Reviews with content warning for Violence - The First Sister

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The First Sister by Linden A. Lewis

45 reviews

jeniwarren's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

The First Sister

By Linden A. Lewis

It’s weird but in a good way. The book is sci do- fantasy - romance - political thriller. All these genres wrapped into one.

I finished this book I just a few days. It’s easy to read. It’s enjoyable. Again, not the best thing I ever read but enjoyable none the less.

I will continue on in the series without a doubt. The world building was pretty darn good. The characters were believable. The romance- not so much. (zero spice).

4 out of 5 stars ⭐️ on Goodreads

4 out of 5 stars ⭐️ on Storygraph

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sombies's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

the other two characters are Fine but don't bother if you're actually interested in the title character. Her side of the story is the weakest and least developed out of the three POV characters.
Honestly she seems stapled in so the author could compare this book to A Handmaid's Tale in the pitch.
I was excited to read a book that was willing to confront the realities of sexual abuse but there's weirdly hardly any mention of it at all. It's almost as if the book itself is too afraid to talk about it and grapple with it.

It makes the Saito Ren twist at the end feel even more out of place tonally. Like I get that they're trying to say something about militarism and bodily autonomy but it's kind of jarring to have the book shy around ANY kind of physical intimacy before having a character pretty graphically detransition against their will. Honestly I think the twist could've been Better if First Sister was better developed to be a parallel to Hiro/Ren

I expected a lot from this book and it barely delivered any at all. There are some interesting themes and ideas but they aren't properly developed

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

The short version is that I loved this book and found it to be one of the more satisfying sci-fi books I've read in a while. Fantasy is my preferred genre, and I like my sci-fi squishy, conversation- or thought-driven, and not worried overly much about making sure I know how the FTL functions. This ticked all those boxes in addition to being a thoughtful exploration of various structures of power and how they are used to justify and perpetuate exploitation in the name of some other good.

THE FIRST SISTER is relationship-driven in the sense that their decisions have implications for other people and they're very aware of this as they proceed. Lito, in particular, has been ordered to hunt down his former partner. While he does want to find Hiro, he hasn't totally made up his mind about what he will do when that confrontation comes. First Sister has been ordered to spy on Captain Ren, also finding herself drawn to her. She's both terrified and intrigued by the captain's condition that restores some parity between them, but also places First Sister in even more danger.

I love the way the world is built here. There's a history of colonization and and an ongoing conflict, with main characters from different sides of the war. This means there's several places where he get to know what each side's propaganda is about the basic events, which shows what they actually do, what they say about themselves, and what their enemies think of them. I understand why this book gets compared to THE HANDMAID'S TALE, and while I do think some of that comparison is appropriate, it also made me nervous before I started reading, and gave me a distorted anticipation of how traumatic this book might be. While it does deal with systematic sexual exploitation (mostly of women but implicitly some men as well), it focuses much more on the systems and structures that are controlling and perpetuating this exploitation and lack of agency -- as well as the way that the sister within this exploitative system are encouraged to work against each other in order to support the group as a whole and eke out some measure of comfort and privilege at the expense of those around them. There are many moments when First Sister is terrified of what might happen to her, but much of my trepidation was soothed when it became clear that I was not going to have to read a graphic assault scene just to have the book hammer home how frightening a loss of bodily autonomy can be. Instead, THE FIRST SISTER takes a multifaceted approach to exploring different kinds of exploitation and loss of autonomy, from classism and financial precarity making people vulnerable to medical experimentation, loss of individual freedom and mental autonomy in military settings, to commodification of emotional labor and sexual exploitation in the Sisterhood.

I like the soft sci-fi approach; things work because they work, they have particular ways that they function, but the story never grinds to a halt to make sure I understand exactly how a mercurial blade can do what it does. The things that it does take the time to specifically explain are much squishier things, like the various ways that people synced by an implant can or can't access each other's minds. Even those come up in the moment as they're needed, when a character is trying to do something and it either succeed or fails.

There's a pair of revelations towards the end which completely reframed my understanding of some dynamics which had been been in play for most of the book. The reveal is a very cool moment and I absolutely do not want to spoil it, but one of them sits in that sweet spot of being a twist in a deeply personal sense related to one of the main characters without quite changing what the rest of the story means. It's followed up with a different discovery in the same incident, in a delightful moment of revelation and confusion as three seemingly disparate plot threads cohere and the main characters actually meet.

I like the trio audiobook narrators, in particular I appreciate Emily Woo Zeller's performance, as always. She's narrated several other audiobooks that I've enjoyed and this was no exception.

As the first book in a trilogy, THE FIRST SISTER resolves several major plot points in a way that gets the three main characters to each have a new status quo and an idea of their plan for what's next. Because of the way the story is structured, it makes sense that all three of them would have new situations and goals as the result of what transpired, especially with the upheaval towards the end of the book. I'm excited for the rest of the trilogy, especially for how the structure of the Sisterhood is affected by what transpires next.

*A quick note that this follows a Western anglophone trend of naming the only significant Japanese character “Hiro”. No one instance is automatically a problem, but over time it starts to seem like the main Japanese name fiction authors reach for. Part of what bothers me particularly in this instance is that the name “Hiro” is a traditionally male name in Japanese, and while nonbinary people are not limited to ambiguously-gendered names, I get the sense that this name was chosen for the “Hiro”/“Hero” pun (which is made explicitly at one point.

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catsy2022's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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accidentallyinspace's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Really solid speculative fiction story that really surprised me with a lot of intelligent character decisions and subverted tropes. The main twist of the story is decently easy to spot a mile off, but that doesn't matter; the rest of the world building and intrigue is more than enough to keep everything interesting. I love the idea that despite being 100 years technologically advanced and "run by scientists", the icarii faction still has serious and glaring issues. I feel like it would have been easy to throw to "scientists are automatically smart and perfect at running things" and that didn't happen here. I will be picking up the next book for sure.

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ericadawson's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Actual review is 3.9 stars. The day I'll be able to use any increment I want is the day I'll rejoice.

This review contains spoilers--and my opinion is overall impacted by the fact that I wasn't able to finish this in a timely fashion.

I enjoyed The First Sister, although the triple POV felt off-balance to me as I much preferred First Sister's perspective over Lito's and Hiro's, but we inevitably got more of Lito and Hiro's development than First Sister's.

The plot is enjoyable, and there are many moving parts without those parts colliding and making the reading experience confusing or unclear. I enjoyed the worldbuilding because it didn't feel too large like in some other scifis, but it wasn't contained to just Earth and the Moon like some others. The history was rich without being overwhelming, and the author did a good job of staying focused on the parts of the lore that were actually relevant (although I did forget sometimes that this was a war over resources, first and foremost). I felt Lito's transition to treason was a bit speedy, but both Hiro's and First Sister's plot twists were excellent.

The voice was strong, the pacing good, and the internal and external conflicts felt real. A very enjoyable book.

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rtaire's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.0

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skrulls's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful 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? Yes

3.0

to me the end felt a bit rushed and not really foreshadowed, so some details really came out of nowhere - it felt a bit "tell" instead of "show"

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karina_dreamsinwords's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

What an unexpected gem!! This was subtle scifi, but superbly executed. The political intrigue, lgbt rep, prothesis rep, and the inner machinations of a rebellion?? D A M N. This book brought it all!
I cannot wait to dive into the sequel!

I recommend this to fans of The Handmaid’s Tale & Leviathan Wakes/ The Expanse, but want something more bite sized. You won't regret it!

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molls's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

Content Warnings

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