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lizacorn's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Kidnapping
Minor: Death, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and War
greystory's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Overall, I found this book kind of confusing. It's not blatantly confusing and I don't think it was intended to be confusing, but I definitely felt a little confused the whole time. So what is the source of the confused feeling?
The whole relationship between the alien cat and the domestic Earth cat was so strange and I had a difficult time with it. Domestic pet cats on earth being sentient, telepathic creatures that were intentionally brought to Earth millennia ago to help humans (this isn't really a spoiler, it's in the first few pages) was... weird. Mainly because of the numerous far-reaching implications that are completely ignored.
I had a feeling this was meant to be a light-hearted, funny thing kind of like when Snaps in Strange Love by Ann Aguirre is given a communicator or the dog in the movie UP has a translating collar but it's definitely not the same. Those pets were clearly pets and their thoughts and communications were those of pets, not of a sentient being that's was abandoned for millennia on a foreign planet and forced to be subservient to a technologically unadvanced species they had no way of communicating with. It's the stuff of horror and nightmares, not cutesy and fun.
There's some inconsistent details that don't make sense (it's 2-3 crew ship but there's only 3 places total to sit in the entire ship and one cabin for sleeping?).
The interactions between characters and the pacing makes the story feel as though it's taking course over the span of at least a week yet it's mentioned about 70% of the book that it's only been two days. TWO days?? They're having all of this internal monologue and major shifts in thinking about aliens and considering romantic relationships and developing feelings in the span of two days? And these aren't two days in which they are fighting for their lives or something where characters may be understandably more likely to rapidly form strong bonds, they're just eating, talking, or sleeping.
The timeline also makes no sense based on the whole goal of the mission to intercept another vessel that, after those two days, is dangerously close to crossing a border that could cause war. At the start, the cat alien says he thought it would take him much longer to find a human so how close exactly are they cutting it here??
Maybe the whole confusion thing is also a matter of mismatched vibes. Maybe there wasn't anything blatantly done poorly but I wasn't vibing with this book.
The whole relationship between the alien cat and the domestic Earth cat was so strange and I had a difficult time with it. Domestic pet cats on earth being sentient, telepathic creatures that were intentionally brought to Earth millennia ago to help humans (this isn't really a spoiler, it's in the first few pages) was... weird. Mainly because of the numerous far-reaching implications that are completely ignored.
I had a feeling this was meant to be a light-hearted, funny thing kind of like when Snaps in Strange Love by Ann Aguirre is given a communicator or the dog in the movie UP has a translating collar but it's definitely not the same. Those pets were clearly pets and their thoughts and communications were those of pets, not of a sentient being that's was abandoned for millennia on a foreign planet and forced to be subservient to a technologically unadvanced species they had no way of communicating with. It's the stuff of horror and nightmares, not cutesy and fun.
There's some inconsistent details that don't make sense (it's 2-3 crew ship but there's only 3 places total to sit in the entire ship and one cabin for sleeping?).
The interactions between characters and the pacing makes the story feel as though it's taking course over the span of at least a week yet it's mentioned about 70% of the book that it's only been two days. TWO days?? They're having all of this internal monologue and major shifts in thinking about aliens and considering romantic relationships and developing feelings in the span of two days? And these aren't two days in which they are fighting for their lives or something where characters may be understandably more likely to rapidly form strong bonds, they're just eating, talking, or sleeping.
The timeline also makes no sense based on the whole goal of the mission to intercept another vessel that, after those two days, is dangerously close to crossing a border that could cause war. At the start, the cat alien says he thought it would take him much longer to find a human so how close exactly are they cutting it here??
Maybe the whole confusion thing is also a matter of mismatched vibes. Maybe there wasn't anything blatantly done poorly but I wasn't vibing with this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Kidnapping
Minor: Animal death, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Abandonment, and War