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slimy's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A wildly different book in both tone and purpose from the first of this series. Truly they feel like night and day. Raises some of the same types of questions as the first in regards to humanity and our place in the universe. In honesty, I much preferred the first book. This second lacks a lot of the witty humor that made the first approachable while still feeling like a true sci-fi novel. It does however carry the extremely well-researched and thoughtful construction of worlds, both ours (as in America, 2008) and alien.
We get a second perspective in this book with the addition of Kaveh, who begins helping our main character Cora.
Kaveh's perspective is hideous and nauseating. He’s often lusting after Cora in strange and uncomfortable language, fully acknowledging the inappropriate nature of his relationship with her and deciding to continue taking sexual and manipulative advantage of her anyway. He enjoys increasing her dependency on him. He does not take her mental illness seriously, and actually uses it to push for sex. I read one scene in particular as straight up rape. I could not empathize with his character after that point, and am not sure why exactly the choice to make him do that was made. That is really the only glaring issue I had with this book, but it is a huge deal.
We get a second perspective in this book with the addition of Kaveh, who begins helping our main character Cora.
Kaveh's perspective is hideous and nauseating. He’s often lusting after Cora in strange and uncomfortable language, fully acknowledging the inappropriate nature of his relationship with her and deciding to continue taking sexual and manipulative advantage of her anyway. He enjoys increasing her dependency on him. He does not take her mental illness seriously, and actually uses it to push for sex. I read one scene in particular as straight up rape. I could not empathize with his character after that point, and am not sure why exactly the choice to make him do that was made. That is really the only glaring issue I had with this book, but it is a huge deal.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting