Scan barcode
pandact's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, and Grief
tigger89's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The book's biggest strength — its varied cast of characters, painting a picture of the future through several distinct narratives — unfortunately also contributes to its biggest weakness. This is due to the way the story is told, with the narratives fragmented and presented non-linearly. While I believe my sense of the whole is complete, or near enough, I'd honestly struggle to tell you, start to finish, what precisely befell each character in the story. There's nothing quite like seeing a character pop up in a scene and having to pause, confused, and think to yourself: "I thought he was dead by now!" I'm not sure that reading it again would help. I think I'd likely have to break out the index cards and start laying the plot out down the hallway to make complete sense of it. Honestly, some kind of dates on the sections would have helped, but that would have ruined the near-future feel of the disaster so I understand why the author left them out.
I also have to mention that this book frequently calls upon Christian themes, ones that go beyond the David and Goliath reference. It's not terribly surprising, given the historical role of spiritual leaders in community organizing, but based on what blurb you read it's easy to get caught off guard. I will say that the book was never preachy, so this is certainly the better kind of Christian-inspired fiction, but if you're someone who avoids such references for whatever reason you might want to give this title a pass.
On a similar note, there's something about the gay couple in this story that gave me pause. Specifically, it's that the only gay couples are among the colonizers. All of the people who'd been left behind on Earth were depicted, as far as I could tell, pursuing exclusively cis-het relationships. I know I'm prone to paranoid reading when Christianity and queerness meet, so I've spent a fair bit of time turning this over in my mind before I sat down to write this, to try to be as fair as possible about a book that, overall, I enjoyed. Ultimately, I don't see any evidence that the author was attempting to make a point by writing it this way. I'm not mad about it. But that doesn't mean that this doesn't have the potential to be disturbing to some readers, so I wanted to mention it.
Last, but not least...do the horses die? Mild spoilers ahead!
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Violence, and Colonisation
Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Cancer, Gun violence, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Minor: Slavery, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic
fenouil's review
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Death, Racism, and Blood
Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Classism
rorikae's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.25
The story weaves between different characters who live on or are visiting Earth. Those with money have left earth for the Colony, leaving behind a world that is plagued by poor air quality, housing inequality, and police violence. Through snippets of these characters' lives paired with occasional articles and recordings, Oneyebuchi demonstrates how venturing into the stars is for those who are wealthy and white while those who have historically been abused by systems continue to be hurt on what remains of Earth.
Oneybuchi paints a future that is keenly connected to our present and feels that way. By focusing on the characters and their lived experiences, he distills systemic horrors down to the people that it directly affects, making those horrors even more apparent. Despite this story being informed by space travel, we very rarely see any of the characters in the colonies. This story is about those that the world has left behind and failed to care for. The characters and their lives are painted in stark but human strokes using Onyebuchi's evocative prose. It feels as if one has been plopped down in this world and is walking around in it, especially as he showcases the small human moments that make up lived experiences.
I believe this is a book that should be read by a book club that can reflect on and dissect all that Onyebuchi is doing. This should definitely be taught in schools as it discusses a lot about our current lives while exploring how these problems could only grow worse in this possible future.
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Colonisation, and Classism
lizzie24601's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
The book is mostly comprised of descriptions of the characters' backstories or everyday life, maybe with some overarching goal going on (ex. Jonathan setting up his house or the kids from Bishop's work crew capturing the horses). The pacing is extremely slow and the jumping around in time and between characters is very confusing.
There is no plot and even very little dialogue. Honestly, the few scenes where there is dialogue feel like scenes in a play, where we're either dropped in in the middle of a conversation about nothing in particular, or one character is giving a long-winded monologue. Maybe this would've been better as a play.
Onyebuchi is definitely a skillful writer and his thesis comes through loud and clear as an important and underrepresented message, but this book will give you a headache well before reaching the end.
Graphic: Racism and Classism
Moderate: Addiction and Chronic illness
Minor: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Police brutality, Dementia, Grief, and Death of parent
brighteyed's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
it is a little slow and was difficult for me to get into the beginning, particularly because i was listening on audiobook. but the POETRY of the words - amazing. i rarely find that in sci-fi, i feel.
everyone please read this!!
Graphic: Death, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, and War
albernikolauras's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is a book to sit and chew on and reread and sit and chew on some more. There are so many tightly packed themes and moments and reveals in this fairly short novel. Onyebuchi's character-building and emphasis on physical constructs of themes are the star of this book. The world-building was a little weaker and there were definitely some holes that can be found in what caused the mass exodus. There's not enough space to describe the themes in detail, but there is so much depth in his main themes - environmental racism, incarceration, gentrification & colonization of space, white "saviors," and the construction and destruction of community.
In short, read this book. Give it time to meld and grow with you. It is a book that might require a lot of research, but it is a work of art. The acknowledgements also provide many excellent resources to read nonfiction about some of the themes this book was based on.
Graphic: Racism, Police brutality, and Grief
Moderate: Gun violence, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation
jo_lzr's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, and Infidelity
Minor: Rape
podanotherjessi's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
For the first half of the book, I loved the themes being explored (gentrification, white flight, racial injustice in a myriad of ways, community), but I wasn't sure whether there was more there for me. It felt like we weren't really getting to know the characters well enough to be attached. The plot was too confusing and disjointed for me to follow. But I've been pulled through Onyebuchi's stories before on themes alone, and while I was wary of that working for a full novel, I was intrigued.
Moving into the second half, Onyebuchi opens the world to us. We start to see how it got to the state it's in. What happened in the near future to cause the mass exodus. And it's HARD to read. He shines a mirror on right here, right now and it's not hard to imagine things following the path he describes. So I got pulled in by this world to see more, to hope just a little about how things could be turned around.
And then suddenly, I was caring about the characters, and I'm not sure how it happened. There's a moment around 80% where I found myself unexpectedly crying over someone. From there, it was like it all just opened up, and I was attached. I cared about each of the characters and wanted to see them happy even when I knew it was likely impossible.
The plot is definitely still the weakest part of this book, but I don't think that was ever the point. It comes together and makes sense by the end, but by the end you don't really care about that any more.
As a side note, I really recommend the audiobook. There's a different reader for each perspective which both makes everything a little bit easier to follow and really immerses you in the story.
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Death and Grief
jennikreads's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, and Classism