catbooking's review against another edition
2.0
This one feels more emotionally hollow than the first one. The bad guys are rather dumb, and never developed beyond being eeeeviiiil. The horrible events never feel horrible, because the protagonist does not react beyond mentioning how things are horrible. Nor is she stoic, willing to accept horrible things by the strength of her sheer stubbornness. Finally, all other characters are beyond flat and seem to only be there to press buttons and pilot ships that Mars cannot physically reach.
So this will be the last book of the series I read. I was hoping it would get better. Hoping some of the wrinkles would get smoothed out. Unfortunately that didn't happened.
PS: the covers are very pretty and I wish the books were as great as they are.
So this will be the last book of the series I read. I was hoping it would get better. Hoping some of the wrinkles would get smoothed out. Unfortunately that didn't happened.
PS: the covers are very pretty and I wish the books were as great as they are.
joerobson's review against another edition
3.0
Ok, it was quite good. I thought he painted himself into a corner having a character who is basically all-powerful, and he hasn’t really worked out a way to make it balanced yet.
Xi literally pulls planets out of the sky but in the final scene she leaves the station surrounded by imperial ships, because...? And his solution to control Xi in the prison is pretty lame. And any remorse she shows is basically “I felt really fucking bad. Really fucking awful. I felt so guilty. Really fucking guilty. And bad and fucking awful.” And then she kills another city full of people because they are employed by the same galaxy-spanning megacorp that made her the way she is? Although fair enough, who works for a company called Mephisto, seriously.
I hope in the next book Xi has to deal with making really precise telekinetic movements, because that seems like the only way to show her in any trouble whatsoever when she can crush entire fleets and end up with nothing more than a sore throat and a headache. Jeez.
Also less of the cat. Who cares. Flush it out the airlock. Unless the cat ends up secretly being her sister who was extra mutated by the space witch program.
Xi literally pulls planets out of the sky but in the final scene she leaves the station surrounded by imperial ships, because...? And his solution to control Xi in the prison is pretty lame. And any remorse she shows is basically “I felt really fucking bad. Really fucking awful. I felt so guilty. Really fucking guilty. And bad and fucking awful.” And then she kills another city full of people because they are employed by the same galaxy-spanning megacorp that made her the way she is? Although fair enough, who works for a company called Mephisto, seriously.
I hope in the next book Xi has to deal with making really precise telekinetic movements, because that seems like the only way to show her in any trouble whatsoever when she can crush entire fleets and end up with nothing more than a sore throat and a headache. Jeez.
Also less of the cat. Who cares. Flush it out the airlock. Unless the cat ends up secretly being her sister who was extra mutated by the space witch program.
wilsk's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
3.0
artsymusings's review
5.0
'They think just because these people are criminals they can treat them like they're less than human.'
Ugh, this was so good! Even better than the first. I love how Mars complexity lies in the fact that she can easily kill thousands with a single push of her mind no problem, but still get mindfucked in a prison for a friend out of guilt, misses her pet and wants to help people who can't help themselves. I mean, she goes all out and it is glorious. This book is hard to read, though because feeeeels and physical and mental torture.
Also, Mars is either bisexual or pansexual and hell yes.
I'm so glad there's going to be a third book which sounds equally fantastic but also, I need like twenty more.
Favorite quote: 'I'm doing it because fuck you, because fuck every piece of shit that uses their strength, their power, their privilege to harm those weaker than them.'
Ugh, this was so good! Even better than the first. I love how Mars complexity lies in the fact that she can easily kill thousands with a single push of her mind no problem, but still get mindfucked in a prison for a friend out of guilt, misses her pet and wants to help people who can't help themselves. I mean, she goes all out and it is glorious. This book is hard to read, though because feeeeels and physical and mental torture.
Also, Mars is either bisexual or pansexual and hell yes.
I'm so glad there's going to be a third book which sounds equally fantastic but also, I need like twenty more.
Favorite quote: 'I'm doing it because fuck you, because fuck every piece of shit that uses their strength, their power, their privilege to harm those weaker than them.'
kieralesley's review against another edition
4.0
One of the books I was excited for this year and it didn’t disappoint, delivering a raging follow-up novella to Killing Gravity.
A good sequel retains what made the first one cool without covering the same ground as the first and White delivers.
