a finalist that I absolutely adore and will read for the third time to give an exact score for the competition but I expect it to be a tight race and believe that Scrimgeour has a very good chance to finish out with the top spot! I’m really looking forward to the books in this last round and how they compare to each other.