Reviews

3.5 rounded down?
this was good? i will admit i don't know if me not understanding the races and alliances for like 60% of the book was the point or if i just wasnt paying enough attention and i am an idiot

ladymab's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful tense 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? Yes

4.75

kat__z8's review

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3.25

The First Sister has a promising concept overall. I like the idea of a sci-fi with a cast of mostly queer characters. But I fear that is all there is to this book. While I really like the diversity and the queernormative world, I don't think this book offers anything new or exiting when it comes to its story and content. It's basically a rebellion but in space, only that there were too many unnecessary distractions. The main characters are the First Sister and Lito, a nobody who became a soldier and is now searching for his friend, Hiro. They became entangled in a bigger plot to overthrow the cruel authorities.

The world building was alright, although peppered with infodumps here and there that kind of made the world feel disjointed. I still don't have a clear image of what the different planets have that set them apart from each other. There's also this non-Homo sapiens creature called Asters that are the major driving force behind the rebellion, but they are barely explored, so the whole time I was reading I kept thinking, Okay so the government is bad, they're gonna overthrow it, there must be a lot of exciting scheming, but nope. While there are many gritty fight scenes, one can only tolerate a certain amount of it before getting bored because the main purpose was kept out of reach the whole time, and when the time came for the plot's supposed climax… nothing. It left me underwhelmed, to say the least.

The writing is nothing special. It's not bad, but it's not a book you'd pick if you want beautiful writing. It's simple and gets the story told, that's it. Overall, a book with an ambitious concept and a diverse cast of characters, but it's not balanced with a story that's gripping enough to make the book special. I probably won't be continuing with the sequels.

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