A review by katzuyas
The Black Tides of Heaven by Neon Yang
1.0
I was so excited for this one because the cover is gorgeous and the idea of it seemed appealing enough, but... this was overall a very disappointing read.
the main issue I have with this book is that it reads more like a script or a summary of a much longer book. first of all, most of it is empty of any emotional reactions at all and doesn’t involve the reader in any way through the writing or characters. and then, there are time skips in this, long absent years during which ALL character development happens and we’re just being told that oh, ok so thing thing has changed now, deal with it. it’s incredibly frustrating tbh and it makes the characters seem almost empty when we actually see them again.
the other issue I can’t look past is the lack of a single plotline in all of 235 pages of this. the author keeps skipping plotlines over and over and never finishing the started ones, which honestly just makes this book seem to be about nothing? like, I’m really not sure what was the main thing it was supposed to be about. rebellion? akeha and mokoya’s relationship? their relationship with their mother? WHAT IS THIS ABOUT?
I’ll give the props where it’s due, so a great thanks for including lgbt and nonbinary characters, and generally the you can choose your own gender thing was awesome, but that is not enough to make a book great when it’s lacking in all the other aspects apart from this.
I bought all 4 books in this series, so I will most likely read them too, but I don’t expect my opinion on this change. Tbh, I wish I hadn’t bought them...
1.5 stars
the main issue I have with this book is that it reads more like a script or a summary of a much longer book. first of all, most of it is empty of any emotional reactions at all and doesn’t involve the reader in any way through the writing or characters. and then, there are time skips in this, long absent years during which ALL character development happens and we’re just being told that oh, ok so thing thing has changed now, deal with it. it’s incredibly frustrating tbh and it makes the characters seem almost empty when we actually see them again.
the other issue I can’t look past is the lack of a single plotline in all of 235 pages of this. the author keeps skipping plotlines over and over and never finishing the started ones, which honestly just makes this book seem to be about nothing? like, I’m really not sure what was the main thing it was supposed to be about. rebellion? akeha and mokoya’s relationship? their relationship with their mother? WHAT IS THIS ABOUT?
I’ll give the props where it’s due, so a great thanks for including lgbt and nonbinary characters, and generally the you can choose your own gender thing was awesome, but that is not enough to make a book great when it’s lacking in all the other aspects apart from this.
I bought all 4 books in this series, so I will most likely read them too, but I don’t expect my opinion on this change. Tbh, I wish I hadn’t bought them...
1.5 stars