Scan barcode
A review by talysalankil
Machine's Last Testament by Benjanun Sriduangkaew
Did not finish book.
DNF at 39%
This book feels all style, no substance to me. The author clearly put a lot of energy into world building, which, I absolutely respect that. But it's just so…dry. Things are presented as matter of fact, and usually not because there's any relation to what's actually happening.
For example: the protagonist goes to a funeral, just so we can find out how this future society handles marriage, death, that kind of stuff. Sure, that's fine. But at the same time it literally goes nowhere, doesn't affect the protagonist (she literally says it's someone she barely knew).
The best I can explain the experience of reading this book is that it feels a lot like following someone's 9 to 5 routine, but in a society different from us. Which is weird, because there's clearly hints of a plot in there, but tonally that's how it comes across.
There's also the fact that the book just alienates me from its own protagonists just so we can drag on the reveal of who they are, which just irks me.
I will say: it is nice to have such an unabashedly queer society for once. But like. A book needs more than that to be an actual book.
This book feels all style, no substance to me. The author clearly put a lot of energy into world building, which, I absolutely respect that. But it's just so…dry. Things are presented as matter of fact, and usually not because there's any relation to what's actually happening.
For example: the protagonist goes to a funeral, just so we can find out how this future society handles marriage, death, that kind of stuff. Sure, that's fine. But at the same time it literally goes nowhere, doesn't affect the protagonist (she literally says it's someone she barely knew).
The best I can explain the experience of reading this book is that it feels a lot like following someone's 9 to 5 routine, but in a society different from us. Which is weird, because there's clearly hints of a plot in there, but tonally that's how it comes across.
There's also the fact that the book just alienates me from its own protagonists just so we can drag on the reveal of who they are, which just irks me.
I will say: it is nice to have such an unabashedly queer society for once. But like. A book needs more than that to be an actual book.