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kamela's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
In the beginning, I almost put it down because of how brutal the opening scenes in the Cultural Revolution were. If it had gone on much longer, I wasn't going to be able to deal with it - I didn't want to spend all that time in a world where these intensely violent and head-twisting things were being depicted one after the other. But it did cause me to feel attached to Ye Wenjie, and I was quite disappointed when the rest of the book didn't focus on her. Her every appearance in the book added intrigue and pathos, but I truly wish Liu had made her the protagonist, to the extent this book has one.
Because honestly...it really doesn't. It mostly has a bunch of characters whose purpose it is to react to huge, physics-related happenings that are difficult to feel much about. There's an incredible underlying thread here, about the way systematic brutality and having your mind beaten down repeatedly
Graphic: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Torture, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Suicide, Trafficking, and Injury/Injury detail
wrackspurtt's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
syinhui's review
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Violence and Death of parent
Moderate: Suicide, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Xenophobia and War
uranaishi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Domestic abuse, Suicide, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Colonisation
cloud_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicide, Violence, and War
kinddog2073's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Much of this book read quite cheesy to me, though that improved at about 50% of the way through. Very glad I picjed this book back uo.
Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Xenophobia and Police brutality
Minor: Animal death
qtcarolyn's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicide
tree_branch's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
ekcd_'s review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
Where to start?
The characters are utterly forgettable and there is not a single redeemable or meaningful relationship between any of the characters or any facet of the story. They only existed so they could talk to each other as a way to move the plot along. Without the characters the whole book could be reduced to one, drunken rant about “like what if aliens lived on an unstable planet?” He put characters in so it wouldn’t just be a really bizarre lecture
This book reads as 350 pages of history and philosophical waxing and then 50 pages of shitty alien fan fiction that is really just the author patting himself on the back for creating analogies that are complicated enough for readers to think him smart but are ultimately meaningless.
By rooting a story in the present and then layering in completely absurd scientific magic over it really removed me from the story. The physics and math were really inaccessible and honesty glossed over that whole chapter.
Nothing in this story or it’s writing made me care about any of the individuals, civilizations, communities or social movements that were used.
I am gobsmacked that so many people praise this book so highly. I love science fiction and read it almost exclusively. The only thing keeping me from rage quitting half way through was rage reading so I could review this book without people saying “you didn’t finish it so you can’t comment on it”
It gets a 1.5 because I was able to finish it quickly (thank god)
Well screw you, fans of this book, I read it and I disliked it!
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Colonisation, War, and Classism
Minor: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
I don’t regret reading this because at least it gives me something concrete to point my unhinged anger at. Going to drink some tea and read something that I know is good and purebudge's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I didn't realise until the end that there are two more in the series, what a treat!
Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Forced institutionalization
Minor: Suicide