martianreads's review against another edition
4.0
Abundance is a book about Alex and Luke being the only survivors from Earth and they're on this new planet called New Earth . It's a book about their journey and whether the human race lives on.
What I like about the book is actually that the first scene really captured me. The way Spark wrote about Alex being drained from his cryo pod and the emptiness he felt knowing that his friends had died. Then meeting Luke and watching that friendship begin, bud and turn into something that was unexpected. Even if as a reader I went into the book knowing I was going to be reading a cool sci-fi LGTBQ+ inclusive novella, it was unexpected.
Alex and Luke were adorable. Alex saw this new world as an exploration adventure and Luke wanted to stay hidden, to stay safe and to keep Alex safe. While Luke frustrated me at times, I still found his character to be quite enjoyable. The side characters were in the book just enough without it being too annoying. I liked the flashbacks. Overall, it was a fun, good read.
The only problems I noticed in the novella were a couple of sentences that made no sense/were missing words. (e.g "I was sure someone should have been by now.") Maybe it's just me but it seems like there's meant to be an 'awake' in there? (e.g. "I was sure someone should have been awake by now.") This was line 22 on my iBooks, not sure where that would lie for other people. The second being at one point there was a mention of a woman named "Elaine" on line 106 when I think the author meant to write "Eileen".
With those aside, I did enjoy the book which was provided as an ARC by Nine Star Press & Netgalley for an honest review.
Overall rating: 4.0
Would I recommend? Yes! If you're in the market for a short sci-fi, dystopian novel with pretty much two polar opposite characters, I definitely recommend checking out Abundance!
What I like about the book is actually that the first scene really captured me. The way Spark wrote about Alex being drained from his cryo pod and the emptiness he felt knowing that his friends had died. Then meeting Luke and watching that friendship begin, bud and turn into something that was unexpected. Even if as a reader I went into the book knowing I was going to be reading a cool sci-fi LGTBQ+ inclusive novella, it was unexpected.
Alex and Luke were adorable. Alex saw this new world as an exploration adventure and Luke wanted to stay hidden, to stay safe and to keep Alex safe. While Luke frustrated me at times, I still found his character to be quite enjoyable. The side characters were in the book just enough without it being too annoying. I liked the flashbacks. Overall, it was a fun, good read.
The only problems I noticed in the novella were a couple of sentences that made no sense/were missing words. (e.g "I was sure someone should have been by now.") Maybe it's just me but it seems like there's meant to be an 'awake' in there? (e.g. "I was sure someone should have been awake by now.") This was line 22 on my iBooks, not sure where that would lie for other people. The second being at one point there was a mention of a woman named "Elaine" on line 106 when I think the author meant to write "Eileen".
With those aside, I did enjoy the book which was provided as an ARC by Nine Star Press & Netgalley for an honest review.
Overall rating: 4.0
Would I recommend? Yes! If you're in the market for a short sci-fi, dystopian novel with pretty much two polar opposite characters, I definitely recommend checking out Abundance!
onceuponanisabel's review against another edition
2.0
Abundance is a sci-fi survival book about two men, Luke and Alex, who are the lone survivors of a malfunction of their colony ship when it lands on New Earth. As they set about surviving on an unknown world, a relationship between the two develops.
The two big emotions that this book plays with are hope and grief, deeply felt by Luke and Alex, respectively. The first quarter or so of Abundance focuses almost exclusively on Alex's grief with respect two the deaths of all of the other passengers on the ship, some of whom had been his friends on Earth. However, while Alex was mourning these deaths, he also begins to lust after his commander and fellow survivor, Luke. This section gave me a bit of whiplash, switching between lengthy ruminations on death to drooling over a shirtless Luke. Personally, it felt a little weird, tonally.
This first quarter of the book was my least favorite, and I found that it picked up from there. Luke's basically only motivator is his steadfast belief that other colony ships had landed before them and that those other people were coming to save them. For me, this hope was more affecting than Alex's grief. It was heartbreaking to watch Luke determinedly build a communications device and wait by it day after day, waiting for a response, and not receiving one.
I also particularly enjoyed Alex's explorations of the nature around them -- his excitement about the exploring spilled through the page and made me excited, too.
Luke and Alex's relationship felt a little odd at first since they were pretty touchy with each other from the get-go, but I really enjoyed how it developed throughout the book. Alex working hard to maintain Luke's unflappable hope for rescue was adorably sad, and I do enjoy the 'only people in the world' trope.
My only beef with their relationship was that the pacing of the book made it a little hard to keep up. The author would often summarize their daily routine, and then just say that a significant amount of time had passed without incorporating any change to their relationship, which just felt a little unnatural to me.
