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jasminks 's review for:
Far from the Light of Heaven
by Tade Thompson
This is mildly and vaguely (and then also clearly) spoilery here and there - proceed with caution!
This was an intriguing book and (would have been) a fast read (had I had more time for it in the past few days), but in the end it was also a mess!! It was such a clear 4 from the start until maybe like 3/4 of it, but now I'm teetering between 2/3/4?? The more I think about all the things that confused or annoyed me, the lower my rating dips. BUT, this was still an interesting ride, and some parts and quirks I did like quite a lot!
So yeah, I feel conflicted about many things in this book.. I liked the writing but at the same time was frustrated with it. There were jewels of sentences in there, but the dialogue - both inner and between characters - that at first seemed refreshingly stylistic and deliciously sarcastic, somehow turned into laconic and pretty depressing as the story went on. I found the ending rather dispiriting,
A non-exhaustive list of other things that bothered me:
The whole thing got a bit confusing at a point, what with all the POVs, and some parts of the tangle were plain weird and felt simply superfluous (like the "demon sex with lava" dream stuff, what was that about??). It was as if after the middle of the book or so there were storylines branching all over the place, and even though on one hand I often like this kind of messiness and loose ends and when a story stirs more questions than gives you clear answers, on the other I also tend to get frustrated when there are juicy-seeming plot lines poked and hinted at and then left hanging for good. This was going on a lot in this thriller/murder mystery/space thingy.
The same with, for example, Shell's brothers and their letters?? What was the point of them in this book???
I was also like 99 % unmoved by the "romance" between Fin and Joké - BUT I liked Lawrence and Joké's relationship (or the little that was revealed about it) a lot! It was probably the one storyline that did anything to me emotionally during the whole ride, alongside with the aforementioned occasional top-notch wordings, and some details about the passengers and their identities.
Plus, it also got a little too horrory and icky to my taste at places towards the end..
All that said, I clearly find myself concentrating more on what I didn't like and didn't feel than what was good about the book. Which is too bad! This really did start out so good for me! And I'd still recommend this, just for the good kind of weirdness of it if nothing else, so go figure.
Settling on a middle rating for now.
This was an intriguing book and (would have been) a fast read (had I had more time for it in the past few days), but in the end it was also a mess!! It was such a clear 4 from the start until maybe like 3/4 of it, but now I'm teetering between 2/3/4?? The more I think about all the things that confused or annoyed me, the lower my rating dips. BUT, this was still an interesting ride, and some parts and quirks I did like quite a lot!
So yeah, I feel conflicted about many things in this book.. I liked the writing but at the same time was frustrated with it. There were jewels of sentences in there, but the dialogue - both inner and between characters - that at first seemed refreshingly stylistic and deliciously sarcastic, somehow turned into laconic and pretty depressing as the story went on. I found the ending rather dispiriting,
Spoiler
and I can't say I agree with especially Shell's arc or the state of her psyche in the end. How was the whole thing her responsibility?? It really wasn't Ragtime's, either, or Salvo's, and while I get the need for quarantine and precautions, I really do not vibe with all the blaming and condemning that the story was left at.A non-exhaustive list of other things that bothered me:
Spoiler
Brisbane and Carmilla were introduced way too fast and were not fleshed out enough, and the ultimate motive/reasoning behind Carmilla's untiring scramble for the goal no matter the costs (never mind the seemingly invincible means the AIA possessed) was also way too vague and/or poorly executed.The whole thing got a bit confusing at a point, what with all the POVs, and some parts of the tangle were plain weird and felt simply superfluous (like the "demon sex with lava" dream stuff, what was that about??). It was as if after the middle of the book or so there were storylines branching all over the place, and even though on one hand I often like this kind of messiness and loose ends and when a story stirs more questions than gives you clear answers, on the other I also tend to get frustrated when there are juicy-seeming plot lines poked and hinted at and then left hanging for good. This was going on a lot in this thriller/murder mystery/space thingy.
Spoiler
Frances. He was cute and all and I liked that he was there, but why exactly was he there (on the cover, no less?)?? I feel like the wolf did little to the plot in the grand scheme of things, despite helping the crew fight the bots etc.The same with, for example, Shell's brothers and their letters?? What was the point of them in this book???
I was also like 99 % unmoved by the "romance" between Fin and Joké
Plus, it also got a little too horrory and icky to my taste at places towards the end..
All that said, I clearly find myself concentrating more on what I didn't like and didn't feel than what was good about the book. Which is too bad! This really did start out so good for me! And I'd still recommend this, just for the good kind of weirdness of it if nothing else, so go figure.
Settling on a middle rating for now.