Reviews

If this book had ended halfway through I would have given it 5 stars! The worldbuilding is exquisite and I wanted a deep dive into Qaanaaq and its consequences. And Miller seemed to be building to that and doing it in ways that enthralled me. But then it all suddenly took a left turn into a contrived fantastical family drama that felt shoehorned into the science fiction techno-capitalist allegory it had been doing so well at. The book tried to do too much and ended up failing on almost all fronts. The characters were poorly developed, the connections between them tenuous, the plot points about nanobonding were lazy, and the best parts of the book got laid to waste for reasons I cannot understand. And it is absolutely chock full of ableism and potentially statutory rape.

aaafton's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense 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

3.5

ashmeanything's review against another edition

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3.0

I'm sure this book hits some people in a special way, but it was just 'okay' to me. It wasn't as cohesive as I prefer stories to be... The number of minor and/or throwaway bits distracted from the overall plot, which was spread out so far that I struggled to find its point. The world of Qanaag is clearly quite complex, yet the imagery fell flat and did not explore much of the details beyond short, scattered mentions. It also ended in a weird place, and it seems more unfinished than open-ended. Cool concept but non-ideal execution, if you ask me.

Used for 2022 r/Fantasy Bingo (urban fantasy); also fits mental health and family matters (hard mode).

blankpagealex's review against another edition

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3.0

I am back and forth between 2 and 3 stars on this one (wish it would let me do 2 1/2).

I appreciated Miller's world-building and thought there were some interesting ideas about Qaanaaq and what society after the downfall of America would look like amid climate collapse.

However, the characters were a little undercooked for me. Even though they come from different backgrounds and are vastly different ages, they all speak mostly the same. Cover the chapter title and you probably wouldn't instantly know whose POV each chapter is from based on style alone.

Also, the climactic rescue did not have the stakes that it probably needed.