Overall, though, I enjoyed this book, and I'm glad I stuck with it past the first 20% or so, which I didn't enjoy as much as later sections of the book. It wasn't particularly deep, surprising, or emotional, but it was an entertaining, fun read for a lazy afternoon.
ARC provided via NetGalley
The two big emotions that this book plays with are hope and grief, deeply felt by Luke and Alex, respectively. The first quarter or so of Abundance focuses almost exclusively on Alex's grief with respect two the deaths of all of the other passengers on the ship, some of whom had been his friends on Earth. However, while Alex was mourning these deaths, he also begins to lust after his commander and fellow survivor, Luke. This section gave me a bit of whiplash, switching between lengthy ruminations on death to drooling over a shirtless Luke. Personally, it felt a little weird, tonally.
This first quarter of the book was my least favorite, and I found that it picked up from there. Luke's basically only motivator is his steadfast belief that other colony ships had landed before them and that those other people were coming to save them. For me, this hope was more affecting than Alex's grief. It was heartbreaking to watch Luke determinedly build a communications device and wait by it day after day, waiting for a response, and not receiving one.
I also particularly enjoyed Alex's explorations of the nature around them -- his excitement about the exploring spilled through the page and made me excited, too.
Luke and Alex's relationship felt a little odd at first since they were pretty touchy with each other from the get-go, but I really enjoyed how it developed throughout the book. Alex working hard to maintain Luke's unflappable hope for rescue was adorably sad, and I do enjoy the 'only people in the world' trope.
My only beef with their relationship was that the pacing of the book made it a little hard to keep up. The author would often summarize their daily routine, and then just say that a significant amount of time had passed without incorporating any change to their relationship, which just felt a little unnatural to me.
Overall, though, I enjoyed this book, and I'm glad I stuck with it past the first 20% or so, which I didn't enjoy as much as later sections of the book. It wasn't particularly deep, surprising, or emotional, but it was an entertaining, fun read for a lazy afternoon.
ARC provided via NetGalley
charkinzie's review
3.0
Alex has been asleep for about a hundred years when he wakes up on his crashed 44026155inter-galactic ship. The ship is supposed to be bringing colonists to a new world, one that is viable and ready to be populated by humans. Earth was running out of time, so ships were dispatched with a variety of people on board.
When Alex wakes up…most of the people on his ship have been killed because of a malfunction. His best friend and the woman who encouraged Alex to ship out despite his being gay (apparently gay colonists weren’t accepted) is one of the victims.
He’s alone. For a terrifying few minutes, Alex struggles to regain movement in his limbs and find out if he really is the only human left alive.
Fortunately, Luke Belka is also alive. He’s command trained and takes Alex under his wing immediately. Even once they find out that they truly are the only two remaining souls alive on their ship, Luke follows procedure and begins to set up a rudimentary camp. He’s the one who maintains hope and helps to keep Alex focus.
As time passes, Alex explores and begins to suspect there is no one else coming to assist them. While Luca continues to focus on building the communications array, Alex develops feelings for his crewmate. Luckily enough, those feelings are reciprocated although Alex finds himself questioning whether it’s more about convenience than emotion.
This book was too short! I would have loved to have read more about the relationship between these two men. It was an emotional roller coaster, and I feel as though the author – given enough pages – could have really explored that. Great idea! Loved the world that was created and the simmering passion between the two men.
Give it a go if you are looking for a quick read…m/m romance!
When Alex wakes up…most of the people on his ship have been killed because of a malfunction. His best friend and the woman who encouraged Alex to ship out despite his being gay (apparently gay colonists weren’t accepted) is one of the victims.
He’s alone. For a terrifying few minutes, Alex struggles to regain movement in his limbs and find out if he really is the only human left alive.
Fortunately, Luke Belka is also alive. He’s command trained and takes Alex under his wing immediately. Even once they find out that they truly are the only two remaining souls alive on their ship, Luke follows procedure and begins to set up a rudimentary camp. He’s the one who maintains hope and helps to keep Alex focus.
As time passes, Alex explores and begins to suspect there is no one else coming to assist them. While Luca continues to focus on building the communications array, Alex develops feelings for his crewmate. Luckily enough, those feelings are reciprocated although Alex finds himself questioning whether it’s more about convenience than emotion.
This book was too short! I would have loved to have read more about the relationship between these two men. It was an emotional roller coaster, and I feel as though the author – given enough pages – could have really explored that. Great idea! Loved the world that was created and the simmering passion between the two men.
Give it a go if you are looking for a quick read…m/m romance!
pvn's review
3.0
This was good overall. Kind of a slow start, but a good plot. Good character development and interaction between the main characters, and author did a great job creating emotion and empathy in this reader. I have mixed feelings about the end, but that may be by design. The author has a lot of talent, and I'll keep an eye out for future work.
I really appreciate the copy for review!
I really appreciate the copy for review!
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