lumberelk's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Sexism, and Confinement
Minor: Child death
kowari's review
The cover is beautiful, the blurb sounds exciting. Don't judge a book by its cover I guess.
I have two big problems with this book.
1) The blurb is misleading to the point of being a false description. The two characters Pendt meets already control the station. It is not an inciting incident and doesn't happen until over a third of the way through. The "scheme" they hatch is not "against all odds". In fact there is no conflict at all, and the "scheme" is resolved within a few pages before the mid-point of the novel. The story is about something else entirely. The blurb made it sound like an exciting adventure or a space heist. It is not any of those things and I strongly recommend against buying if you got that impression.
2) The editing quality is atrocious. I don't mind the typos so much. I do mind the perspective errors, where a chapter in one character's perspective suddenly shifts into another character's for one sentence. I do mind that characters know things they couldn't possibly know, like the family relationships of people they've just met. It speaks to the lack of care that went into the edits, which is surprising from Penguin.
Inside the book, after the dedication, a content warning reads: "This book contains a scene of medical violence. Characters also obsess about food and count calories." I honestly think it needs more detail. It's not just a scene of medical violence, it's a constant fear of sexual medical violence, forced pregnancy and child abuse in various forms.
Forced pregnancy and bodily autonomy are the main themes of the story. It's odd that it doesn't get a mention in the blurb or the warning. It was uncomfortable throughout and not at all what I was expecting.
Does it do a good job of what it was trying to achieve?
I don't think so. The fear of forced pregnancy is the main motivation for Pendt to escape her family onto the space station. Within literal minutes of escaping though, she happily agrees to (ever so slight spoiler) I was surprised to say the least.
We're only halfway through now and all the driving conflict has been resolved. The story potters about for a while as the characters talk about who will clean the dishes today (apparently they forgot that they have automatic machines to do that for them - it was a big part of the story earlier), or think about how lovely everything is and how happy everyone is to see them all the time.
The story meanders aimlessly into a romance plot, briefly thinks about some trans issues, something that's meant to be dramatic happens offscreen somewhere, and then I gave up with a quarter of the book left to go.
Conclusion:
This reads like a first draft, almost like the wrong file got sent to print. With a bit of work it could be something good, like a low-stakes, low-conflict, more depressing Becky Chambers novel (assuming the blurb wasn't misleading). Unfortunately it was released before it could ever meet its potential.
I have two big problems with this book.
1) The blurb is misleading to the point of being a false description. The two characters Pendt meets already control the station. It is not an inciting incident and doesn't happen until over a third of the way through. The "scheme" they hatch is not "against all odds". In fact there is no conflict at all, and the "scheme" is resolved within a few pages before the mid-point of the novel. The story is about something else entirely. The blurb made it sound like an exciting adventure or a space heist. It is not any of those things and I strongly recommend against buying if you got that impression.
2) The editing quality is atrocious. I don't mind the typos so much. I do mind the perspective errors, where a chapter in one character's perspective suddenly shifts into another character's for one sentence. I do mind that characters know things they couldn't possibly know, like the family relationships of people they've just met. It speaks to the lack of care that went into the edits, which is surprising from Penguin.
Inside the book, after the dedication, a content warning reads: "This book contains a scene of medical violence. Characters also obsess about food and count calories." I honestly think it needs more detail. It's not just a scene of medical violence, it's a constant fear of sexual medical violence, forced pregnancy and child abuse in various forms.
Forced pregnancy and bodily autonomy are the main themes of the story. It's odd that it doesn't get a mention in the blurb or the warning. It was uncomfortable throughout and not at all what I was expecting.
Does it do a good job of what it was trying to achieve?
I don't think so. The fear of forced pregnancy is the main motivation for Pendt to escape her family onto the space station. Within literal minutes of escaping though, she happily agrees to (ever so slight spoiler)
Spoiler
get married and pregnant with a total stranger with a lot of power over her life. The marriage happens within a week, the pregnancy soon after that.We're only halfway through now and all the driving conflict has been resolved. The story potters about for a while as the characters talk about who will clean the dishes today (apparently they forgot that they have automatic machines to do that for them - it was a big part of the story earlier), or think about how lovely everything is and how happy everyone is to see them all the time.
The story meanders aimlessly into a romance plot, briefly thinks about some trans issues, something that's meant to be dramatic happens offscreen somewhere, and then I gave up with a quarter of the book left to go.
Conclusion:
This reads like a first draft, almost like the wrong file got sent to print. With a bit of work it could be something good, like a low-stakes, low-conflict, more depressing Becky Chambers novel (assuming the blurb wasn't misleading). Unfortunately it was released before it could ever meet its potential.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Rape, Pregnancy, Medical content, Body horror, Child abuse, Sexual violence, and Eating disorder
Moderate: Transphobia and Sexism
booksthatburn's review
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
This is a trans-affirming sci-fi book with a premise revolving around someone who has the ability to (in certain contexts) manipulate genetics. It's lovely to read something that doesn't try to "fix" the trans character, but finds other solutions for the in-universe problems caused by their chromosomal situation. It's similarly understanding and cathartic around issues including but not limited to neglect and food restriction. The tagline is "There's a fine line between survival and cruelty", and the overall arc is of someone who was raised under the claim of survival-driven scarcity, slowly, in a zone of love and abundance, untangling which parts of her upbringing were actually just cruel.
Major pieces of backstory and world-building are conveyed in a series of well-described but pretty dense infodumps, one at the very start and a few more sprinkled throughout the rest of the text. They felt a bit clunky but were sufficiently brief as to keep from being overwhelming. The overall effect works well and I love the main characters.
Major pieces of backstory and world-building are conveyed in a series of well-described but pretty dense infodumps, one at the very start and a few more sprinkled throughout the rest of the text. They felt a bit clunky but were sufficiently brief as to keep from being overwhelming. The overall effect works well and I love the main characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy
Moderate: Sexual content, Grief, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Sexism, Misogyny, Body horror, Medical content, Medical trauma, Trafficking, and Slavery
Minor: Child death and Death
From the book: “This book contains a scene of medical violence. Characters also obsess about food and count calories.”sfbookgirl's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
After reading E. K. Johnston’s Star Wars book Ahsoka, I was really excited to delve into another young adult space story by Johnston. I am not sure if what I was given by NetGalley was a really rough draft, but this story unfortunately read like an unfinished draft. The book is about a young girl named Pendt Harland who lives on her family’s spaceship in which she is despised by her entire family. Pendt, eager to escape her fate of forced insemination, manages to secretly leave her family’s ship and sells herself to a set of young adult male twins to help continue their family line by becoming pregnant.
I was taken aback by the middle-grade writing interwoven with very adult themes. These themes include sexual content, human trafficking, confinement, and uncomfortable medical content. What else bothered me about Aetherbound was the inappropriate use of an eating disorder plotline which I found to be unnecessary and potentially triggering for young adult readers. The other plotlines were unfinished, the writing was poor, and the main character’s choices inadvertently imply that it is ok for women’s bodies to be used at the discretion of a man.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Trafficking, Sexual content, Sexism, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Forced institutionalization, Eating disorder, Confinement, and Child abuse
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