audbaum's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Colonisation
Moderate: Violence, War, Addiction, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, and Xenophobia
ekcd_'s review against another edition
Moderate: Car accident, Deadnaming, Confinement, Blood, Drug abuse, Medical content, Murder, Gore, Drug use, Genocide, Xenophobia, Bullying, Death, Gun violence, Medical trauma, War, Body horror, Physical abuse, and Police brutality
philamot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
I felt like the non-human intelligence was handled in a really fun way - it was like a semi-omniscient first person narrator, and really affirmed the fact that this was not a human narrator.
The worldbuilding is layered and does not feel like a renamed sci-if version of an Earth culture. Which can be fun, when done well, but I enjoyed novel societies.
One of the most arresting bits of worldbuilding is the adherence to she/her/hers as the default pronouns for a society that did not consider gender a meaningful linguistic or societal marker. A fun inversion from the traditional use of he, and one that still surprised me, as I would assume the use of they/them/theirs. Since the main character was generally confused by gender markers, almost all characters were referred to using she/her/hers. Further, different characters from gendered societies would refer to the same characters with different pronouns - implying to me at least that different cultures had conflicting interpretations of a characters gender markers. Sometimes, it came across as a bit heavy handed, and I’m not sure if using she/her feels like kind of queer or like a doubling down on the binary from the opposite directions. I’m generally a fan though, as I’m into any playing with gender into science fiction tbh.
In general, a fun read! Good for fans of the Murderbot series for sure - read it in about 4 hours on a plane hahaha.
Moderate: Slavery
Minor: War, Violence, and Sexual assault
tiredcreature's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Vast world beyond the scope of the story;
Rare religious space empire;
Plays with language and translation;
Conveys various linguistic subtleties of the languages encountered throughout the plot, especially as a foreign language speaker would experience them;
AI full of subtle personality; would have loved to see more interactions between AI characters;
May need multiple re-reads;
• She/her, but not like a woman, but like a ship
• The good old days have never been as good as you remember
• War crimes are war crimes no matter how noble your intentions
Graphic: Colonisation
Minor: Xenophobia, Body horror, Genocide, Addiction, and War
pvbobrien's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Colonisation, Gun violence, and Death
Moderate: Classism, Violence, Xenophobia, Genocide, Addiction, and Drug abuse
Minor: Murder, Body horror, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, War, and Medical content
minechatz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Colonisation, War, and Gun violence
Moderate: Drug abuse and Genocide
Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Religious bigotry
queenie_ofthe_void's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
All of that being said, it was an extremely interesting read. The characters were very well-defined, the plot was intriguing and original. Awesome twists! The beginning was a bit of a drag, but the end picked up so fast I immediately rented the next book in the series. I think it'll be like LOTR, where Fellowship is 90% set up and the rest is faster paced.
Graphic: Classism, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Cultural appropriation, Death, Drug abuse, War, Grief, Colonisation, Racism, Addiction, and Torture
madamenovelist's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Xenophobia, War, Murder, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Genocide, Death, and Child death
mar's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Gun violence, and Murder
Moderate: War, Addiction, Classism, Mass/school shootings, and Injury/Injury detail
kay_brot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Colonisation, Addiction, Death, War, and Injury/Injury detail