Jason
4.25 stars. Oh boy, do I have conflicted feelings about this one.
This book is beautiful. The premise captivating, yet sad. The writing is absolutely lovely, both lyrical and dreamy. I floated on each word until, before I knew it, I was already halfway through the book.
Unfortunately, that is about where it started feeling a bit too repetitive. I understand that may makes sense for this story, but this book did just an amazing job at immediately sucking me in emotionally that it could have just moved on with the story.
SPOILERS BELOW
Still, that is minor compared to my feelings about the Luc storyline, of which I quickly grew tired. This poignant story about a woman wandering through life, doomed to be forgotten, turned into yet another “romance” between a woman and the demon/god/monster eager to claim her. I felt it cheapened the plot and ultimately added unnecessary pages.
Cut that out, thus tightening up the book, and this book is easily 5 stars.
Ugh, I loved this book so much! This is the kind of space scifi I love. The kind that gets into the minutiae of the science. Not necessarily large, complex concepts (which I do also enjoy), but the day-to-day details of what travelling among the stars would require and the author's imagination needed to make it make sense.
Also, Chambers has a way of writing characters and found families I can't even begin to put into words. They feel so real and you just care about them. The way she had Ari describe the group as a molecule instantly got me. I cared more about Ari and her crew in less than 200 pages than I have about other MCs over entire trilogies.
So good.
Wow. I don't have much to say in terms of an actual review other than I absolutely loved this book. It instantly grabbed my attention and never let go. I'm so glad it's just the first in a planned trilogy, but also so bummed that means I'll have to wait for more.
UPDATE:
Listen to the full discussion and review on the Shit We've Read podcast here.
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Read for the next episode of the Shit We've Read podcast. Full review to come after the episode goes live.
2.5 stars
This one largely falls under just not for me, but—oh boy—am I glad to be done and know peace once again.
2.5 stars
This last collection from The World of Lore is not bad, it just isn't different enough from the previous entry to be special. I was hoping for a collection of lore that focused on some of the most mystifying places in the world, like the Bermuda Triangle, Paris Catacombs, Isla de la Muñecas, or Aokigahara, aka “Suicide Forest”. Instead, it's another volume of mostly bad people doing bad things that may have left behind echoes of death. Again, not bad, just kind of boring.