A review by craftysnailtail
A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe by Alex White

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Loveable characters? No

3.5

This was recommended as in the same vein as A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. I can understand why someone would want to connect the two, but I personally wouldn't. Everything that makes Chamber's series of ragtag spacers so amazing- the depth of character and world building, the perfect blend of action and slice of life, the HEART. It's all missing from this. 

Do you want action on action on action? Do you like magic systems that feel like they exist in an RPG? Do you enjoy race car driving (like, A LOT)? Don't mind if main characters
get killed casually and suddenly?
Then this book might be for you.

But to me, everything in this novel felt off. The emotion just isnt there. Even scenes that are clearly meant to tug at heartstrings feel forced and overly brief. Some of the characters had such promise, but nothing grew from there. I kept waiting for the characters to have interactions that were more than a few exchanged lines, but it never happened. From enemies to friends/lovers within seconds. The world building was the same way- everything hinted at, but never really shown. The magic system is a fun idea, but you get surface level explanations of sigils and hand gestures, but that's it. I have no idea how this system actually works. What do the crystals even do?? No explanation.

I recently DNFed another book so I couldn't bring myself to drop this one. Plus the nonstop action makes it fast paced, which helped. The ending was decently satisfying, compared to the rest of the book. But overall, it wasn't for me. The voice actor for the audiobook was also unfortunately not a good fit. I often couldn't tell who was speaking and their style was too monotone. 
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