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kissinglilies's reviews
81 reviews
Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes
3.0
If you're like me and you're a fan of space operas, video games, and human-alien romance, this book might fit into the "comfort read" niche it filled for me. It hits on a lot of fun tropes with a consistently wild pace, and the chapters are over in a blink. You won't find a lot of introspection here, and the technology is mostly hand-wavey. The book is described as fun, and I agree. I don't know if I'd recommend it to someone new to the genre, but I might recommend it to someone who enjoys middle grade adventure fiction but isn't particularly attached to the PG nature of it?
There are some major drawbacks to this book that kept me from rating it higher. The chapters flew by a bit too fast for me, especially after a handful of crazy plot twists. It felt like so much was being thrown at me, and while some things were funny it was hard to keep my suspension of disbelief.
I also felt like Eva was a very unlikable point of virw. She goes through some very cyclical thinking before actually doing what she thinks is best. She waffles between doing things at the slighest nudge. And instead of redeeming her, it felt like Valdes attempted to endear her to the audience by making her family and the antagonists even /more/ unlikeable. Instead of succeeding, I was even more annoyed with Eva by the end of the book.
For what it is though, it's fine. Fun, as many reviews have pointed out. I love the dozens of species referenced here, and there are tons of worldbuilding tidbits to keep me entertained. The voice Valdes writes in is entertaining as hell. The parallels with Mass Effect (a video game) are undeniable.
At first I didn't like the romance between Eva and Vakar, but it grew on me and was what I looked forward to most -- maybe because the rest of tbe book felt so inconsistent.
Will I pick up the next book? Maybe some day, when I'm in the mood for something lightning-fast and can turn off my inner critic. This is a read that deserves to be experienced, but I think it falls apart if you try digging deeper.
There are some major drawbacks to this book that kept me from rating it higher. The chapters flew by a bit too fast for me, especially after a handful of crazy plot twists. It felt like so much was being thrown at me, and while some things were funny it was hard to keep my suspension of disbelief.
I also felt like Eva was a very unlikable point of virw. She goes through some very cyclical thinking before actually doing what she thinks is best. She waffles between doing things at the slighest nudge. And instead of redeeming her, it felt like Valdes attempted to endear her to the audience by making her family and the antagonists even /more/ unlikeable. Instead of succeeding, I was even more annoyed with Eva by the end of the book.
For what it is though, it's fine. Fun, as many reviews have pointed out. I love the dozens of species referenced here, and there are tons of worldbuilding tidbits to keep me entertained. The voice Valdes writes in is entertaining as hell. The parallels with Mass Effect (a video game) are undeniable.
At first I didn't like the romance between Eva and Vakar, but it grew on me and was what I looked forward to most -- maybe because the rest of tbe book felt so inconsistent.
Will I pick up the next book? Maybe some day, when I'm in the mood for something lightning-fast and can turn off my inner critic. This is a read that deserves to be experienced, but I think it falls apart if you try digging deeper.