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becasaur27's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
I read this book as the Sword and Laser online book club pick for Jan 2023 (please note my start and end dates are randomly selected days in January as I don't remember exactly when I started nor finished this book). This book was one that the hosts of the podcast didn't end up even feeling comfortable discussing in the wrap up episode due to some of the graphic content. WOW. That's never happened before since I've been listening and I've been listening, IDK, since 2015? A LONG TIME. So, I guess you should know going in that there is child pornography just out there like it is a normal thing? It's not really a main plot point though? It's very odd. I'm not sensitive about that stuff and it didn't bother me much, but I can see how others were very upset. There's also colonization/exploitation of the native peoples of the planet. So. Hm. Yeah. I wouldn't really recommend this book, though it does have a kind of interesting twist in regards to the destroyed star and if the beauty on the Dimaei planet and of those people is developing due to the weapon/being that was in that star system. The beauty as the precursor to destruction (though we never did really see the end game of that planet as Cory blew up the star before the end state was really reached? was it even actually going to be evil? we have only on survivor and his thoughts.). Anyway, maybe not actually worth it? Kind of dated and lots of problematic topics. But I enjoyed reading it and I don't think that makes me a bad person. Sigh.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, Torture, Ableism, Colonisation, and Pedophilia
Minor: Medical content, Physical abuse, and Death of parent
valjeanval's review
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
I’ve heard such amazing things about James Tiptree Jr., and I generally consider myself pretty good at reading books with respect to the time period in which they were written, but this was not only not for me, it was deeply problematic. Maybe Tiptree wrote with such casualness to draw attention to actual problems in our real world, but it didn’t ever feel like a criticism of its atrocities (abuse, colonialism, misogyny to name a few). Major trigger warnings and also just a clunky plot with terrible dialogue.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Torture, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Suicide, Sexual content, and Murder
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