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A review by wetherspoonsgf
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
2.5
Possibly over harsh because I wanted this book to be so much better.
Overly twee, very proud of itself for Thinking About Climate Change without saying almost anything. For a book with a nonbinary main character it seemed not to have worked out how to get around the linguistic challenge of 'they' being unclear in some sentences beyond repeating Dex's name 8 times per page.
I saw this referred to as solarpunk but it lacks any of the punk, even any grit at all. I'm all for character studies but this felt like it wanted to be plot-based but simply forgot plot. Bafflingly paced, in the end. Also as a personal gripe, no narrator should ever say "brainspace," it immediately makes the rest of the book feel like a text post about late-diagnosed adhd.
Again, I wanted this book to be really good, and I like moments of it where Chambers shows rather than tells, but it let me down.
Overly twee, very proud of itself for Thinking About Climate Change without saying almost anything. For a book with a nonbinary main character it seemed not to have worked out how to get around the linguistic challenge of 'they' being unclear in some sentences beyond repeating Dex's name 8 times per page.
I saw this referred to as solarpunk but it lacks any of the punk, even any grit at all. I'm all for character studies but this felt like it wanted to be plot-based but simply forgot plot. Bafflingly paced, in the end. Also as a personal gripe, no narrator should ever say "brainspace," it immediately makes the rest of the book feel like a text post about late-diagnosed adhd.
Again, I wanted this book to be really good, and I like moments of it where Chambers shows rather than tells, but it let me down.