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A review by beorn_101
Sentient by Jeff Lemire
3.0
There is a lot to love about Sentient. The setting of space, and a AI spaceship, is one filled with tension, isolation, and ambiance. The artwork is expressive, helping convey powerful emotions.
The pacing of the story is quite good, starting with a big surprise, and then easing into a tempo of survival, before ramping up into the climax.
However, the characters themselves are underdeveloped, perhaps this was inevitable because they are primarily children. The AI, Valerie is "unshackled" which allows them to develop a bit, but we never get a great feel for the characters beyond the desire to survive. The characters don't seem to full react to each others decisions, with things that should have had longer ramifications not really explored.
Some of the basics are survival are also not really explained, how do the kids eat? How do they prep meals, basic care, ect. We are led to believe the AI helps with a lot of this, but are never really shown the kids struggling to do these duties.
Overall, this was an interesting story, but I think the implementation was a bit of a miss. I loved the artwork and ambiance though. Worth reading for someone looking for a quick science fiction read, but not necessarily a must read.
The pacing of the story is quite good, starting with a big surprise, and then easing into a tempo of survival, before ramping up into the climax.
However, the characters themselves are underdeveloped, perhaps this was inevitable because they are primarily children. The AI, Valerie is "unshackled" which allows them to develop a bit, but we never get a great feel for the characters beyond the desire to survive. The characters don't seem to full react to each others decisions, with things that should have had longer ramifications not really explored.
Some of the basics are survival are also not really explained, how do the kids eat? How do they prep meals, basic care, ect. We are led to believe the AI helps with a lot of this, but are never really shown the kids struggling to do these duties.
Overall, this was an interesting story, but I think the implementation was a bit of a miss. I loved the artwork and ambiance though. Worth reading for someone looking for a quick science fiction read, but not necessarily a must read.