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kmartbooks's review against another edition
1.75
"The Goodbye Kids" by Debbie Iancu-Haddad offers a unique blend of science fiction, romance, and intrigue in a futuristic setting. The story revolves around Haley, a plus-size teen who has grown up friendless on a space station, nurturing dreams of becoming an intergalactic pilot. Her only companion is Nano, a lovable robot dog. The narrative takes an unexpected turn with the arrival of Jorden, a young man with a dark past and a dangerous mission. He's on a suicide mission to save Earth for his cult, and he ends up pulling Haley into his perilous scheme unknowingly. As their relationship deepens, they find themselves falling in love despite the lies between them.
Iancu-Haddad creates a vivid and imaginative space station setting, complete with unique technology and social dynamics. The inclusion of Nano, the talking robot dog, adds a delightful and heartwarming aspect to the narrative. However, it's important to note that the story takes a somber turn when Nano meets a tragic end. This event deeply affected the reading experience for some, as the loss of a beloved character can be emotionally challenging. Especially when it's the love interest that is responsible.
Another aspect of the story that may be polarizing is the moral dilemma faced by Jorden, who hails from a cult-like background. His involvement in the mission and the choices he makes may lead readers to have mixed feelings about his character. I certainly did.
Overall, "The Goodbye Kids" offers a fresh take on the science fiction genre, with well-developed characters and a thought-provoking storyline. I wish it was not set up as a romance, honestly.
Iancu-Haddad creates a vivid and imaginative space station setting, complete with unique technology and social dynamics. The inclusion of Nano, the talking robot dog, adds a delightful and heartwarming aspect to the narrative. However, it's important to note that the story takes a somber turn when Nano meets a tragic end. This event deeply affected the reading experience for some, as the loss of a beloved character can be emotionally challenging. Especially when it's the love interest that is responsible.
Another aspect of the story that may be polarizing is the moral dilemma faced by Jorden, who hails from a cult-like background. His involvement in the mission and the choices he makes may lead readers to have mixed feelings about his character. I certainly did.
Overall, "The Goodbye Kids" offers a fresh take on the science fiction genre, with well-developed characters and a thought-provoking storyline. I wish it was not set up as a romance, honestly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Gaslighting
eli02's review
adventurous
mysterious
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
3.0
I won an arc of this via the StoryGraph giveaway! I love SciFi so that was really exciting. However, it took me quite a long time to finish this book because l kept wanting to DNF it.
Plot: The plot was okay, all in all. I did notice some plot holes that really took me out of the book and made the world-building feel not completely thought through (to give some examples, how is it not more suspicious that a young man seems to be the only one in his "family" who appears well fed and to have the excess energy to build muscles? Especially if food is super limited on earth? Why can a girl afford makeup and nailpolish but not food? Why is makeup even still being produced if earth is so low on resources? And, my least favourite of all, how does a device that seems to be a defibrillator save someone from choking and make them conscious again?).
I was also surprised with how weight was treated in this book. The synopsis mentions "plus-sized heroines just living their life with no mention of weight loss", which l took to mean that weight would be a non-issue in this book. However, the female protagonist talks negatively about her own weight and body on multiple occasions. Having the male lead call her "kind of chubby in a cute way" also plays into one of my least favourite tropes of chubby/fat characters as love interests.
The characters were generally not for me, I don't like the naive girl/manipulative boy dynamic. Also, my absolute highlight of this book, the main character's robotic service dog, was killed off, which really made me want to never finish this.
Writing: The sentences are rather short, which is probably great for new readers (especially those that don't usually read in English) but tended to disrupt my reading flow. I also felt that, especially at the beginning, some worldbuilding details could have been woven in more elegantly. Sometimes the book simply told me things that would have had more impact would they have been explored more.
Plot: The plot was okay, all in all. I did notice some plot holes that really took me out of the book and made the world-building feel not completely thought through (to give some examples, how is it not more suspicious that a young man seems to be the only one in his "family" who appears well fed and to have the excess energy to build muscles? Especially if food is super limited on earth? Why can a girl afford makeup and nailpolish but not food? Why is makeup even still being produced if earth is so low on resources? And, my least favourite of all, how does a device that seems to be a defibrillator save someone from choking and make them conscious again?).
I was also surprised with how weight was treated in this book. The synopsis mentions "plus-sized heroines just living their life with no mention of weight loss", which l took to mean that weight would be a non-issue in this book. However, the female protagonist talks negatively about her own weight and body on multiple occasions. Having the male lead call her "kind of chubby in a cute way" also plays into one of my least favourite tropes of chubby/fat characters as love interests.
The characters were generally not for me, I don't like the naive girl/manipulative boy dynamic. Also, my absolute highlight of this book, the main character's robotic service dog,
Writing: The sentences are rather short, which is probably great for new readers (especially those that don't usually read in English) but tended to disrupt my reading flow. I also felt that, especially at the beginning, some worldbuilding details could have been woven in more elegantly. Sometimes the book simply told me things that would have had more impact would they have been explored more.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death
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