snorn's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
emilycarney's review against another edition
2.25
This book broke my almost year long streak of reading everyday. The premise felt promising when I picked it up and it wasn’t a bad book. But it just wasn’t worth pushing through being knackered after work to read another few pages of on a daily basis. So it took me a fortnight. Kinda glad I can move on.
zerodhite's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
2.75
heatherp23's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
achavez's review
adventurous
dark
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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
4.0
norachin's review against another edition
3.0
probably closer to 3.5 stars. this is a very unique dystopia and i thought the world was really well fleshed out and exciting. something about it was hard to get into, though. i can put my finger on it exactly, but it took a while for me to get invested, and even then i wasn’t much. maybe like 60% invested. but it’s hard to give this a bad rating because it really was exactly the kind of thing i’m into and i DO think the story was good! i dunno!
enrichbitch's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
mdvlspencer's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
I dont…know how to review this. There was so much going on and I’m not sure half of it was necessary, and I didn’t like some of it. But…the line about “We should not exist. We should not be a family. But here we are. In spite of everything they tried to do to us.” was so beautiful but it was just lost in the sea of everything the book was trying to do and be and say. I don’t know.
jacieandbooks's review against another edition
1.0
DNF @25%.. I tried so hard to get into this. Orca whale are my favorite animal and the whole concept sounded so interesting. Hence 1 star because there was so much potential that when I decided I couldn’t go on it was devastating. By the way, by 25% all I know is a woman with an orca came to town and an AIDS type virus is an epidemic, that’s it.
literatehedgehog's review
3.0
Delectably intricate world-building in a future dystopia, told through alternating perspectives.
It's a slow burn beginning, eventually introducing multiple characters that a slower paced read might make it harder to follow each thread. Some characters and conflicts I enjoyed or appreciated more than others.
Likes
*intricate world-building in a sort of apocalyptic future. You've got climate change, political upheaval, artificial intelligence software running a city-state, totally new and scarily believable potential future. Especially eerie and interesting was the new disease "the breaks," which breaks down identities and merges memories of previous carriers.
*Alternating perspective chapters built suspense without cliff-hangers. Characters were connected slowly then (see dislikes) rapidly
*Occasional chapters/broadcasts of City Without a Map - although (see dislikes)
*Diverse cast - after countries break down, of course some social constructs break down and all kinds of people live together. A little odd that the most frequent description was how light or shiny "brown" people were? Also, an openly gay character and a non-binary character were in the main cast of protagonists, although (see dislikes)
Dislikes
*Some connections between characters felt forced or too pat. Those last reveals were a tad much for me.
*The non-binary character had a few necessary moments of asserting their preferred pronouns (they/their), but then there were a few unnecessary moments of people being jerks or overly fascinated by it. You are not telling me that 1) in the future people aren't more aware of the gender spectrum and 2) you want a cookie for including a non-binary character?
*Of courseeeeee I figured out who the Author of the City Without A Map and who some of these characters were and their importance to each other. Maybe it's because I read this in two days but it could have been more subtle. Or more convoluted.
In Sum
Imaginative, intricate, but lacking in some subtleties. An author to watch.
It's a slow burn beginning, eventually introducing multiple characters that a slower paced read might make it harder to follow each thread. Some characters and conflicts I enjoyed or appreciated more than others.
Likes
*intricate world-building in a sort of apocalyptic future. You've got climate change, political upheaval, artificial intelligence software running a city-state, totally new and scarily believable potential future. Especially eerie and interesting was the new disease "the breaks," which breaks down identities and merges memories of previous carriers.
*Alternating perspective chapters built suspense without cliff-hangers. Characters were connected slowly then (see dislikes) rapidly
*Occasional chapters/broadcasts of City Without a Map - although (see dislikes)
*Diverse cast - after countries break down, of course some social constructs break down and all kinds of people live together. A little odd that the most frequent description was how light or shiny "brown" people were? Also, an openly gay character and a non-binary character were in the main cast of protagonists, although (see dislikes)
Dislikes
*Some connections between characters felt forced or too pat. Those last reveals were a tad much for me.
Spoiler
Often family is not people you are blood related to, and the people you are blood related to aren't necessarily the ones you feel immediately bonded to.*The non-binary character had a few necessary moments of asserting their preferred pronouns (they/their), but then there were a few unnecessary moments of people being jerks or overly fascinated by it. You are not telling me that 1) in the future people aren't more aware of the gender spectrum and 2) you want a cookie for including a non-binary character?
*Of courseeeeee I figured out who the Author of the City Without A Map and who some of these characters were and their importance to each other. Maybe it's because I read this in two days but it could have been more subtle. Or more convoluted.
Spoiler
Oh look they're all related! Snooze.In Sum
Imaginative, intricate, but lacking in some subtleties. An author to watch.