The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
mzdeb's review against another edition
2.0
What you’ve already read here: An unremarkable man named Cooper wakes up in the City Unspoken, the place where reincarnated beings come to finally die. Only its residents aren’t meeting their True Death. Instead they’re clogging the city’s towers, streets and alleyways, adding their numbers to the imprisoned bloodthirsty nobility, and mischievous gods trapped in human flesh, both parties already driven somewhat mad eons ago by their immortality.
But someone sees Cooper as a shaman--despite arriving after one death, as his intact navel suggests--and as someone who could ultimately save this metaverse from going completely mad and destroying itself.
I found the plot intriguing, but agree with some reviewers (here? Or Amazon?) that it appeared the author bit off more than he could chew. The world-building is meticulous, then as I tried to get through the rest of the book I found it downright exhausting. Describing Cooper's endless wanderings through the City Unspoken--thereby continuously world-building--does not a plot progression make. And there are so many characters with their subplots that I didn’t connect with any of them--not even with Cooper, who’s the protagonist, for crying out loud. More than halfway through the book I still couldn’t tell if or how they were all going to connect with each other. All the while the almost synesthetic details started wearing me down. When I finally found the crucial identities and connections of some characters, I no longer cared. I’m sure there are sci fi fans who love such dense wordplay, but it wasn’t for me.
But someone sees Cooper as a shaman--despite arriving after one death, as his intact navel suggests--and as someone who could ultimately save this metaverse from going completely mad and destroying itself.
I found the plot intriguing, but agree with some reviewers (here? Or Amazon?) that it appeared the author bit off more than he could chew. The world-building is meticulous, then as I tried to get through the rest of the book I found it downright exhausting. Describing Cooper's endless wanderings through the City Unspoken--thereby continuously world-building--does not a plot progression make. And there are so many characters with their subplots that I didn’t connect with any of them--not even with Cooper, who’s the protagonist, for crying out loud. More than halfway through the book I still couldn’t tell if or how they were all going to connect with each other. All the while the almost synesthetic details started wearing me down. When I finally found the crucial identities and connections of some characters, I no longer cared. I’m sure there are sci fi fans who love such dense wordplay, but it wasn’t for me.
tmikerx's review against another edition
4.0
I'd really give this more like a 3.5, but I'll round up because of how novel it was.
I really dislike Cooper. He's like the Bella of this world - absolutely flat with very little personality to speak of. I have no idea who he is or what's driving him to keep moving forward. Sesstri and Asher on the other hand were very fluid, 3-dimensional characters who evolved throughout the story, with motives and extensive backstory. Even Nixon, a relatively minor character, had more personality than Cooper. I'm just not sure what the author was going for in making the main character so boring.
The world(s) and the setting were really fascinating. I just want to learn more about the universe that Edison has created.
I will definitely be keeping an eye out for future works from Edison.
I really dislike Cooper. He's like the Bella of this world - absolutely flat with very little personality to speak of. I have no idea who he is or what's driving him to keep moving forward. Sesstri and Asher on the other hand were very fluid, 3-dimensional characters who evolved throughout the story, with motives and extensive backstory. Even Nixon, a relatively minor character, had more personality than Cooper. I'm just not sure what the author was going for in making the main character so boring.
The world(s) and the setting were really fascinating. I just want to learn more about the universe that Edison has created.
I will definitely be keeping an eye out for future works from Edison.
_dkerr's review against another edition
2.0
Wooo, friends, this one hurt. And it hurt because, good Lord, this is a book I should have loved.
Queer main character, combined with an original idea, intricate world-building, and a plethora of characters with cool backstories, and a shit ton of historical/mythological references, all in a sci-fi/fantasy setting: sign me the fuck up.
But unfortunately, The Waking Engine fell short in every way possible.
The story is extremely atmospheric, which is hella weird for a sci-fi/fantasy. Usually there is an importance placed upon setting as it is usually a completely new world, but in TWE there are pages--literal pages--in the middle of scenes dedicated to describing every aspect of the City Unspoken. I would forget what was happening in the scene that's how long these descriptions lasted. And yeah, it sounded cool as hell but I couldn't care about how cool the setting was when I could not keep track of what was happening.
Speaking of: what a disappointing plot. Just flat disappointing. It was building up to be potentially cool and then it fell back into a dues ex machina fix to the problem so the story could wrap up in under 400 pages.
The characters had such potential but instead were paper doll cut-outs of each other. Awesome back stories and usually unused archetypes but when it came to fleshing them out Edison just didn't. They were all *super smart* and *super sarcastic* and *not here for your idiocy* even though NO ONE KNEW WHAT WAS HAPPENING. Legit. The whole book is a series of scenes of the characters going: you're a moron because you don't know what's happening. Wait, what's happening?
Cooper had such potential as a main character--a chubby gay guy from New York who should not be anyone's hero. But instead of having a personality he's just a vessel to drive us through the City Unspoken while Sesstri condescends to chase after him. Also, all of the female characters were the same (beautiful beyond compare, hella smart, and bitchy). ALL OF THE FEMALE CHARACTERS except for NiNi and NoNo (easily the best characters in the book because they were different). I am all for smart, take no shit female characters, but when all of them are the exact same--even their speech patterns--it becomes difficult to tell them apart.
