A review by foreverbeautifulbooks
Blue Hearts of Mars by Nicole Grotepas
3.0
Well, I have to say that I have never really read a book were I was left with more questions than answers and I found myself struggling with how to rate this book as a whole. I finally gathered that it was a perfect down the middle book for me.
I’m going to do this review in two sections. The first will be my likes and the second will be my glaring issues. I will be a brief as possible as I hate writing book reports. Reviews should be FUN!
Ok, what I liked!
Nicole has an amazing voice as a science fiction writer. Really, some people got it, and some people don’t. I wasn’t left doubting the sci-fi world but I was sort of living in it. She gave it a very Blade Runner feel to me and I was ‘this is so cool’ through the first few chapters of the book. The settings and places were described perfectly. I wasn’t dumped on with loads of information she just gave me specific words that left me marveling with how well the world was. The concept was very unique. I’m a lover of the cyborg concept and I love reading about artificial life! I was intrigued and kept reading simply because the storyline demanded it of me and that is greatness for the most part. I like how she used the artificial life to portray real world issues going on in society today. It was like reading a mirrored debate.
Now, here are some of my issues.
The characters took me half a book to warm up to. It felt almost like the characters didn’t really shine or show emotions until the second half of the book when it was all hitting the fan, so to speak. I had trouble with Hemingway the whole way through. He was just a wishy-washy character for me and that’s disappointing seeing as he is the love interest. I cried more for Marta than I did anyone else in the book because she seemed to be the only one with real heart and soul in the whole story. I am not sure if this was a metaphor of the authors or not.
Second, we are constantly told about how horrible Earth is, but never actually explained this. They went to war (Mars and Earth) and I never quite latched onto the why or how. It was brought up frequently because Mars was trying to terraform and mirror earth for the most part.
When Retta and Hemingway go on the run, they are ruthlessly hunted by a group called the IRS. Retta’s image is even flashed all over the planet and they are chased, hunted, threatened. They go back to their home town and it just stops?? Um, what?? She’s home, in the same place as Synlife, where they were the ones that put the reward on her head, yet no one in a hospital, street, or neighbor is like, “Oh, that’s right?” It is mentioned once near the end, “Aren’t you that crazy girl?” You mean like Mars Most Wanted? Yeah she is apparently you’re the only one that remembered dude. This was a glaring plot hole that wasn’t even written away it was just not mentioned again. It was all I could think about the last fourth of the book and that shouldn’t be.
Also, Mars seems to have issues with artificial parts? This I didn’t get at all. Today we have pacemakers, artificial limbs, and are working on an actual artificial heart. This is supposed to be in the distant future yet we suddenly just stopped medical advancements because artificial life was real? I think it either needed to be explained just a touch better with some actual passion behind he because I wasn’t really finding a reason for that particular road block.
I know that it seemed like I disliked more than I liked. However, the setting and unique elements of the story kept the story together like glue. I foundation if you will that helped me finish up the story. By the end I did understand the message and I thought it was very endearing and at the end of the day I think that Nicole does have a talent for writing science fiction stories. I do have to say that I might be a touch harder on science fiction because I am a nerd and I expect a lot from this genre of writing because there are such great stories out there, especially about artificial intelligence.
**I received a copy of this book from Netgalley via Patchwork Press in exchange for an honest review**
I’m going to do this review in two sections. The first will be my likes and the second will be my glaring issues. I will be a brief as possible as I hate writing book reports. Reviews should be FUN!
Ok, what I liked!
Nicole has an amazing voice as a science fiction writer. Really, some people got it, and some people don’t. I wasn’t left doubting the sci-fi world but I was sort of living in it. She gave it a very Blade Runner feel to me and I was ‘this is so cool’ through the first few chapters of the book. The settings and places were described perfectly. I wasn’t dumped on with loads of information she just gave me specific words that left me marveling with how well the world was. The concept was very unique. I’m a lover of the cyborg concept and I love reading about artificial life! I was intrigued and kept reading simply because the storyline demanded it of me and that is greatness for the most part. I like how she used the artificial life to portray real world issues going on in society today. It was like reading a mirrored debate.
Now, here are some of my issues.
The characters took me half a book to warm up to. It felt almost like the characters didn’t really shine or show emotions until the second half of the book when it was all hitting the fan, so to speak. I had trouble with Hemingway the whole way through. He was just a wishy-washy character for me and that’s disappointing seeing as he is the love interest. I cried more for Marta than I did anyone else in the book because she seemed to be the only one with real heart and soul in the whole story. I am not sure if this was a metaphor of the authors or not.
Second, we are constantly told about how horrible Earth is, but never actually explained this. They went to war (Mars and Earth) and I never quite latched onto the why or how. It was brought up frequently because Mars was trying to terraform and mirror earth for the most part.
When Retta and Hemingway go on the run, they are ruthlessly hunted by a group called the IRS. Retta’s image is even flashed all over the planet and they are chased, hunted, threatened. They go back to their home town and it just stops?? Um, what?? She’s home, in the same place as Synlife, where they were the ones that put the reward on her head, yet no one in a hospital, street, or neighbor is like, “Oh, that’s right?” It is mentioned once near the end, “Aren’t you that crazy girl?” You mean like Mars Most Wanted? Yeah she is apparently you’re the only one that remembered dude. This was a glaring plot hole that wasn’t even written away it was just not mentioned again. It was all I could think about the last fourth of the book and that shouldn’t be.
Also, Mars seems to have issues with artificial parts? This I didn’t get at all. Today we have pacemakers, artificial limbs, and are working on an actual artificial heart. This is supposed to be in the distant future yet we suddenly just stopped medical advancements because artificial life was real? I think it either needed to be explained just a touch better with some actual passion behind he because I wasn’t really finding a reason for that particular road block.
I know that it seemed like I disliked more than I liked. However, the setting and unique elements of the story kept the story together like glue. I foundation if you will that helped me finish up the story. By the end I did understand the message and I thought it was very endearing and at the end of the day I think that Nicole does have a talent for writing science fiction stories. I do have to say that I might be a touch harder on science fiction because I am a nerd and I expect a lot from this genre of writing because there are such great stories out there, especially about artificial intelligence.
**I received a copy of this book from Netgalley via Patchwork Press in exchange for an honest review**