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alongreader 's review for:
Alone Out Here
by Riley Redgate
Argh that ending!
When I was - probably really too old to be watching it - one of my favourite shows was The Tribe. It was a New Zealand produced show set in a world where all the adults have died from a virus, and the children have sorted themselves into tribes to try and survive. It got increasingly surreal as the series went on - in the first season, they were trying to find food supplies and deal with bullying; by the end, they were fighting an AI representation of a cult leader who wanted to release a new version of the virus that would kill them all - but the sheer campy joy of it has never been equaled. I was expecting something less campy, but with that tone, when I read this book.
It's rather harder science, in spots. I was surprised that the ship's corridors are described as winding back and forth 'organically', as surely that would leave a lot of dead space? Plus, one character hides for several weeks in a very small space, and although they discuss bringing food and water, there's no mention of washing, or indeed where they're peeing. Not the point of the story, I know, but it's something I noticed!
The summary had me thinking that Eli's group would not include Leigh, but actually it does include her, right from the start. There are criss crossing loyalties and people move around a lot during the novel. It's a shame, because actually some of Eli's ideas were very good; she just goes about things in the wrong way.
I'm not saying anything about the romance, just that it's inevitable from their first real interaction. I've heard that this is being shelved as LGBT on some websites; one character is gay, but has no romantic interactions with anyone. The only romance we know about is het.
And that ending? Well, what's there to say about it? As we approached it I started thinking this must be part one of a series, because I couldn't see any way for the characters to have a satisfactory ending. It was clever, I'll give Riley that, but I'm not certain it was satisfactory. I'm still chewing it over.
Not a bad read, but not hard sci fi in any sense of the word. Read it more for the social commentary than anything else.
When I was - probably really too old to be watching it - one of my favourite shows was The Tribe. It was a New Zealand produced show set in a world where all the adults have died from a virus, and the children have sorted themselves into tribes to try and survive. It got increasingly surreal as the series went on - in the first season, they were trying to find food supplies and deal with bullying; by the end, they were fighting an AI representation of a cult leader who wanted to release a new version of the virus that would kill them all - but the sheer campy joy of it has never been equaled. I was expecting something less campy, but with that tone, when I read this book.
It's rather harder science, in spots. I was surprised that the ship's corridors are described as winding back and forth 'organically', as surely that would leave a lot of dead space? Plus, one character hides for several weeks in a very small space, and although they discuss bringing food and water, there's no mention of washing, or indeed where they're peeing. Not the point of the story, I know, but it's something I noticed!
The summary had me thinking that Eli's group would not include Leigh, but actually it does include her, right from the start. There are criss crossing loyalties and people move around a lot during the novel. It's a shame, because actually some of Eli's ideas were very good; she just goes about things in the wrong way.
I'm not saying anything about the romance, just that it's inevitable from their first real interaction. I've heard that this is being shelved as LGBT on some websites; one character is gay, but has no romantic interactions with anyone. The only romance we know about is het.
And that ending? Well, what's there to say about it? As we approached it I started thinking this must be part one of a series, because I couldn't see any way for the characters to have a satisfactory ending. It was clever, I'll give Riley that, but I'm not certain it was satisfactory. I'm still chewing it over.
Not a bad read, but not hard sci fi in any sense of the word. Read it more for the social commentary than anything else.