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lautir's reviews
360 reviews
Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Flux by Jinwoo Chong
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book took me by a bit of a surprised as I can't remember why it was on my to-read list.
It's an emotional scifi of a young man's experience with a reckless tech company and it's a little all over the place. Partially in the story telling format but also I felt like it was struggling to be scifi. Introduced some fun concepts but wishes more time was spent with them.
The bigger focus of the story felt like it was more about living with guilt. So the main character is rather brooding, most of the story is him reflecting on or re-living his life.
It's an emotional scifi of a young man's experience with a reckless tech company and it's a little all over the place. Partially in the story telling format but also I felt like it was struggling to be scifi. Introduced some fun concepts but wishes more time was spent with them.
The bigger focus of the story felt like it was more about living with guilt. So the main character is rather brooding, most of the story is him reflecting on or re-living his life.
He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Struggled with the pacing in this one, things just took longer to happened than I enjoy. The characters were kind of flat while having a big cast which made it hard to stay invested.
Felt kind of like a softer version of The Radiant Emperor duology, less violence, less emotion, less tension. But still a solid story of unlikely heroes (women and other marginalized folk) rising against corrupt power.
Felt kind of like a softer version of The Radiant Emperor duology, less violence, less emotion, less tension. But still a solid story of unlikely heroes (women and other marginalized folk) rising against corrupt power.
Diaspora by Greg Egan
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This book is good sci-fi but it's not for me.
Egan presents a lot of big theoretical physics ideas and pushes them to the extreme with a lot of "let's say this is true". The story revolves around future humans, aka beings who exist in digital form and basically live forever. It's an interesting exploration of what does a mind do when it has all the freedom in the world and no need to do anything to survive. His answer is "try to figure out the secrets of the universe".
In a way the book is a collection of fictional science essays with a few characters living through the experiments along the way.
The one thing I did enjoy about the book was that I feel like it's underlying message is that we need to be prepared to "re-start" our beliefs, throw away what we take for granted as "truth" and be willing to accept new information that challenges us. Egan does this by having his characters discard or re-evaluate theories multiple times over thousands of years while also having the characters themselves clone themselves to live new, diverging lives, over and over again. Each time restarting with the knowledge that they will learn different things, be different people.
Egan presents a lot of big theoretical physics ideas and pushes them to the extreme with a lot of "let's say this is true". The story revolves around future humans, aka beings who exist in digital form and basically live forever. It's an interesting exploration of what does a mind do when it has all the freedom in the world and no need to do anything to survive. His answer is "try to figure out the secrets of the universe".
In a way the book is a collection of fictional science essays with a few characters living through the experiments along the way.
The one thing I did enjoy about the book was that I feel like it's underlying message is that we need to be prepared to "re-start" our beliefs, throw away what we take for granted as "truth" and be willing to accept new information that challenges us. Egan does this by having his characters discard or re-evaluate theories multiple times over thousands of years while also having the characters themselves clone themselves to live new, diverging lives, over and over again. Each time restarting with the knowledge that they will learn different things, be different people.
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I really enjoyed how this was structured for a time travel story. It was very smooth to move between the years and characters and things started to tie together nicely.
While the ending made sense and wrapped things up, I am getting kind of tired of that specific plot point being used in time travel.
While the ending made sense and wrapped things up, I am getting kind of tired of that specific plot point being used in time travel.
Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I really enjoyed this but I fear it may have been a little over-hyped for me.
The start has early hints of "there is going to be a big change up" but they do a good job of hiding what that's going to be. The main character is not loveable at the beginning of the book but knowing how well received this book is I knew that was likely to change. The plot moved along at a good pace after the first 100 pages or so and the aliens help keep things interesting.
The far future world was well designed, if mostly just hinted at.
The start has early hints of "there is going to be a big change up" but they do a good job of hiding what that's going to be. The main character is not loveable at the beginning of the book but knowing how well received this book is I knew that was likely to change. The plot moved along at a good pace after the first 100 pages or so and the aliens help keep things interesting.
The far future world was well designed, if mostly just hinted at.
The Cabinet by Un-su Kim
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The start of this book really grabbed me. I thought it was a fascinating concept to work with and enjoy the little stories of each of the characters. The downside is that I had hoped for a more dramatic conclusion, or for something weird-er to be going on. But the ending made sense for the main character and I enjoyed the journey.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror
VenCo by Cherie Dimaline
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This was fun, modern, fast paced after a slow start.
Some very strong feminism and road trip energy.
Some very strong feminism and road trip energy.