A review by kurucow
Aetherbound by E.K. Johnston
2.0
I had almost no intrigue while reading this because I didn’t really have space in the book to process or connect with anything, and the audiobook ambiance was definitely not helpful in keeping my attention, but I did enjoy this a little. Sadly, I already can’t really remember what I enjoyed. Probably had something to do with the magic, definitely didn’t have anything to do with the world building.
* I entirely missed who was queer. I would say “maybe it was me and I checked out for a bit,” but it was just subtle as Hell. I’m not bothered either way. It’s just that when I was putting this book back on my shelf, I was wondering why I thought it was an LGBT book, so I had to look it up AND IT TOOK SOME DIGGING.
* Definitely not material for a YA - especially with all this focus on pregnancy?
* So uncomfortably fast paced. Time didn't move fluently; rather, I wish we spent time learning about Pendt, Fisher, and Ned outside of their singular goals because they feel like hallow characters and it doesn't help that we only see them when they're ready to do something to aggressively progress the plot. More subtle things placed to progress the plot would have been appreciated.
* Didn't need the info dumps/stories at the beginning of each part.
* The relationship/s didn’t work for me at all… likely on account of the pacing, but I wasn’t feeling the love, just the respect and care.
* Some people complained about her going from being owned by one person to being owned by another… no she didn’t? They specifically drew up the contract so she wouldn’t be owned by them. Plus, it seems that everyone was “owned” by someone in this world.
* People are also uncomfortable with her being impregnated my Ned, but in life with Fisher… I think it’s fine. I kind of thought of it like when a sibling helps a couple get pregnant through artificial insemination because of a fertility issue. (Even though the baby was more of a responsibility than a desire… so that keeps it nice and icky).
* * CH19… thinking about his brother, who she's pregnant by, while kissing him T-T.
* On comparing about the extra stories at the beginning of each part: page 178 was nice for an extra story, i guess.
* How is she just finding out at the end of ch21 that her family was going to use her as a baby farm to sell the babies? I thought this was clear from the time she watched the insemination.
* Page 213: "he might have done murder."I would have used “committed,” but okay lol.
* … I guess i like chapter 22… and pages 222-223.
* I entirely missed who was queer.
Spoiler
It was Fisher, so I guess that’s what the emphasis on needing a Y chromosome was about… I was thinking it was about the baby. Oof.* Definitely not material for a YA - especially with all this focus on pregnancy?
* So uncomfortably fast paced. Time didn't move fluently; rather, I wish we spent time learning about Pendt, Fisher, and Ned outside of their singular goals because they feel like hallow characters and it doesn't help that we only see them when they're ready to do something to aggressively progress the plot. More subtle things placed to progress the plot would have been appreciated.
* Didn't need the info dumps/stories at the beginning of each part.
* The relationship/s didn’t work for me at all… likely on account of the pacing, but I wasn’t feeling the love, just the respect and care.
Spoiler
* Some people complained about her going from being owned by one person to being owned by another… no she didn’t? They specifically drew up the contract so she wouldn’t be owned by them. Plus, it seems that everyone was “owned” by someone in this world.
* People are also uncomfortable with her being impregnated my Ned, but in life with Fisher… I think it’s fine. I kind of thought of it like when a sibling helps a couple get pregnant through artificial insemination because of a fertility issue. (Even though the baby was more of a responsibility than a desire… so that keeps it nice and icky).
* * CH19… thinking about his brother, who she's pregnant by, while kissing him T-T.
* On comparing about the extra stories at the beginning of each part: page 178 was nice for an extra story, i guess.
* How is she just finding out at the end of ch21 that her family was going to use her as a baby farm to sell the babies? I thought this was clear from the time she watched the insemination.
* Page 213: "he might have done murder."I would have used “committed,” but okay lol.
* … I guess i like chapter 22… and pages 222-223.