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kowari's review against another edition
The cover is beautiful, the blurb sounds exciting. Don't judge a book by its cover I guess.
I have two big problems with this book.
1) The blurb is misleading to the point of being a false description. The two characters Pendt meets already control the station. It is not an inciting incident and doesn't happen until over a third of the way through. The "scheme" they hatch is not "against all odds". In fact there is no conflict at all, and the "scheme" is resolved within a few pages before the mid-point of the novel. The story is about something else entirely. The blurb made it sound like an exciting adventure or a space heist. It is not any of those things and I strongly recommend against buying if you got that impression.
2) The editing quality is atrocious. I don't mind the typos so much. I do mind the perspective errors, where a chapter in one character's perspective suddenly shifts into another character's for one sentence. I do mind that characters know things they couldn't possibly know, like the family relationships of people they've just met. It speaks to the lack of care that went into the edits, which is surprising from Penguin.
Inside the book, after the dedication, a content warning reads: "This book contains a scene of medical violence. Characters also obsess about food and count calories." I honestly think it needs more detail. It's not just a scene of medical violence, it's a constant fear of sexual medical violence, forced pregnancy and child abuse in various forms.
Forced pregnancy and bodily autonomy are the main themes of the story. It's odd that it doesn't get a mention in the blurb or the warning. It was uncomfortable throughout and not at all what I was expecting.
Does it do a good job of what it was trying to achieve?
I don't think so. The fear of forced pregnancy is the main motivation for Pendt to escape her family onto the space station. Within literal minutes of escaping though, she happily agrees to (ever so slight spoiler)get married and pregnant with a total stranger with a lot of power over her life. The marriage happens within a week, the pregnancy soon after that. I was surprised to say the least.
We're only halfway through now and all the driving conflict has been resolved. The story potters about for a while as the characters talk about who will clean the dishes today (apparently they forgot that they have automatic machines to do that for them - it was a big part of the story earlier), or think about how lovely everything is and how happy everyone is to see them all the time.
The story meanders aimlessly into a romance plot, briefly thinks about some trans issues, something that's meant to be dramatic happens offscreen somewhere, and then I gave up with a quarter of the book left to go.
Conclusion:
This reads like a first draft, almost like the wrong file got sent to print. With a bit of work it could be something good, like a low-stakes, low-conflict, more depressing Becky Chambers novel (assuming the blurb wasn't misleading). Unfortunately it was released before it could ever meet its potential.
I have two big problems with this book.
1) The blurb is misleading to the point of being a false description. The two characters Pendt meets already control the station. It is not an inciting incident and doesn't happen until over a third of the way through. The "scheme" they hatch is not "against all odds". In fact there is no conflict at all, and the "scheme" is resolved within a few pages before the mid-point of the novel. The story is about something else entirely. The blurb made it sound like an exciting adventure or a space heist. It is not any of those things and I strongly recommend against buying if you got that impression.
2) The editing quality is atrocious. I don't mind the typos so much. I do mind the perspective errors, where a chapter in one character's perspective suddenly shifts into another character's for one sentence. I do mind that characters know things they couldn't possibly know, like the family relationships of people they've just met. It speaks to the lack of care that went into the edits, which is surprising from Penguin.
Inside the book, after the dedication, a content warning reads: "This book contains a scene of medical violence. Characters also obsess about food and count calories." I honestly think it needs more detail. It's not just a scene of medical violence, it's a constant fear of sexual medical violence, forced pregnancy and child abuse in various forms.
Forced pregnancy and bodily autonomy are the main themes of the story. It's odd that it doesn't get a mention in the blurb or the warning. It was uncomfortable throughout and not at all what I was expecting.
Does it do a good job of what it was trying to achieve?
I don't think so. The fear of forced pregnancy is the main motivation for Pendt to escape her family onto the space station. Within literal minutes of escaping though, she happily agrees to (ever so slight spoiler)
We're only halfway through now and all the driving conflict has been resolved. The story potters about for a while as the characters talk about who will clean the dishes today (apparently they forgot that they have automatic machines to do that for them - it was a big part of the story earlier), or think about how lovely everything is and how happy everyone is to see them all the time.
The story meanders aimlessly into a romance plot, briefly thinks about some trans issues, something that's meant to be dramatic happens offscreen somewhere, and then I gave up with a quarter of the book left to go.
Conclusion:
This reads like a first draft, almost like the wrong file got sent to print. With a bit of work it could be something good, like a low-stakes, low-conflict, more depressing Becky Chambers novel (assuming the blurb wasn't misleading). Unfortunately it was released before it could ever meet its potential.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Rape, Sexual violence, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Abandonment
Moderate: Sexism and Transphobia