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heartbrekker 's review for:
Aetherbound
by E.K. Johnston
I would not recommend this novel to people. To be quite honest, it confused me and even made me uncomfortable a few times. The premise immediately set me on the edge of my seat, and I was very excited to try a E. K. Johnson title for the first time. It promised me takeovers and gene mutations, but honestly all I got was a few shapeshifting moments and the brothers already running the station. Even when the Harland comes back to stir up trouble, their presence means nothing because they are easily fooled by the trios plan.
The stakes were supposed to be high, and instead I felt hardly anything.
Anyway, most of the novel takes place land locked on this space ship. This made reading monotonous and boring throughout all of the middle portion of the novel because the escape from Harland was so early on within the novel, and even with the rebels and Harlan plots at the end, they never really had an sway over Brannick.
Then with such few pages, none of the relationships stuck with me. I felt nothing when a significant character "died," and I was weirded out that as Fisher and Pendt grew closer, Pendt would bring Ned up into her head and how he was her first for many things as she was making out with Fisher. It was just this weird brothers and Pendt situation.
Moreover, the entire marriage and pregnancy plot point seemed illogical and downright creepy. Pendt met the boys at 17, and then within a short period of time (her 18th birthday/ afterwards) she becomes married, pregnant, and tied to these brothers like property just to keep her freedom (don't even get me started on Pendt ending up with Fisher who is not the father of the baby but rather his brother Ned). It's just love triangle gone crazy at this point. Plus, the sad reality for Pendt is that I'd argue she only chained herself to another group of people. Pendt never felt like she truly had her own authority and decisions, and I think that's the downfall of this story. She was stagnant instead of this bright, powerful star. It made no sense to me.
Lastly, the rebellion was this side show readers never truly got to witness. There's a moment at the end where they come into play, but otherwise, Pendt is either telling us what the rebellion is doing through her POV, or Ned's referenced since he ran away to join them. They're the elephant in the room because we know nothing about them.
Overall, I'm not trying to be harsh on this story. My disappointment is just rampant.
The stakes were supposed to be high, and instead I felt hardly anything.
Anyway, most of the novel takes place land locked on this space ship. This made reading monotonous and boring throughout all of the middle portion of the novel because the escape from Harland was so early on within the novel, and even with the rebels and Harlan plots at the end, they never really had an sway over Brannick.
Then with such few pages, none of the relationships stuck with me. I felt nothing when a significant character "died," and I was weirded out that as Fisher and Pendt grew closer, Pendt would bring Ned up into her head and how he was her first for many things as she was making out with Fisher. It was just this weird brothers and Pendt situation.
Moreover, the entire marriage and pregnancy plot point seemed illogical and downright creepy. Pendt met the boys at 17, and then within a short period of time (her 18th birthday/ afterwards) she becomes married, pregnant, and tied to these brothers like property just to keep her freedom (don't even get me started on Pendt ending up with Fisher who is not the father of the baby but rather his brother Ned). It's just love triangle gone crazy at this point. Plus, the sad reality for Pendt is that I'd argue she only chained herself to another group of people. Pendt never felt like she truly had her own authority and decisions, and I think that's the downfall of this story. She was stagnant instead of this bright, powerful star. It made no sense to me.
Lastly, the rebellion was this side show readers never truly got to witness. There's a moment at the end where they come into play, but otherwise, Pendt is either telling us what the rebellion is doing through her POV, or Ned's referenced since he ran away to join them. They're the elephant in the room because we know nothing about them.
Overall, I'm not trying to be harsh on this story. My disappointment is just rampant.