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A review by callmrsmuise
Dust by Elizabeth Bear
adventurous
challenging
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
So this book was absolutely buck wild. I have absolutely no idea why some of the reviews here mention "incestuous undertones". The undertones are overtones. It's blatant and rampant, which is something I wish I'd known before I started it. I don't personally care if worldbuilding makes it so that you can't have genetic mutations from inbreeding. Call me crazy but I think it's pretty gross to copulate with your siblings whether or not it begets genetic mutation.
I had a really hard time enjoying any of the relationships in this book. Incest aside, I didn't feel the emotional connections between the characters. The story was so plot driven that the pathos was utterly lost. I sometimes felt that the author tried to replace this lack of pathos with sexuality, which is not the same. Examples from the story below:
At the beginning of the story, the author uses nudity as another means to spark Rien's (and the reader's) interest in Perceval on a level of fascination with her body instead of her character. I find this very telling of the overall story. As another example, The God/Angel-like entities of Dust and Samael both happen to be interested in the girls as pawns to play but also because they're attracted to them... I guess??? Whether or not one character will have or has had sex with another character seems to be a background focus in this book. MOST importantly: I love diversity in a book. I love LGBTQIA characters. But when the one intersex character is also portrayed as one of the most overtly sexual characters (eg. she tries to seduce both main characters, she's in the only sex scene in the book, her sex organs are described in detail in a way that no other characters' are), I roll my eyes. It's uninteresting and damaging to intersex people who are so rarely portrayed in media.
I'm giving this book two stars for imaginative worldbuilding and involved use of prose. As soon as I realized the incest wasn't going away I put the audiobook on double speed just to get through it. I should add that I wasn't a huge fan of how the audio was produced either. It seemed to me that there were moments when the reader stopped for a second to take a breather, and the flow was interrupted, which is something I felt could have been fixed in post production.
I had a really hard time enjoying any of the relationships in this book. Incest aside, I didn't feel the emotional connections between the characters. The story was so plot driven that the pathos was utterly lost. I sometimes felt that the author tried to replace this lack of pathos with sexuality, which is not the same. Examples from the story below:
At the beginning of the story, the author uses nudity as another means to spark Rien's (and the reader's) interest in Perceval on a level of fascination with her body instead of her character. I find this very telling of the overall story. As another example, The God/Angel-like entities of Dust and Samael both happen to be interested in the girls as pawns to play but also because they're attracted to them... I guess??? Whether or not one character will have or has had sex with another character seems to be a background focus in this book. MOST importantly: I love diversity in a book. I love LGBTQIA characters. But when the one intersex character is also portrayed as one of the most overtly sexual characters (eg. she tries to seduce both main characters, she's in the only sex scene in the book, her sex organs are described in detail in a way that no other characters' are), I roll my eyes. It's uninteresting and damaging to intersex people who are so rarely portrayed in media.
I'm giving this book two stars for imaginative worldbuilding and involved use of prose. As soon as I realized the incest wasn't going away I put the audiobook on double speed just to get through it. I should add that I wasn't a huge fan of how the audio was produced either. It seemed to me that there were moments when the reader stopped for a second to take a breather, and the flow was interrupted, which is something I felt could have been fixed in post production.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Incest