A review by totpop
Genesis by Brendan Reichs
2.0
Genesis, genesis, genesis. Where do I even start? I tried SO hard to like this book but gosh... theres a lot to unpack here.
To start with, the writing style is weird. I was used to it from the first book but... the choppiness did take a while to get used to. Also, throughout the entire book theres a lot of monologuing and conversations that seem to repeat the same stuff over and over again. I feel like this book could easily be 50k words shorter if all that was cut.
Anyway, let me talk about the good point. It was a page-turner, so much so that I read this 150,000 word thing in one day. It was definitely interesting; I genuinely wanted to know what was going on, like who exactly was the Guardian/Blacksuit? What was even up with that silo? Why this group of kids in particular? What was the point in the betas? How had Noah and Min been resetting back when Blacksuit killed them in the real world?
All of those questions were answered but... albeit in a very unsatisfactory way. This group of kids in particular because the Guardian is Min's father, of course. They had been resetting in the real world because... cloning? And that's why they needed the betas, apparently. Please give me a break, I'm sick of sci-fi "clones" growing in weird tubes in labs. As for the silo... it was just a convenient little place for all the secrets of the universe to be conveniently stashed away so the main characters could just read a book and pretty much find all the above answers in one go.
Okay now for something - or rather someone - I have a huge problem with. Noah. NOAH. UGH. Like the book itself, I tried SO hard to like Noah (and tbh in Nemesis, I actually did). But man was so inconsistent in every way it was hard to take him seriously. It was like, when he found out the stuff about his mom or whatever suddenly he literally started "killing" everyone including his girlfriend? Like okay. And since it switches POVs between the two of them, there's all this "I miss her" and "I know he didnt mean it" going on for the next like, half the book and its SO INFURIATING. Like, Min, girl, WAKE UP, man literally shot you in the back and all you can do is think about how hot he is? Okay. So after all that, Noah becomes like, this mass murderer. And sure, this is all a simulation but he literally torched down an entire house of people and one of them ACTUALLY died (aka "eliminated") for real not just in the simulation* and man's not even shook, he goes and kills more people in fact. Okay, it didn't make sense in the first place but then suddenly he sees Min and decides he wants her back so he stops being a mass murderer, I guess? LIKE MAKE UP YOUR MIND, DUDE! You just shot her half a book ago, and now you're on your knees crying and beging her to forgive you? And the worst part? She actually does.
(*but think again! Because - surprise surprise - the ending is a huge cop out and they all survive! Even the ones who allegedly died for real. More on that later.)
Sarah. Let's talk about Sarah. She was interesting for sure. I actually... liked her? Honestly she was the only person in this entire simulation with brain cells. Good for her. And she has a girlfriend too? Good for her. Gay rights innit. I don't understand how she could so easily hack the mainframe though if Min was in there for weeks and couldn't figure it out.
Min was one of the few characters I could stand. Aside from how she was a mess when it came to Noah, she was fairly likeable and relatable. Tack was... okay. I know a lot of people who read this loved Tack but to me he really gave the vibes of the dude who cant deal with the fact that his crush likes someone else. Like his entire personality was loving Min and hating Noah. Also, he temporarily becomes a mass murderer too, because, why not? I cringed SO hard at the scene when he shot himself like "you know I always loved you, right?". Was that supposed to be sad? Maybe it would have been, IF HE DIDNT COME BACK TO LIFE. AGAIN.
So on this topic... the cop out ending. The Guardian stated SO MANY times that the program can only handle 20 survivers. Considering he'd been working on it for his entire life... you'd think he knows what he's on about. The whole 20 survivors thing is the entire reason WHY these kids have been at each others' throats in this simulation for millions of Earth-years. But... Min just... decides to bring everyone back? Because she's like "please dad" and he's like "ok sure" and then Sarah can just paste their names back in or something?? AND IT ACTUALLY WORKS? Ahhhhhhhhh what a silly ending.
So... yeah. I got the answers I so badly wanted after reading Nemesis but... at what cost? Eh. I probably won't be reading Chrysalis. Spoiler alert: I skimmed it already, and Noah dies - but guess what? He comes back to life again! Love to see it.
Oh, I guess I'll end this on a positive note. Something else I did enjoy about Genesis was the representation. Like I mentioned, Sarah has a girlfriend, and there was another gay couple, and plenty of people of colour. There was even a Muslim guy too, which was nice to see. These sorts of books usually only have white straight characters and any minorities are just... token. But that definitely wasn't the case for Project Nemesis, so, good job there, Reichs.
