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sadtourist's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- 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? Yes
4.0
Picking up this book, 'space spiders' was not on my Bingo card. After finishing it, I can honestly say that I'll never look at a spider the same way again.
This was solid science fiction: lots of exciting plot points, reflections and commentaries about the nature of humanity, anthropological explorations of 'alien' cultures, and a dash of humor/irony thrown in.
The writing took me a while to get into, I kept fumbling over some words or sentences, but now that I'm into it I'll continue on to books 2 and 3.
This was solid science fiction: lots of exciting plot points, reflections and commentaries about the nature of humanity, anthropological explorations of 'alien' cultures, and a dash of humor/irony thrown in.
The writing took me a while to get into, I kept fumbling over some words or sentences, but now that I'm into it I'll continue on to books 2 and 3.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Violence, and War
If you're uncomfortable with spiders, this book will either help you get over that, or not.cadimy's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
3.5
It was a bit slow to get through, and the needless use of a slur was off putting. Interesting idea, will make me think twice next time I go to squish a spider.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Genocide, Violence, War, and Classism
jetpackdracula's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- 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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and War
Moderate: Animal death
starbits140's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Abortion, and War
Moderate: Sexual content
black_cat_iiix's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
medium-paced
- 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? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation and Classism
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, and Kidnapping
Minor: Animal death, Confinement, and Genocide
Many sentient spiders and descriptions of spider anatomy20sidedbi's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- 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
5.0
Holy. Crap. This book was amazing and unlike anything I've ever read before.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Blood, Kidnapping, and Grief
Spidersbethr's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
This novel kept surprising me. I couldn’t predict the ending, but it was excellent. Audiobook narration also excellent.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Mental illness, and War
Minor: Animal death and Xenophobia
yuripiano's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
5.0
God, where do I even begin....
This is easily, easily one of my favorite books of all time, no questions asked.
The way that different points of view are written is so deeply interesting regardless of who the chapter is about, and the juxtaposition of evolving spiders with devolving humans and the question of what it means to be human is just... so. incredibly. good. You really feel and pull for the spiders, and there's a sense of "humanity" tied to their un-humanness that's lacking in the actual humans that's super fascinating to read. i feel like i could talk forever about the crew of the Gilgamesh contrasted with their predecessors and how that relates to the spiders and Kern - it's deeply fascinating and exciting and really thought provoking.
i don't think i can sing enough praises - i'm trying to come up with things to criticize, because every time i write a review here, i'm like "this book was okay!" and then i just bash the book to pieces, but...
the pacing is snappy, the characters are incredible, and the constant tension of feeling the three main points swirling like they're in a whirlpool and you're just waiting for them to converge is such a page turner!
i suppose, if i had to point something out, some metaphors and such were very spelled out... but, coming from the internal thoughts/point of view from the classicist a lot of the time, i felt that it was fine, and honestly, i didn't particularly feel like it was talking down to the reader either.
At the end of the day, it's an incredible read, and easily the first book i would recommend to someone. If this book were 2000 pages longer, it would be too short.
This is easily, easily one of my favorite books of all time, no questions asked.
i don't think i can sing enough praises - i'm trying to come up with things to criticize, because every time i write a review here, i'm like "this book was okay!" and then i just bash the book to pieces, but...
the pacing is snappy, the characters are incredible, and the constant tension of feeling the three main points swirling like they're in a whirlpool and you're just waiting for them to converge is such a page turner!
i suppose, if i had to point something out, some metaphors and such were very spelled out... but, coming from the internal thoughts/point of view from the classicist a lot of the time, i felt that it was fine, and honestly, i didn't particularly feel like it was talking down to the reader either.
At the end of the day, it's an incredible read, and easily the first book i would recommend to someone. If this book were 2000 pages longer, it would be too short.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Sexism
Minor: Sexual content
mals_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
holsten, my beloved
i liked this a lot more than i thought i would. read this for a book club and i’m not much of a deep space reader, but something about this book hooked me!
it isn’t overly explanatory in its technical jargon (which loses me) so it’s more reader-friendly than i expected imo!
i wish i liked the spider pov more than i did, but Holsten was the star of the show for me. i feel like he really embodied the reader — your average guy (a historian) with little technical knowledge or ability to keep the ship afloat just waking up every century show as more shit happens in their journey to rebuild humanity. very chill and fun
this is for you if you’re looking to dip your toe into a new & adventurous series set after the fall of humanity. maybe more factions later? 👀
i liked this a lot more than i thought i would. read this for a book club and i’m not much of a deep space reader, but something about this book hooked me!
it isn’t overly explanatory in its technical jargon (which loses me) so it’s more reader-friendly than i expected imo!
i wish i liked the spider pov more than i did, but Holsten was the star of the show for me. i feel like he really embodied the reader — your average guy (a historian) with little technical knowledge or ability to keep the ship afloat just waking up every century show as more shit happens in their journey to rebuild humanity. very chill and fun
this is for you if you’re looking to dip your toe into a new & adventurous series set after the fall of humanity. maybe more factions later? 👀
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death and Violence
Minor: Gun violence
kirtreads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
I could not put this book down. It is one of those books that I will be thinking about for a long time. The book takes the human life is on the brink of collapse idea and turns it into something unique. This book, while playing on a lot of classic sci-fi tropes, really does something new and exciting. I really enjoyed the plot of this book, the themes that it explored and the ideas and conclusions that the novel came to.
I don't think that this book is for everyone. There is a lot of time jumping, there are some things that are left vague for the sake of time that you just kind of need to accept, and the way that characters are handled in the time skipping is confusing at first. You need to really be okay with not knowing what is going on for the first 25% of the book, but it is worth it. If you like Asimov's Foundations series you will really enjoy this. It felt like classic sci-fi without as many problematic elements.
It was confusing at first trying to keep track of all the characters. A lot are introduced quickly, and then you might not come back to that character for a good chunk of the book, but they are all important. I did struggle to keep them all straight at some points, but I generally struggle with that.
My only other critique would be that I wanted a little bit more from the ending. We spend so much time (literal centuries) getting to the conclusion that it felt a little rushed. I wanted to sit with the conclusion a little more. I know that this was originally written as a stand alone but is now the first in a trilogy so I am hoping that some of that will be resolved in the next book.
Overall, I really loved this book. It felt unique, fun, thoughtful and well written. It is hard to bring something new to the genre of sci-fi but I think that this novel did just that!
I don't think that this book is for everyone. There is a lot of time jumping, there are some things that are left vague for the sake of time that you just kind of need to accept, and the way that characters are handled in the time skipping is confusing at first. You need to really be okay with not knowing what is going on for the first 25% of the book, but it is worth it. If you like Asimov's Foundations series you will really enjoy this. It felt like classic sci-fi without as many problematic elements.
It was confusing at first trying to keep track of all the characters. A lot are introduced quickly, and then you might not come back to that character for a good chunk of the book, but they are all important. I did struggle to keep them all straight at some points, but I generally struggle with that.
My only other critique would be that I wanted a little bit more from the ending. We spend so much time (literal centuries) getting to the conclusion that it felt a little rushed. I wanted to sit with the conclusion a little more. I know that this was originally written as a stand alone but is now the first in a trilogy so I am hoping that some of that will be resolved in the next book.
Overall, I really loved this book. It felt unique, fun, thoughtful and well written. It is hard to bring something new to the genre of sci-fi but I think that this novel did just that!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, and War