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A review by magnafeana
Homebound by Lydia Hope
3.0
3.75 stars rounded up down!
Let’s get started, shall we?
In a world similar to the Elysium series, the wealthy have fled for space while the working class and all its aliens remain on Earth where they struggle to make a living.
Enter out FMC Gemma (h). Working in a prison with little money and food, she stays with her reluctant extended family after her disaster back home left her orphaned and crippled. Gemma had high hopes her brother will return for her as she held him get to the Promised Land, but when his letter back to her does nothing but trample her expectations, she realizes she truly is alone.
Well—perhaps not as alone as she thinks.
She meets the MMC Simon (H) after being transferred into an alien sector of prison. While the inmates and coworkers are trouble, weakened Simon the Rix makes Gemma’d job worth it as she grows emboldened in nursing him back to help. But in doing do, she discovers how truly unfair the galaxy can be.
Let’s talk about this one the literary front.
A few grammatical errors and some extra letters that didn’t belong, but it was more like something that would raised an eyebrow than make you DNF.
This is a character-driven story. The inmates and Ruby felt diverse, but the side characters had been given deliberate one dimensions that made them offputtingly cartoonish. It was as though the intention was to uplight the FMC’s grace and compassion by villainizing every person and every thing around her, which felt like the author didn’t trust the audience to understand that the world was cruel.
The constant sexual assault does happen in war. But was it necessary to get the point across here?
The dialogue felt connected at some points and unrealistic at another. When the character tones would take a Shakespearean shift, it broke my immersion on thinking, Why would X character even say that?
The ending felt flat. Because this story adhered to western story telling of the three arc structure with the exposition ➡️ rising action ➡️ climax ➡️ falling action ➡️ third act ➡️ finale, this story seemed not be able to pull strong and settle for what its second and third act would be or about its conclusion.
Open-ended endings are a great move and one I prefer. But this story felt like there should have been two to three pages more to feel like a well-received ending.
Pacing on this story had the right amount of action and intimacy. Though the back half of the story felt very quick.
From a personal standpoint.
I didn’t find Gemma a strong FMC, especially when she self-described herself as “compassionate”. Simon was right in her over-analysis, but all her questioning made no sense considering she was disabled and also didn’t like to be judged. Her naïveté toward her situation made no sense, given the state of earth in this story.
When writing a maiden, virtuous heroine, it can’t feel strong. It has to make sense within the context of the story. And hers felt like an overkill to truly depict how compassionate she was. I more would have bought she was a prison nurse, new on the job, and had yet to experience burnout. If that was the case, her attitude would have matched and I would have believed it.
Her savior complex toward an alien? It made me go Sure, Jan.
This is all from third person limited so we have no inkling of Simon’s thoughts, but I was fine with that. He was a very straightforward character.
Overall, this was an SFR, and it is what it is. The steam felt like PNR insta-lust/matebone, and I skimmed through it.
Solid 3 ⭐️ read.
Let’s get started, shall we?
In a world similar to the Elysium series, the wealthy have fled for space while the working class and all its aliens remain on Earth where they struggle to make a living.
Enter out FMC Gemma (h). Working in a prison with little money and food, she stays with her reluctant extended family after her disaster back home left her orphaned and crippled. Gemma had high hopes her brother will return for her as she held him get to the Promised Land, but when his letter back to her does nothing but trample her expectations, she realizes she truly is alone.
Well—perhaps not as alone as she thinks.
She meets the MMC Simon (H) after being transferred into an alien sector of prison. While the inmates and coworkers are trouble, weakened Simon the Rix makes Gemma’d job worth it as she grows emboldened in nursing him back to help. But in doing do, she discovers how truly unfair the galaxy can be.
Let’s talk about this one the literary front.
A few grammatical errors and some extra letters that didn’t belong, but it was more like something that would raised an eyebrow than make you DNF.
This is a character-driven story. The inmates and Ruby felt diverse, but the side characters had been given deliberate one dimensions that made them offputtingly cartoonish. It was as though the intention was to uplight the FMC’s grace and compassion by villainizing every person and every thing around her, which felt like the author didn’t trust the audience to understand that the world was cruel.
The constant sexual assault does happen in war. But was it necessary to get the point across here?
The dialogue felt connected at some points and unrealistic at another. When the character tones would take a Shakespearean shift, it broke my immersion on thinking, Why would X character even say that?
The ending felt flat. Because this story adhered to western story telling of the three arc structure with the exposition ➡️ rising action ➡️ climax ➡️ falling action ➡️ third act ➡️ finale, this story seemed not be able to pull strong and settle for what its second and third act would be or about its conclusion.
Open-ended endings are a great move and one I prefer. But this story felt like there should have been two to three pages more to feel like a well-received ending.
Pacing on this story had the right amount of action and intimacy. Though the back half of the story felt very quick.
From a personal standpoint.
I didn’t find Gemma a strong FMC, especially when she self-described herself as “compassionate”. Simon was right in her over-analysis, but all her questioning made no sense considering she was disabled and also didn’t like to be judged. Her naïveté toward her situation made no sense, given the state of earth in this story.
When writing a maiden, virtuous heroine, it can’t feel strong. It has to make sense within the context of the story. And hers felt like an overkill to truly depict how compassionate she was. I more would have bought she was a prison nurse, new on the job, and had yet to experience burnout. If that was the case, her attitude would have matched and I would have believed it.
Her savior complex toward an alien? It made me go Sure, Jan.
This is all from third person limited so we have no inkling of Simon’s thoughts, but I was fine with that. He was a very straightforward character.
Overall, this was an SFR, and it is what it is. The steam felt like PNR insta-lust/matebone, and I skimmed through it.
Solid 3 ⭐️ read.