Also, everyone is borderline crazy because of the svarning. Which is fine. I would have loved for everyone to jump off the deep end at the midpoint of the book. The problem is that everyone is nuts from page one so there is no gauge for us to judge the strength of the svarning.
Edison is a talented writer. He can create beautiful imagery and some very witty dialogue. BUT he can also write nonsense sentences. Actual nonsense sentences that no matter how many times I re-read them, made no sense. I'm always here for some lyrical metaphors but holy shit, dude.
One of the tallest hurdles of this book though is the way Edison names everything. In an attempt to make the City Unspoken feel like a city like no other and from all time periods and the whole metaverse, he mashed everything together. EVERYTHING. And then he just made shit up. There is too much to learn and then keep track of, to keep it all straight and to care about it. The pacing is break-neck from the jump and the breathing beats are tucked so tightly together that you then get a lagging middle and then a nonsensical sprint for the last 150 pages.
I think Edison has a lot of really great ideas and is a really talented writer, he just needs an editor that will sit down and give him tough love.
Skip this one unless you have an overabundance of attention to pay to a world where not much makes sense.
Queer main character, combined with an original idea, intricate world-building, and a plethora of characters with cool backstories, and a shit ton of historical/mythological references, all in a sci-fi/fantasy setting: sign me the fuck up.
But unfortunately, The Waking Engine fell short in every way possible.
The story is extremely atmospheric, which is hella weird for a sci-fi/fantasy. Usually there is an importance placed upon setting as it is usually a completely new world, but in TWE there are pages--literal pages--in the middle of scenes dedicated to describing every aspect of the City Unspoken. I would forget what was happening in the scene that's how long these descriptions lasted. And yeah, it sounded cool as hell but I couldn't care about how cool the setting was when I could not keep track of what was happening.
Speaking of: what a disappointing plot. Just flat disappointing. It was building up to be potentially cool and then it fell back into a dues ex machina fix to the problem so the story could wrap up in under 400 pages.
The characters had such potential but instead were paper doll cut-outs of each other. Awesome back stories and usually unused archetypes but when it came to fleshing them out Edison just didn't. They were all *super smart* and *super sarcastic* and *not here for your idiocy* even though NO ONE KNEW WHAT WAS HAPPENING. Legit. The whole book is a series of scenes of the characters going: you're a moron because you don't know what's happening. Wait, what's happening?
Cooper had such potential as a main character--a chubby gay guy from New York who should not be anyone's hero. But instead of having a personality he's just a vessel to drive us through the City Unspoken while Sesstri condescends to chase after him. Also, all of the female characters were the same (beautiful beyond compare, hella smart, and bitchy). ALL OF THE FEMALE CHARACTERS except for NiNi and NoNo (easily the best characters in the book because they were different). I am all for smart, take no shit female characters, but when all of them are the exact same--even their speech patterns--it becomes difficult to tell them apart.
Also, everyone is borderline crazy because of the svarning. Which is fine. I would have loved for everyone to jump off the deep end at the midpoint of the book. The problem is that everyone is nuts from page one so there is no gauge for us to judge the strength of the svarning.
Edison is a talented writer. He can create beautiful imagery and some very witty dialogue. BUT he can also write nonsense sentences. Actual nonsense sentences that no matter how many times I re-read them, made no sense. I'm always here for some lyrical metaphors but holy shit, dude.
One of the tallest hurdles of this book though is the way Edison names everything. In an attempt to make the City Unspoken feel like a city like no other and from all time periods and the whole metaverse, he mashed everything together. EVERYTHING. And then he just made shit up. There is too much to learn and then keep track of, to keep it all straight and to care about it. The pacing is break-neck from the jump and the breathing beats are tucked so tightly together that you then get a lagging middle and then a nonsensical sprint for the last 150 pages.
I think Edison has a lot of really great ideas and is a really talented writer, he just needs an editor that will sit down and give him tough love.
Skip this one unless you have an overabundance of attention to pay to a world where not much makes sense.
books17's review against another edition
3.0
I couldn't get into this. The world was neat and the characters were interesting, but there was just something about it that made it feel like I was slogging through wallpaper paste to get through it.
It should be said that I read this as a pre-release ebook, and I cannot stand ebooks. I loathe them with a vengeance, so that was very possibly what my problem was, the format rather than the content.
Your mileage may very, but quite a bit of the novel also felt like it was being 'different' for the sake of being different, with some very cool quirky word usage and descriptions that went a little far sometimes.
Beautiful cover art, though.
It should be said that I read this as a pre-release ebook, and I cannot stand ebooks. I loathe them with a vengeance, so that was very possibly what my problem was, the format rather than the content.
Your mileage may very, but quite a bit of the novel also felt like it was being 'different' for the sake of being different, with some very cool quirky word usage and descriptions that went a little far sometimes.
Beautiful cover art, though.
