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theshleester's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting concept. The more the story progressed, though, the less believable I found it - and this from someone who is very happy to suspend disbelief when reading!
I was bothered by some of the details. The cut off for 13 year olds seems incredibly precise, but people aren't machines, we develop at slightly different rates. So where are the 14 and 15yos who actually survived? What about the 11 and 12yos whose bodies couldn't recover from the radiation? It's just too neat.
I also want to know what happened with the supercomputer. It saves the day when everyone's losing their minds (proper deus ex machina), it runs the virtual Assembly, and then we never hear about it again. Presumably the US kids inherit it. Why doesn't that bother anybody?
The language felt clunky, which irritated me throughout - not sure how much is the author's voice and how much is the translation.
Last chapter and epilogue felt boring, confusing, unnecessary and anticlimactic. Whatever the point was, I missed it.I actually don't get why the Chinese kids said yes to the territory trade - they seem to be losing a lot and getting nothing out of it. And I feel like I'm lacking in a real conclusion. What happened to these characters?!
It started strong, and I enjoyed the first half - but the second half was increasingly disappointing.
I also want to know what happened with the supercomputer. It saves the day when everyone's losing their minds (proper deus ex machina), it runs the virtual Assembly, and then we never hear about it again. Presumably the US kids inherit it. Why doesn't that bother anybody?
The language felt clunky, which irritated me throughout - not sure how much is the author's voice and how much is the translation.
Last chapter and epilogue felt boring, confusing, unnecessary and anticlimactic. Whatever the point was, I missed it.
It started strong, and I enjoyed the first half - but the second half was increasingly disappointing.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Gun violence, Death of parent, and War
librarybribery's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence and War
iono's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and War
Moderate: Child death, Death, Violence, and Xenophobia
Minor: Suicide
shermansays's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Death of parent, and War
Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Child abuse, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy
olityr's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Death of parent, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
faesissa's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: War
jcath's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.0
Do I regret the 12 and a half hours this book took? Not completely. Would I recommend it to anyone else? Absolutely not. Author somehow managed to both over and under estimate the abilities of children. First half was great, second half was arduous.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Violence, and War
Moderate: Death of parent
larkken's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and War
Moderate: Child death and Gun violence
maurits's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
"Like Ursula K. Le Guin rewriting The Lord of the Flies for the quantum age" is what the back of the book says. On one hand, this is a terrible comparison. Le Guin believed in the good of people and wouldn't have written a book like this. On the other hand, it is a good comparison, because this book is about as bad The Lord of the Flies.
It is completely unrealistic. The story doesn't make any sense and is absolutely unbelievable. It's stretching suspension of disbelief to its very limits and far beyond. It seems Liu meant to write a book about human nature, but really, he failed to even write a book about humans, let alone their nature.
Moreover, compared to his Remembrance of Earth's Past series, the science in this book is plain bad. In the aforementioned series, I felt like the science could actually have a chance of being true. It sounded at least somewhat plausible, despite knowing it is fiction.
The science in this book is just lacking. It's not hard science fiction. Liu just posits a super-smart quantum computer for random reasons. We just have to accept that. We have to simply accept whatever bullshit he comes up with.
Lastly - and this point is for better or for worse - the book is simply anti-American propaganda. Which, again, is a route you can take, but Liu definitely wasn't concerned with writing anything remotely close to real Americans.
It is completely unrealistic. The story doesn't make any sense and is absolutely unbelievable. It's stretching suspension of disbelief to its very limits and far beyond. It seems Liu meant to write a book about human nature, but really, he failed to even write a book about humans, let alone their nature.
Moreover, compared to his Remembrance of Earth's Past series, the science in this book is plain bad. In the aforementioned series, I felt like the science could actually have a chance of being true. It sounded at least somewhat plausible, despite knowing it is fiction.
The science in this book is just lacking. It's not hard science fiction. Liu just posits a super-smart quantum computer for random reasons. We just have to accept that. We have to simply accept whatever bullshit he comes up with.
Lastly - and this point is for better or for worse - the book is simply anti-American propaganda. Which, again, is a route you can take, but Liu definitely wasn't concerned with writing anything remotely close to real Americans.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent and War
Minor: Child death
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