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slowreaderpeter's Reviews (208)
adventurous
challenging
informative
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Best and quickest way I can describe this is delightfully unhinged! Go have a riot of a time in this magical school with the snarkiest teenagers!
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
challenging
reflective
sad
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
Thank you to the author and Solaris publishing for providing me with an ARC of this.
I rather enjoyed this one. It’s set in the same universe as Under Fortunate Stars, Hutchings’ debut novel, but it functions as a standalone. We follow 2 main perspectives, and a third that is more supplementary to the others. The two main ones are a young woman living as a pickpocket on a space station after she’s woken up from cryostasis with no memories of her past, as she’s about to become embroiled in a larger heist; and a young girl growing up on a planet of conservative, religious fanatics as she slowly awakens from the propagandized state she’s grown up under.
This book is primarily about second chances, getting a clean slate, the opportunity to become someone new and shed your old life behind. And it’s also about waking up from religious fanaticism, and how difficult and lonely that can be at times.
My biggest complaint of this book is probably how reliant the first half is on info-dumping and world-building. It definitely feels like it’s more focused on fleshing out the world, the memory loss, the religious order and planet way more than progressing the plot almost at all for a bit. The second half is much more streamlined, and I enjoyed the full book (in large part because I love Hutchings’ voice as a writer). But I do think the first half could have gone a little lighter on the info-dumping.
On the whole, I’d still recommend this, especially for fans of Becky Chambers or perhaps fans of Travis Baldree who also enjoy space opera.
I rather enjoyed this one. It’s set in the same universe as Under Fortunate Stars, Hutchings’ debut novel, but it functions as a standalone. We follow 2 main perspectives, and a third that is more supplementary to the others. The two main ones are a young woman living as a pickpocket on a space station after she’s woken up from cryostasis with no memories of her past, as she’s about to become embroiled in a larger heist; and a young girl growing up on a planet of conservative, religious fanatics as she slowly awakens from the propagandized state she’s grown up under.
This book is primarily about second chances, getting a clean slate, the opportunity to become someone new and shed your old life behind. And it’s also about waking up from religious fanaticism, and how difficult and lonely that can be at times.
My biggest complaint of this book is probably how reliant the first half is on info-dumping and world-building. It definitely feels like it’s more focused on fleshing out the world, the memory loss, the religious order and planet way more than progressing the plot almost at all for a bit. The second half is much more streamlined, and I enjoyed the full book (in large part because I love Hutchings’ voice as a writer). But I do think the first half could have gone a little lighter on the info-dumping.
On the whole, I’d still recommend this, especially for fans of Becky Chambers or perhaps fans of Travis Baldree who also enjoy space opera.
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
One of the things I love most about this book is the slowness in which it presents itself. It doesn’t feel the need to have every event lead to another massive event, or a snowball effect of plot points of increasing magnitude. Rather, it allows itself to exist in the in between moments, the moments between the major story beats or things of greater “importance.”
We follow Anequs, a 15 year old Indigenous girl, when she becomes the first of her people in 200 years to discover, and then hatch, a dragon egg. Due to the laws of the governing imperial/colonial governments and treaties, she must attend a dragon taming academy, naturally of the colonial variety. And in doing so, she must attempt to learn required knowledge and maintain her sense of self and tradition, and not be overrun by the white colonial culture.
While there are strong ideas and themes throughout this story - racism, resisting colonialism, theft and rebranding of knowledge - it really is the subtle moments that set this one apart for me. It takes its time to allow us to see all of the happenings of society, both the colonial, but especially the Indigenous. Other stories would breeze through these as uninteresting or novelty bits, but they’re almost the most important parts of the story. We see the everyday life things that are of importance to Anequs and her people, how she perceives of life in the colonial academy and cities, the social gatherings, so differently than her peers. It allows us to live in these moments with her, with a greater understanding than just being told how something is or was. It was this that really made the story a comforting read.
That said, I do think a few moments of tension in the main narrative could have been dialed up just a little. The moments were well thought out and I liked the turns they made. I just felt they could have been slightly bigger or heightened. But only slightly.
All-in-all, I found this to be a delightful book, and I am very excited to read the sequel.
We follow Anequs, a 15 year old Indigenous girl, when she becomes the first of her people in 200 years to discover, and then hatch, a dragon egg. Due to the laws of the governing imperial/colonial governments and treaties, she must attend a dragon taming academy, naturally of the colonial variety. And in doing so, she must attempt to learn required knowledge and maintain her sense of self and tradition, and not be overrun by the white colonial culture.
While there are strong ideas and themes throughout this story - racism, resisting colonialism, theft and rebranding of knowledge - it really is the subtle moments that set this one apart for me. It takes its time to allow us to see all of the happenings of society, both the colonial, but especially the Indigenous. Other stories would breeze through these as uninteresting or novelty bits, but they’re almost the most important parts of the story. We see the everyday life things that are of importance to Anequs and her people, how she perceives of life in the colonial academy and cities, the social gatherings, so differently than her peers. It allows us to live in these moments with her, with a greater understanding than just being told how something is or was. It was this that really made the story a comforting read.
That said, I do think a few moments of tension in the main narrative could have been dialed up just a little. The moments were well thought out and I liked the turns they made. I just felt they could have been slightly bigger or heightened. But only slightly.
All-in-all, I found this to be a delightful book, and I am very excited to read the sequel.