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wlreed312 's review for:
Escaping Exodus
by Nicky Drayden
3.5 stars
I really love and appreciate the weirdness that is always in Nicky Drayden's books, and this one takes weird to the next level. Thousands of years in the future, Earth is a distant memory and humans live in giant creatures that swim across the vastness of space. Seske is next in line to lead her people, but she would rather have adventures with her best friend Adalla, who is a beast worker and therefore not fit to hang out with the future matriarch. When Seske is unexpectedly thrown into the leadership position before she has been properly prepared for it, she begins to learn secrets that have her questioning everything.
I really loved the first 2/3 of this book. I've loved both of Drayden's previous books, so I knew what I was getting into on a weirdness level, but this really does ramp it up. The world is so different than anything I've ever read, and I loved the way the beast workers and the jobs they had were described (some of this is on the sort of gross side, so you might want to skip if that's something that bothers you. At one point our protags crawl into a sphincter.) Adalla is a great character, and Seske in interesting in a different way. She's very privileged as the daughter of the leader of her colony, and a bit naive. I appreciated that she tried to learn from what was going on, and be a better person. But the real star of the book is the setting. As we learn more about the beasts, we start seeing how absolutely destructive the colonizers are, and what that's doing to the herd. It was very interesting to see Seske's people have contact with the people on a different beast, and see how the second colony did things differently to make their home last longer, foregoing many of the comforts that the ruling class on Seske's beast have always thought of as their due. It's a really interesting way to look at social structures, and the toll we take on our homes.
I do think the ending was a bit rushed, and slightly unsatisfying. There is a plot point with Seske's sister that looks like it is going to be very dramatic, then just kind of...goes away? There is also some stuff that happens with the beast workers that I felt was mostly unresolved. I think the book would have benefited being a bit longer, and having a more detailed resolution. I also think a glossary would have been helpful. I'm pretty good about getting things from context, but because of the family structure, I'm still not sure what the difference between a heart parent and a will parent. This definitely isn't going to be for everyone, but I enjoyed it, although not as much as Prey of Gods and Temper. Drayden continues to be a truly unique voice in SFF, and it's always fun to try to figure out where her work will go next.
I really love and appreciate the weirdness that is always in Nicky Drayden's books, and this one takes weird to the next level. Thousands of years in the future, Earth is a distant memory and humans live in giant creatures that swim across the vastness of space. Seske is next in line to lead her people, but she would rather have adventures with her best friend Adalla, who is a beast worker and therefore not fit to hang out with the future matriarch. When Seske is unexpectedly thrown into the leadership position before she has been properly prepared for it, she begins to learn secrets that have her questioning everything.
I really loved the first 2/3 of this book. I've loved both of Drayden's previous books, so I knew what I was getting into on a weirdness level, but this really does ramp it up. The world is so different than anything I've ever read, and I loved the way the beast workers and the jobs they had were described (some of this is on the sort of gross side, so you might want to skip if that's something that bothers you. At one point our protags crawl into a sphincter.) Adalla is a great character, and Seske in interesting in a different way. She's very privileged as the daughter of the leader of her colony, and a bit naive. I appreciated that she tried to learn from what was going on, and be a better person. But the real star of the book is the setting. As we learn more about the beasts, we start seeing how absolutely destructive the colonizers are, and what that's doing to the herd. It was very interesting to see Seske's people have contact with the people on a different beast, and see how the second colony did things differently to make their home last longer, foregoing many of the comforts that the ruling class on Seske's beast have always thought of as their due. It's a really interesting way to look at social structures, and the toll we take on our homes.
I do think the ending was a bit rushed, and slightly unsatisfying. There is a plot point with Seske's sister that looks like it is going to be very dramatic, then just kind of...goes away? There is also some stuff that happens with the beast workers that I felt was mostly unresolved. I think the book would have benefited being a bit longer, and having a more detailed resolution. I also think a glossary would have been helpful. I'm pretty good about getting things from context, but because of the family structure, I'm still not sure what the difference between a heart parent and a will parent. This definitely isn't going to be for everyone, but I enjoyed it, although not as much as Prey of Gods and Temper. Drayden continues to be a truly unique voice in SFF, and it's always fun to try to figure out where her work will go next.