Kam
So this was a pretty entertaining little ride - at least, while it lasted. Now that the ride’s over I’m not feeling quite so copacetic.
The initial premise felt very interesting, and the buildup of the mystery felt pretty engaging: writing felt snappy and easy to read, and the worldbuilding didn’t feel very challenging since it’s more a near-future than a far-future, and operates on climate change projections that most readers will already be familiar with. So, while one is reading the novel, there isn’t a lot of- I think “friction” might be a good way to describe this. The friction in this novel comes from the mystery: trying to figure out whodunit, and why. And to that end, the novel mostly works: it gives the reader enough friction to keep them wondering who committed the crime, and why the crime was committed.
But that’s not my problem with this book; my problem is that that’s ALL it does. It’s an amusing mystery, sure, but it doesn’t offer anything more than that - which is unfortunate, because there is A LOT it could actually be doing, both in terms of worldbuilding and in terms of themes.
In terms of worldbuilding, there could have been a lot more work done on the Logi. While there’s nothing wrong with not spending a lot of time describing what they physically look like, I feel like a lot more time could have been devoted to explaining what their culture is like, not least because it ties in so deeply to the novel’s central mystery. It’s not necessary to explain every single aspect of it, and I understand having to understate or leave out other parts for the mystery to work, but there also needs to be a lot more development than what the reader actually gets in this novel because without it, the Logi feel like props, instead of actual characters.
Developing the Logi also opens up and strengthens other aspects of the novel, such as the themes. As the novel stands there aren’t a lot of themes that are explored to any great depth, which is unfortunate because there was a lot of potential to tackle ideas like police corruption, or how the academe supports non-progressive ideologies. Those are themes that would be relevant, especially given current world events, but they are instead left unaddressed because, again, there just isn’t a lot of development beyond what was needed to keep the plot going.
And speaking of plot, there were a lot of storylines that did not receive any reasonable conclusion. By this I don’t mean they needed to be tied up in a neat bow; a reader can’t always expect to have all plot threads dealt with conclusively, and I don’t expect that to always happen - provided, of course, it’s done so in a way that makes sense. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case here, as there were a couple of rather important plot threads that didn’t receive any decent conclusion by the end of the novel. This also affects the themes: developing and concluding these threads in some fashion would have helped in developing certain themes that, as I mentioned earlier, weren’t treated with enough depth.
Overall, this was fun read, but that’s all it is: fun. No deeper exploration of themes, no true worldbuilding. There isn’t a lot of meat on these bones, so readers looking for something with a bit more bite really should look elsewhere.
Originally posted at kamreadsandrecs.tumblr.com.
So this was a pretty entertaining little ride - at least, while it lasted. Now that the ride’s over I’m not feeling quite so copacetic.
The initial premise felt very interesting, and the buildup of the mystery felt pretty engaging: writing felt snappy and easy to read, and the worldbuilding didn’t feel very challenging since it’s more a near-future than a far-future, and operates on climate change projections that most readers will already be familiar with. So, while one is reading the novel, there isn’t a lot of- I think “friction” might be a good way to describe this. The friction in this novel comes from the mystery: trying to figure out whodunit, and why. And to that end, the novel mostly works: it gives the reader enough friction to keep them wondering who committed the crime, and why the crime was committed.
But that’s not my problem with this book; my problem is that that’s ALL it does. It’s an amusing mystery, sure, but it doesn’t offer anything more than that - which is unfortunate, because there is A LOT it could actually be doing, both in terms of worldbuilding and in terms of themes.
In terms of worldbuilding, there could have been a lot more work done on the Logi. While there’s nothing wrong with not spending a lot of time describing what they physically look like, I feel like a lot more time could have been devoted to explaining what their culture is like, not least because it ties in so deeply to the novel’s central mystery. It’s not necessary to explain every single aspect of it, and I understand having to understate or leave out other parts for the mystery to work, but there also needs to be a lot more development than what the reader actually gets in this novel because without it, the Logi feel like props, instead of actual characters.
Developing the Logi also opens up and strengthens other aspects of the novel, such as the themes. As the novel stands there aren’t a lot of themes that are explored to any great depth, which is unfortunate because there was a lot of potential to tackle ideas like police corruption, or how the academe supports non-progressive ideologies. Those are themes that would be relevant, especially given current world events, but they are instead left unaddressed because, again, there just isn’t a lot of development beyond what was needed to keep the plot going.
And speaking of plot, there were a lot of storylines that did not receive any reasonable conclusion. By this I don’t mean they needed to be tied up in a neat bow; a reader can’t always expect to have all plot threads dealt with conclusively, and I don’t expect that to always happen - provided, of course, it’s done so in a way that makes sense. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case here, as there were a couple of rather important plot threads that didn’t receive any decent conclusion by the end of the novel. This also affects the themes: developing and concluding these threads in some fashion would have helped in developing certain themes that, as I mentioned earlier, weren’t treated with enough depth.
Overall, this was fun read, but that’s all it is: fun. No deeper exploration of themes, no true worldbuilding. There isn’t a lot of meat on these bones, so readers looking for something with a bit more bite really should look elsewhere.
Originally posted at kamreadsandrecs.tumblr.com.