roytoo's review
fast-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
5.0
tiggum's review
I'm half way through chapter five and I have basically no idea what's happening. There's so much made-up fantasy-language and jargon, and so many flashbacks and perspective shifts, that there doesn't seem to be any kind of actual plot or any character one can get invested in. Maybe it comes together later on, but I've got better things to do with my time than find out.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Violence, and Pregnancy
hamja's review
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
matth's review
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.5
Oh my. I didn’t hate the book. I didn’t love it. In mostly puzzled.
Cool world. Many questions. Emotionally cold. Convoluted setup and narrative? On the whole I am not really sure what to feel.
Cool world. Many questions. Emotionally cold. Convoluted setup and narrative? On the whole I am not really sure what to feel.
azrah786's review
3.5
**I was gifted a copy by Rebellion Publishing in exchange for an honest review**
Liquid Crystal Nightingale takes place in a future space colony that orbits a distant star. The story centres on a young woman whose life is surrounded by tragedy and is much more influenced by the machinations of the government and aristocracy that she lives amongst than she thinks.
It's a space opera/murder mystery mashup however, the latter part is less of the "who dunnit?" type and more of a "wtf is going on and why?!¿" type mystery.
I thoroughly enjoyed it although I will admit that I found myself confused at times, particularly towards the beginning with the time lines as the narrative includes a fair few flashbacks. That being said, I was hooked until the end.
The political intrigue is great, the characters are compelling with their convoluted relationships and backstories - I enjoyed Pleo's and Investigator Dumortier's chapters the most. However, it was the meticulously developed world and the writing when it came to describing the settings which captured my interest the most. A particular passage that I loved was how the overall colony is described to look like a blinking eye from space due to the synchronisation of the daily routines of the various settlements.
If Lee ever decided to revisit this world and its characters I'd definitely be down for it!!
Final Rating - 3.5/5 Stars
Liquid Crystal Nightingale takes place in a future space colony that orbits a distant star. The story centres on a young woman whose life is surrounded by tragedy and is much more influenced by the machinations of the government and aristocracy that she lives amongst than she thinks.
It's a space opera/murder mystery mashup however, the latter part is less of the "who dunnit?" type and more of a "wtf is going on and why?!¿" type mystery.
I thoroughly enjoyed it although I will admit that I found myself confused at times, particularly towards the beginning with the time lines as the narrative includes a fair few flashbacks. That being said, I was hooked until the end.
The political intrigue is great, the characters are compelling with their convoluted relationships and backstories - I enjoyed Pleo's and Investigator Dumortier's chapters the most. However, it was the meticulously developed world and the writing when it came to describing the settings which captured my interest the most. A particular passage that I loved was how the overall colony is described to look like a blinking eye from space due to the synchronisation of the daily routines of the various settlements.
If Lee ever decided to revisit this world and its characters I'd definitely be down for it!!
Final Rating - 3.5/5 Stars
pvn's review
4.0
This is quite good. Interesting setting and characters. along with some mystery. The story kept me engaged and is written in a nice style. Recommended for space opera fans.
Thanks very much for the review copy!!
Thanks very much for the review copy!!
nile's review
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- 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
5.0
Difficult, wonderful far-future sf.
graculus's review
3.0
I have a feeling Liquid Crystal Nightingale is going to be one of those books that other people rave about but that leaves me cold - it's not badly written, it just didn't really do anything for me and I ended up skimming the last quarter of it to see if anything actually got resolved (which it didn't, as far as I could see).
It's written from three points of view, the first being that of Pleo, who is the child of the only survivor of a mining accident, who ends up being framed for the murder of her much-wealthier classmate. Our second point of view is that of Marsh and, to be honest, I wasn't 100% sure what he was up to even by the end of the book - he may have been a revolutionary of some kind, I'm not really certain. Our third point of view character is the man tasked with investigating the crime of which Pleo is accused and he has his own issues with the bureaucracy within which he functions and where he remains still an outsider.
All of this is set in a very hierarchical society and the blurb says that this murder/accident, depending on whose perspective you go from, sets off a chain of events that threatens this. The only problem is that (unless I'm missing the end of the book) it doesn't really seem to do that at all - the storyline just stops with what appears to be a terrorist attack on the head of one of these powerful families.
Part of the problem was that I didn't really give a damn about any of these characters and so their survival (or otherwise) failed to move me. If I hadn't been looking to review this book, I'm not completely certain I would have read it through to the end and it just didn't engage me in any meaningful way. Disappointing, considering that the author can apparently string a good sentence together, to see such possibility ending up a bit half-baked.
I received a copy of this book for free from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
It's written from three points of view, the first being that of Pleo, who is the child of the only survivor of a mining accident, who ends up being framed for the murder of her much-wealthier classmate. Our second point of view is that of Marsh and, to be honest, I wasn't 100% sure what he was up to even by the end of the book - he may have been a revolutionary of some kind, I'm not really certain. Our third point of view character is the man tasked with investigating the crime of which Pleo is accused and he has his own issues with the bureaucracy within which he functions and where he remains still an outsider.
All of this is set in a very hierarchical society and the blurb says that this murder/accident, depending on whose perspective you go from, sets off a chain of events that threatens this. The only problem is that (unless I'm missing the end of the book) it doesn't really seem to do that at all - the storyline just stops with what appears to be a terrorist attack on the head of one of these powerful families.
Part of the problem was that I didn't really give a damn about any of these characters and so their survival (or otherwise) failed to move me. If I hadn't been looking to review this book, I'm not completely certain I would have read it through to the end and it just didn't engage me in any meaningful way. Disappointing, considering that the author can apparently string a good sentence together, to see such possibility ending up a bit half-baked.
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