_lunajai_21's review against another edition
4.0
Wow. One of my favorite books this year. Easily. I was a bit sluggish starting it, but it wasn't the writings fault. It's always weird stepping into a new world. What made it easier in this book is that one of the main characters is from Earth (sky! i like this game) and is thrown into this weird place just like you. You both learn about it as you go. Writers go into the outer reaches of space and find that little dark corner and shine the light into it to imagine what could be there. Sometimes they borrow from predecessors who came before them, but it's the really clever ones who do it so well you can't always tell where they borrowed from for ideas. This is what David Edison does and does it really well. I will definitely be looking for more of his stuff in the future or on my next world/life whichever comes first.
argent_'s review against another edition
2.0
I should preface this (bad) review with a disclaimer that I may have been the wrong audience for this book. If that was the case, however, I don't know what the right audience would be.
I wish I could say nice things about this book, but the only thing I found appealing was the idea, the originality of it. Pretty much everything else was a chore to read - the setting was confusing, the plot was muddy and/or diluted, the characters felt fake, the foreshadowing was either missing or too obscure, the magic felt inconsistent. The book itself has too many viewpoint characters for its 400 pages - maybe it would've worked for me if it had been 2,000. There were some good scenes, including the climax, but overall I would not recommend this book.
I wish I could say nice things about this book, but the only thing I found appealing was the idea, the originality of it. Pretty much everything else was a chore to read - the setting was confusing, the plot was muddy and/or diluted, the characters felt fake, the foreshadowing was either missing or too obscure, the magic felt inconsistent. The book itself has too many viewpoint characters for its 400 pages - maybe it would've worked for me if it had been 2,000. There were some good scenes, including the climax, but overall I would not recommend this book.
bookswithjk's review against another edition
Brilliant idea. World building was great and you could feel the huge scope of it. However, the writing was just too dense for me to get through.Â
amyextradot's review against another edition
3.0
This is one of the most fucked up books I've ever read.
Seriously.
Edison is a fucking MASTER of the written word. He crafts sentences that you want to roll around in...while you're naked.
Check this out...
"As the trio staggered out of the permanent night that shrouded the skyscrapers into the natural night that had fallen over the City Unspoken, a giant orange moon appeared to greet them. No, not a moon--a planet, a great gas giant that reminded Cooper of Jupiter, if Jupiter's troposphere had cloud layers of Dreamsicles and cream soda. Can-colored storms painted bands of turbulence across the face of the transient planet, latitudes of tempestuous tangerine, cherry, blood orange, coffee, butter, and chocolate; in its unlikely vastness the gas giant filled a third of the sky..."
See what I mean?
The concept of the book is a good one--when people "die" they really just end up somewhere else. Same person, maybe older, maybe younger, but they live countless lives until they end up on the City Unspoken, where "True Death" awaits.
Enter Cooper. He has a belly button, yo. (You'll see why this is important if you read the book.) Anyway, the City is in trouble--there's lich lords, murderous nobility, a bat-shit crazy fae Queen that is more machine than not, and most importantly, the dead can't die.
You have a bajillion characters and a bajillion different story lines and just when you're thinking WHAT THE HELL AM I READING? it all comes together--sort of.
But it doesn't.
Edison ends it in a somewhat cliffhangerish fashion, but not so much that if he never intended on writing a sequel, the book stands alone.
So, definitely read it for the word porn, but don't expect a tidy story.
Seriously.
Edison is a fucking MASTER of the written word. He crafts sentences that you want to roll around in...while you're naked.
Check this out...
"As the trio staggered out of the permanent night that shrouded the skyscrapers into the natural night that had fallen over the City Unspoken, a giant orange moon appeared to greet them. No, not a moon--a planet, a great gas giant that reminded Cooper of Jupiter, if Jupiter's troposphere had cloud layers of Dreamsicles and cream soda. Can-colored storms painted bands of turbulence across the face of the transient planet, latitudes of tempestuous tangerine, cherry, blood orange, coffee, butter, and chocolate; in its unlikely vastness the gas giant filled a third of the sky..."
See what I mean?
The concept of the book is a good one--when people "die" they really just end up somewhere else. Same person, maybe older, maybe younger, but they live countless lives until they end up on the City Unspoken, where "True Death" awaits.
Enter Cooper. He has a belly button, yo. (You'll see why this is important if you read the book.) Anyway, the City is in trouble--there's lich lords, murderous nobility, a bat-shit crazy fae Queen that is more machine than not, and most importantly, the dead can't die.
You have a bajillion characters and a bajillion different story lines and just when you're thinking WHAT THE HELL AM I READING? it all comes together--sort of.
But it doesn't.
Edison ends it in a somewhat cliffhangerish fashion, but not so much that if he never intended on writing a sequel, the book stands alone.
So, definitely read it for the word porn, but don't expect a tidy story.
samantha_randolph's review against another edition
2.0
"Cooper wakes up somewhere that isn't Earth, a place that holds the dead. In this mysterious city, he learns that people don't truly die, or at least not for a very long time, but rather keep waking up in different worlds over and over. Navigating this new place isn't easy, especially when it seems like everyone wants something. As chaos ensues among the 'living', Cooper has to figure out what his new life exactly is." Full review at Fresh Fiction: http://freshfiction.com/review.php?id=44742