nachosorcheetos
It's a weird one. The book is two genres - scifi and romance. Or more accurately, it is romance with a scifi setting. Unfortunately, the romance was weak, and I was more interested in the actual time war, which made this a chore to read. I don't particularly mind reading love burgeon through letters. It's just that the letters were a bit ridiculous and took themselves and words and metaphors too seriously. It felt very high school. Very try hard. But it did not feel romantic. And I was not convinced that two could fall in love through these letters.
Also, the two protagonists were too interchangeable. It felt like one person but with two character designs. They both work for evil agencies. they're both the best at what they do, they both have powers. But they felt like essentially the same person. It didn't help that I kept confusing their names - blue and red; it was not enough of a differentiator.
Also, almost every character was female or took the form of a woman. At first, I thought it was a world of women, which is fine, but this was not the case. I'm not sure what the reasoning behind this stylistic choice is, but I could not figure it out. This is more of a note than a criticism.
The scifi elements were easy enough to understand. There were nice metaphorical elements and thought experiments. They both touched each other's lives before their met. At times it was a bit disturbing. I don't know if I misunderstood this, but the tech one kissed the nature one when the nature one was still being grown, which is kinda gross.
Oh well.
To be honest, the pronoun usage was a bit difficult to get used to, but it got easier with time. I understand how important representation is, so I'm not holding a slight inconvenience against this book. Still, I'm not quite sure what to make of the book. The philosophical ponderings would have had an impact on me if I was in high school - I'm not sure if that is the target audience. The setting raises a lot of questions - for instance, it made no mention of how the robots have souls if they're recycled; I feel like that's a big thing to leave unanswered. And why would the robots believe in the same gods that the people did; why did all people believe in the same gods? Were there any people who didn't believe in gods? Does this mean there has been contact with gods? Also, it was a baffling decision to make the robot feel so human, and the human feel so robotic; that is to say, the human was extremely unlikeable. It also felt weird for a monk to be so sex-forward. I don't know. Great cover art though.
This was an absolutely stunning read. I came across a review on Goodreads that said it was misogynistic & homophobic, and the more I read the book, the more this angered me. This was incredible work of fleshed out characters and stories and emotions. You see the world from the eyes of someone who you think is forgettable, and you slowly watch them reach the height of their potential, someone who is driven by the best traits of humanity - courage and love and empathy. Somehow, despite the poetic descriptions of Achilles, he eclipsed him. This is probably the first book I've read that made me cry. Yes, we can all shudder at the descriptions of barbaric acts of violence against women, but that does not make a book misogynistic. Use it as a reminder of how things used to be. My only gripe is sometimes the metaphors flew over my head - is that bad writing or is it my obtuse brain?
It's a gorgeously written book that feels incredibly real despite being a work of fiction. I never understood the point of a coming-of-age novel, but the shifting perspectives over time and the empathy an older Rachel had towards her younger self felt transformative. My only gripe is the author doesn't make James remotely likeable. As the book is from Rachel's POV, the same Rachel who is obsessed with the dude, the fact that James does not come off in a flattering light is an interesting writing decision that makes absolutely no sense to me.
I've been reading this series over the course of the past year and then some. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book, but the more I read, the more it dissolved into a fever dream. I treaded on because of the comedic absurdity, but I could not have explained the plot to you (if there even was a plot). I also found it kind of sad that for a book dealing with literal aliens, somehow earthly stereotypes and sexist jokes continued to make an appearance. oh well.
I've been reading this series over the course of the past year and then some. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book, but the more I read, the more it dissolved into a fever dream. I treaded on because of the comedic absurdity, but I could not have explained the plot to you (if there even was a plot). I also found it kind of sad that for a book dealing with literal aliens, somehow earthly stereotypes and sexist jokes continued to make an appearance. oh well.
I've been reading this series over the course of the past year and then some. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book, but the more I read, the more it dissolved into a fever dream. I treaded on because of the comedic absurdity, but I could not have explained the plot to you (if there even was a plot). I also found it kind of sad that for a book dealing with literal aliens, somehow earthly stereotypes and sexist jokes continued to make an appearance. oh well.
I've been reading this series over the course of the past year and then some. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book, but the more I read, the more it dissolved into a fever dream. I treaded on because of the comedic absurdity, but I could not have explained the plot to you (if there even was a plot). I also found it kind of sad that for a book dealing with literal aliens, somehow earthly stereotypes and sexist jokes continued to make an appearance. oh well.
