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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
5.0
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
chelsea_nailpolishlover's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Dnf’d at page 350.
Listen I tried.. I really did. What sucks for me the most is I didn’t listen to my gut when I read the sample of this book before outright buying it and wasting my money of this trivial piece of work.
The actions against humans and animals and the way they are thought about in this book is quite frankly racists, ablest and annoyingly ageist. Ageist is the least of its problems though.
At first when the mfc was thinking disgusting thoughts and hints of racist thoughts about people, calling them animals and monkeys (and no I don’t mean the actual monkeys, saying they were less than etc. Incredibly speciesist, even against their own species. The egoistical aspersions of the person etc I thought I could look past it as a villain origin story, of a sociopathic individual and that it wouldn’t be a huge continuing aspect in the writing. Boy was I wrong.
Even the god damn spiders had the same thinking. The author (a man) really loved to pound out the grossest most stereotypical feminist propaganda imaginable. (And I’m a feminist). It was like they wanted to make a joke of women.
The crew part was the most interesting part of this book. But the writing was all over the place. You had no idea half the time of how much time had passed. Where they were currently. What they were actually doing. And it would jump from different POV’s almost every chapter. And then you would get back and generations had passed?!?!? How the fuck is anyone supposed to keep up with the story, the timeline, or learn about literally anything when we get 5 minute snippets of bullshit plot.
Let’s not even get to the impossibilities of the science fiction aspects of this book. Clearly the author has no idea how science works. Infecting a whole planet instead of injecting the monkeys? Let’s not forget the crystal 💀 and sending signals plz. I just couldn’t fkin do it anymore.
One of my last straws honestly was one of the characters calling people ret^rded. Along with the spiders becoming religious and basically becoming a cult for this god and wanting to destroy others if they didn’t believe the same. 👎🏻🙅🏻♀️
Listen I tried.. I really did. What sucks for me the most is I didn’t listen to my gut when I read the sample of this book before outright buying it and wasting my money of this trivial piece of work.
The actions against humans and animals and the way they are thought about in this book is quite frankly racists, ablest and annoyingly ageist. Ageist is the least of its problems though.
At first when the mfc was thinking disgusting thoughts and hints of racist thoughts about people, calling them animals and monkeys (and no I don’t mean the actual monkeys, saying they were less than etc. Incredibly speciesist, even against their own species. The egoistical aspersions of the person etc I thought I could look past it as a villain origin story, of a sociopathic individual and that it wouldn’t be a huge continuing aspect in the writing. Boy was I wrong.
Even the god damn spiders had the same thinking. The author (a man) really loved to pound out the grossest most stereotypical feminist propaganda imaginable. (And I’m a feminist). It was like they wanted to make a joke of women.
The crew part was the most interesting part of this book. But the writing was all over the place. You had no idea half the time of how much time had passed. Where they were currently. What they were actually doing. And it would jump from different POV’s almost every chapter. And then you would get back and generations had passed?!?!? How the fuck is anyone supposed to keep up with the story, the timeline, or learn about literally anything when we get 5 minute snippets of bullshit plot.
Let’s not even get to the impossibilities of the science fiction aspects of this book. Clearly the author has no idea how science works. Infecting a whole planet instead of injecting the monkeys? Let’s not forget the crystal 💀 and sending signals plz. I just couldn’t fkin do it anymore.
One of my last straws honestly was one of the characters calling people ret^rded. Along with the spiders becoming religious and basically becoming a cult for this god and wanting to destroy others if they didn’t believe the same. 👎🏻🙅🏻♀️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Ableism and Racism
etosaurus's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Violence, and War
Minor: Genocide
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
maybe just the mood I'm in but it never quite clicked for me :( the spiders were cool though
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Genocide, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexism, Terminal illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Cannibalism, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Ableism
Spiders, insects. Passing use of cr*pple/d, single use of the R slur.euphemiajo's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Colonisation, and War
thecheryl's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Just go read it! Right now!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Cursing
Moderate: Gun violence
count_zero's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Genocide
Moderate: Death, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and War
Spiders. Lots of spiders.valjeanval's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This book was a real surprise. The word “epic” gets thrown around a lot, but this is the actual definition of epic. It’s a sweeping, perspective-bending epic that anyone could enjoy except perhaps arachnophobes.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Sexism, Violence, Blood, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism