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A review by cornmaven
Adaptation by Malinda Lo
1.0
I felt this was a really lame and cheesy novel. Reasons:
1 - Purple prose abounds. Lo's sentences were immaturely constructed, and the story unfolded with a sixth grade flavor, imho. Way too many adjectives. Example: "It was an awkward, precarious scramble, and she was sure that she was going to slip out of his grasp at any second and plunge down into the shallow pool. But by some miracle - or maybe just stubborn persistence - she managed to throw herself over the top of the wall."
2 - Continuity issues - the birds attack the planes, which drop like, well, dead birds. Thousands killed. Government tries to cover it up. Chaos erupts as people panic and try to flee the cities. It's just like a disaster movie with the highways jammed. Which of course leads to Reese and David ending up in Area 51 as they skirt civilization trying to get home. BUT, when they eventually get home a few days later, the only vestiges of the total collapse of society and the military grabbing control is a curfew in San Francisco. No troops on the streets, no road blocks, no more food shortages, no nothing.
3. The Amber-Reese romance: Is it only because it's set in San Francisco that the female alien becomes romantically involved with Reese? Why all this sexual identity crisis stuff for Reese? The relationship clearly was the vehicle for the big reveal at the end, BUT it sort of took over the story. I felt as if I were reading two stories, and wondered what was going on.
4. The alien-government alliance revealed: Roswell/Area 51 finally acknowledged by the sci-fi aspect of alien DNA implantation was very badly drawn. It felt like a bad B movie set. When the alien spaceship arrives to rescue the aliens, "it moved with an unearthly silence and precision." And precisely what does that look like? What is an "unearthly silence?" I have no idea.
5. Reese really likes David: Of course we knew this all along. Is she then, bisexual? And how does David feel about that?
6. The Anonymous look-alikes try to find evidence: Bin42 is a conspiracy site which takes on the challenge of proving the official bird story false. I felt the trip to the warehouse to capture evidence was very fake.
The whole point of the DNA implantation was supposed to be an 'improvement' to the human condition. But the descriptions of the moments when the 'improvement' occurs - i.e. Reese can derive another's thoughts and feelings, and David can hear thoughts - were so clumsily constructed that they got lost in all of the other cheesy narrative.
So anyway, not recommended, despite its good reviews.
1 - Purple prose abounds. Lo's sentences were immaturely constructed, and the story unfolded with a sixth grade flavor, imho. Way too many adjectives. Example: "It was an awkward, precarious scramble, and she was sure that she was going to slip out of his grasp at any second and plunge down into the shallow pool. But by some miracle - or maybe just stubborn persistence - she managed to throw herself over the top of the wall."
2 - Continuity issues - the birds attack the planes, which drop like, well, dead birds. Thousands killed. Government tries to cover it up. Chaos erupts as people panic and try to flee the cities. It's just like a disaster movie with the highways jammed. Which of course leads to Reese and David ending up in Area 51 as they skirt civilization trying to get home. BUT, when they eventually get home a few days later, the only vestiges of the total collapse of society and the military grabbing control is a curfew in San Francisco. No troops on the streets, no road blocks, no more food shortages, no nothing.
3. The Amber-Reese romance: Is it only because it's set in San Francisco that the female alien becomes romantically involved with Reese? Why all this sexual identity crisis stuff for Reese? The relationship clearly was the vehicle for the big reveal at the end, BUT it sort of took over the story. I felt as if I were reading two stories, and wondered what was going on.
4. The alien-government alliance revealed: Roswell/Area 51 finally acknowledged by the sci-fi aspect of alien DNA implantation was very badly drawn. It felt like a bad B movie set. When the alien spaceship arrives to rescue the aliens, "it moved with an unearthly silence and precision." And precisely what does that look like? What is an "unearthly silence?" I have no idea.
5. Reese really likes David: Of course we knew this all along. Is she then, bisexual? And how does David feel about that?
6. The Anonymous look-alikes try to find evidence: Bin42 is a conspiracy site which takes on the challenge of proving the official bird story false. I felt the trip to the warehouse to capture evidence was very fake.
The whole point of the DNA implantation was supposed to be an 'improvement' to the human condition. But the descriptions of the moments when the 'improvement' occurs - i.e. Reese can derive another's thoughts and feelings, and David can hear thoughts - were so clumsily constructed that they got lost in all of the other cheesy narrative.
So anyway, not recommended, despite its good reviews.