Void Black Shadow mostly focuses on an inescapable prison world from which Mars is attempting to spring Mookie – captured during the climax of Killing Gravity. The setting is darker in this novella and doesn’t pull the punch on the callousness of the prison or other related aspects such as human and animal experimentation. It’s not gratuitous, but might be a bit confronting for some readers.
The fight scenes remain spectacular, including the few where Mars doesn’t use her powers. They’re dynamic and make really good use of the different environments and circumstances the fights take place in. They feel big and smart.
The worldbuilding is bigger this time, fleshing out places and elements of the wider world Mars inhabits and managing to feel sprawling despite only focusing on a few locations and small core group of characters. New ideas and mash-ups of old concepts combine to make something familiar and original at the same time. A particular favourite were the android prison guards able to be jacked into by operators from a remote location, reminiscent of fighter drone pilots.
One of the most interesting parts of Void Black Shadow for me was seeing Mars’ morality start to slip. Where in Killing Gravity she was a justified ball of vengeful rage, in Void Black Shadow not only do we encounter the full scope of the damage she wrought in Killing Gravity, but the body count rises… and rises. Mars stops occasionally to think, but justifies the actions to herself, while those around her start to question whether she’s actually doing the right thing.
There isn’t much to complain about here and the problems I had were small. For example, I found a later scene where Mars meets up with a group of other psychics a little lightweight and the characterisation generally a little light on and not really building on from Killing Gravity, but these are minor and don’t take away from what is, on the whole, a great sequel.
Importantly, Ocho remains one of the best things about this series. I want a weirdo cat thing snuggle-climbing around in my spacesuit and I challenge anyone to argue differently after reading this.
A good sequel retains what made the first one cool without covering the same ground as the first and White delivers.
Void Black Shadow mostly focuses on an inescapable prison world from which Mars is attempting to spring Mookie – captured during the climax of Killing Gravity. The setting is darker in this novella and doesn’t pull the punch on the callousness of the prison or other related aspects such as human and animal experimentation. It’s not gratuitous, but might be a bit confronting for some readers.
The fight scenes remain spectacular, including the few where Mars doesn’t use her powers. They’re dynamic and make really good use of the different environments and circumstances the fights take place in. They feel big and smart.
The worldbuilding is bigger this time, fleshing out places and elements of the wider world Mars inhabits and managing to feel sprawling despite only focusing on a few locations and small core group of characters. New ideas and mash-ups of old concepts combine to make something familiar and original at the same time. A particular favourite were the android prison guards able to be jacked into by operators from a remote location, reminiscent of fighter drone pilots.
One of the most interesting parts of Void Black Shadow for me was seeing Mars’ morality start to slip. Where in Killing Gravity she was a justified ball of vengeful rage, in Void Black Shadow not only do we encounter the full scope of the damage she wrought in Killing Gravity, but the body count rises… and rises. Mars stops occasionally to think, but justifies the actions to herself, while those around her start to question whether she’s actually doing the right thing.
There isn’t much to complain about here and the problems I had were small. For example, I found a later scene where Mars meets up with a group of other psychics a little lightweight and the characterisation generally a little light on and not really building on from Killing Gravity, but these are minor and don’t take away from what is, on the whole, a great sequel.
Importantly, Ocho remains one of the best things about this series. I want a weirdo cat thing snuggle-climbing around in my spacesuit and I challenge anyone to argue differently after reading this.
itnotmackenzie's review against another edition
5.0
ok so that was extremely intense and brutal and sad and amazing wow
robotghostattack's review against another edition
3.0
Lots of action. Like.... So much smooshing of soldiers. The whole story is like angst, smoosh, angst, lots of smoosh, anger, bad choice, smoosh smoosh smoosh. The characters I loved in the first installment were barely involved, and the abilities of the main character have had to be made so huge and all-encompassing that the enemies really never stood a chance. I'm not sure where the story can go from here, the stakes and action were so over the top that it is hard to imagine how they could be made better.
That said, I really like the main character. I enjoyed my afternoon with this story, and I'm sure I'll read the next one.
That said, I really like the main character. I enjoyed my afternoon with this story, and I'm sure I'll read the next one.
eol's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
leticiatoraci's review against another edition
4.0
This was very entertaining, a bit full of battles and short on side character appearance but still a page turner. I'm still on this series bandwagon.