To start with, the writing style is weird. I was used to it from the first book but... the choppiness did take a while to get used to. Also, throughout the entire book theres a lot of monologuing and conversations that seem to repeat the same stuff over and over again. I feel like this book could easily be 50k words shorter if all that was cut.
Anyway, let me talk about the good point. It was a page-turner, so much so that I read this 150,000 word thing in one day. It was definitely interesting; I genuinely wanted to know what was going on, like who exactly was the Guardian/Blacksuit? What was even up with that silo? Why this group of kids in particular? What was the point in the betas? How had Noah and Min been resetting back when Blacksuit killed them in the real world?
All of those questions were answered but... albeit in a very unsatisfactory way. This group of kids in particular because the Guardian is Min's father, of course. They had been resetting in the real world because... cloning? And that's why they needed the betas, apparently. Please give me a break, I'm sick of sci-fi "clones" growing in weird tubes in labs. As for the silo... it was just a convenient little place for all the secrets of the universe to be conveniently stashed away so the main characters could just read a book and pretty much find all the above answers in one go.
Okay now for something - or rather someone - I have a huge problem with. Noah. NOAH. UGH. Like the book itself, I tried SO hard to like Noah (and tbh in Nemesis, I actually did). But man was so inconsistent in every way it was hard to take him seriously. It was like, when he found out the stuff about his mom or whatever suddenly he literally started "killing" everyone including his girlfriend? Like okay. And since it switches POVs between the two of them, there's all this "I miss her" and "I know he didnt mean it" going on for the next like, half the book and its SO INFURIATING. Like, Min, girl, WAKE UP, man literally shot you in the back and all you can do is think about how hot he is? Okay. So after all that, Noah becomes like, this mass murderer. And sure, this is all a simulation but he literally torched down an entire house of people and one of them ACTUALLY died (aka "eliminated") for real not just in the simulation* and man's not even shook, he goes and kills more people in fact. Okay, it didn't make sense in the first place but then suddenly he sees Min and decides he wants her back so he stops being a mass murderer, I guess? LIKE MAKE UP YOUR MIND, DUDE! You just shot her half a book ago, and now you're on your knees crying and beging her to forgive you? And the worst part? She actually does.
(*but think again! Because - surprise surprise - the ending is a huge cop out and they all survive! Even the ones who allegedly died for real. More on that later.)
Sarah. Let's talk about Sarah. She was interesting for sure. I actually... liked her? Honestly she was the only person in this entire simulation with brain cells. Good for her. And she has a girlfriend too? Good for her. Gay rights innit. I don't understand how she could so easily hack the mainframe though if Min was in there for weeks and couldn't figure it out.
Min was one of the few characters I could stand. Aside from how she was a mess when it came to Noah, she was fairly likeable and relatable. Tack was... okay. I know a lot of people who read this loved Tack but to me he really gave the vibes of the dude who cant deal with the fact that his crush likes someone else. Like his entire personality was loving Min and hating Noah. Also, he temporarily becomes a mass murderer too, because, why not? I cringed SO hard at the scene when he shot himself like "you know I always loved you, right?". Was that supposed to be sad? Maybe it would have been, IF HE DIDNT COME BACK TO LIFE. AGAIN.
So on this topic... the cop out ending. The Guardian stated SO MANY times that the program can only handle 20 survivers. Considering he'd been working on it for his entire life... you'd think he knows what he's on about. The whole 20 survivors thing is the entire reason WHY these kids have been at each others' throats in this simulation for millions of Earth-years. But... Min just... decides to bring everyone back? Because she's like "please dad" and he's like "ok sure" and then Sarah can just paste their names back in or something?? AND IT ACTUALLY WORKS? Ahhhhhhhhh what a silly ending.
So... yeah. I got the answers I so badly wanted after reading Nemesis but... at what cost? Eh. I probably won't be reading Chrysalis. Spoiler alert: I skimmed it already, and Noah dies - but guess what? He comes back to life again! Love to see it.
Oh, I guess I'll end this on a positive note. Something else I did enjoy about Genesis was the representation. Like I mentioned, Sarah has a girlfriend, and there was another gay couple, and plenty of people of colour. There was even a Muslim guy too, which was nice to see. These sorts of books usually only have white straight characters and any minorities are just... token. But that definitely wasn't the case for Project Nemesis, so, good job there, Reichs.