I've been reading this series over the course of the past year and then some. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book, but the more I read, the more it dissolved into a fever dream. I treaded on because of the comedic absurdity, but I could not have explained the plot to you (if there even was a plot). I also found it kind of sad that for a book dealing with literal aliens, somehow earthly stereotypes and sexist jokes continued to make an appearance. oh well.
I've been reading this series over the course of the past year and then some. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book, but the more I read, the more it dissolved into a fever dream. I treaded on because of the comedic absurdity, but I could not have explained the plot to you (if there even was a plot). I also found it kind of sad that for a book dealing with literal aliens, somehow earthly stereotypes and sexist jokes continued to make an appearance. oh well.
I speak only for myself here, but I have a terrible attention span with audiobooks, so I don't consider myself to have “read” this book to fairly review it. I probably missed out on a lot of information. But this felt like an extended John Green Vlog Brothers video, and I enjoyed listening to it on my way to the gym and back.
There was a lot of interesting information. I have similar fears as John, but he is so much more hopeful than I'll ever be.
Finished listening: 20/1/24
I don't think the book had any redeeming qualities. The story wasn't interesting, and neither were the characters or the writing. it was a pot of depressing people all being horrid to each other. and the book within the book added nothing to the story - it just made my eyes glaze over. there wasn't even a good twist. I just didn't have a good time.
I think I got the concept backwards before starting the book, so I was a bit disappointed. But it's definitely one of those books you can't put down once you get started. The writing style was a bit jarring, but I got used to it. I think the ending was clever, because you have a very unreliable narrator who could have been influenced by something that happened moments earlier.
it's a difficult book to read. to be honest, who in their right minds would choose to read something like this. I was interested in it because of its claim of being told from the perspective of female victims. I'm not sure sure how I feel about the whole inspired by a real story premise. it's difficult to know what is real and what isn't, so I'm just going to assume that everything is fictionalised. it's well written. the author does a great job of describing the gory details without detailing the gory acts.
the author has a tendency to introduce an event early on while describing it in a way that feels monumental. but when she finally gets to describing the event, it doesn't feel as large in scope. the alternating perspectives kept things interesting and served as a good way to break up more difficult to swallow events.
there's a lot to like in this delightful book, but it's not without its flaws. it does read quite like a kid's book, so I'm surprised it's marketed towards adults. I did find that it was repetitive - the narration, the emotions. everyone seemed to experience things in the exact same way. it was hard to tell people apart (except for vera). I think the book would've worked better from vera's POV. analysing the POVs alone would let you know who the killer is (or isn't). also realistically, some people suck more than others, but they were still unrealistically redeemed. the narration was often not cohesive as well. the descriptions of food made me hungry.
What a frustrating read. It truly felt like one of those sci-fi movies you play in the background, except you can't really read books in the background.
It's difficult to figure out the author's intentions. Does he think the future is dystopian or futuristic, when he describes traffic jams with EVs or hyperloops (reads quite like Elon's dreams)?
The motivations make no sense. The issue isn't everyday people, it's people in power and companies going unchecked and insufficiently regulated.
His descriptions of intelligence are not convincing. It reads more encyclopaedic than anything else.
I appreciate his concluding chapter though. that was more thought provoking than the entire book.
4 stars just for the creativity. I was thoroughly impressed with how much the author thought things through. I didn't have as bad of an experience as with the Martian. This book has jargon, but at least it didn't make me want to punch something.
I still don't think the author is great at dialogue. It never felt believable. I enjoyed the buddy comedy aspect of it.
I loved the book's novelty. The idea was well-executed. The coincidences were a bit jarring. I wouldn't search for something deep within these pages; that might lead to disappointment. Not really meant as a critique, but reading about covid within a fictionalized book will never not be jarring. I also found it interesting how the book within the book felt like it was based on another book by the author.
My biggest issue with the book is that it felt more like a Wiki article. When he did share his opinion, it was oftentimes repetitive and a little unfair. It is praiseworthy that he backs his words with citations, but citations can be cherry-picked. The author makes it clear that he is not impartial, which is admirable, and there's a lot to be learnt through this read, but the book was not without its flaws.
The nice thing about this book is that it doesn't matter if you figure out the twists and turns and it doesn't matter if they don't do for you what they do for others - it's so well-written, I just kept gobbling it up. It's interesting enough that even once you realise the book basically boils down to relationship drama, you keep going.