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ominousspectre's review against another edition
3.0
Okay Bri, I see why you did not vibe with this one. As an author writing about their own oppression, I think it you have to walk a fine line or you can end up alienating the people in your audience that bleed with you.
I love Rivers. The Deep and Sorrowland are both very dear to me in different ways. All of their style and intriguing ideas are here, but I think this would have been better as a novella? It felt endlessly long while also feeling like very little happens until the end. I did love the ending, and am obviously still a rabid follower of what this author will do next, but this debut just wasn't for me!
I love Rivers. The Deep and Sorrowland are both very dear to me in different ways. All of their style and intriguing ideas are here, but I think this would have been better as a novella? It felt endlessly long while also feeling like very little happens until the end. I did love the ending, and am obviously still a rabid follower of what this author will do next, but this debut just wasn't for me!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Transphobia, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment
bootrat's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Child death, Blood, Sexual assault, Death, Racism, and Medical content
foxwish's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Racism, Suicide, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Torture, and Rape
Moderate: Sexism, Homophobia, and Child abuse
benjspriggs's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Ableism, Death, Classism, Cursing, Gun violence, Abandonment, Bullying, Misogyny, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Self harm
Moderate: Transphobia, Toxic friendship, Rape, Dysphoria, Suicide, Blood, Slavery, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Death of parent
svinc038's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
timinbc's review against another edition
4.0
4.5, I think.
The half is for being so bold with a first novel.
There are problems in the book, but whenever an author tackles Big Social Issues but is still able to Just Tell Us A Story, I can forgive those.
There could have been a few more ordinary people. At times it seems the ship should have been called Box of Special Cases. The more-ordinary characters who appeared in lesser roles were almost refreshing.
+1 for Aster telling Melusine "Stop. Calling. Me. Child!" Seems as if the writers' workshops must teach authors that any woman over 60 must call everyone "child" as often as possible. That's on my list with "steaming mug" and "crisp white shirt."
I just accepted as part of the story all the abuse that most characters had undergone, but about halfway it got darker pretty fast. OK, because at that point we realize that would have been inevitable; also, the plot needed to speed up and force the ending.
At one point, Rivers carefully tells us that the guards are doubled and Aster is restricted to lower decks. Then we follow Aster for the rest of the book as she goes anywhere she likes. Tsk.
The societal worldbuilding is quite strong, but Rivers cheats a bit on the space science, That's allowable, but a bit LESS of an attempt to explain the science might have worked better.
The Lieutenant. Gosh. I know the Big Bad Guy has to be worse than the average Bad Guy, but like so many authors Rivers gives us a character that really didn't need to be THAT bad.
Many "just one more chapter, gotta see what happens next" parts. Good.
The ending was a bit slapdash. The passwords near the end? Argh. Right out of the Hollywood Tropes book. "Let me think .... Mom liked Asimov [who wrote 300 books and a zillion short stories] .. hmm .. Yes! The password is "Beenay25"! And isn't it lucky that one of the books Aster absorbed happened to be a Latin textbook, on a spaceship in 2xxx?
And the last few pages? Hmm. And What Happened to the Matilda ??????
Numerous homonym errors suggest no human copy editor, just an automated spellchecker.
I liked the way everyone was presented as just people. Aster's some kind of autistic, Giselle's mentally ill, genders are all over the place, Theo is whatever-they-are, and everyone except the orc-like guards seems to be, "yeah, whatever, I'll like you or not but that won't be why." Deftly handled.
Overall, maybe this tries a little TOO hard to be An Important Book, but as an old white guy who started on sexist white-guy fiction because that's all there was then, I suppose I'm just lagging behind a bit. Also, I firmly believe that every story is ENTIRELY the author's choice, and an author who is trying to please the crowd is not for me anyway.
I hope I live long enough to reach a time when this book doesn't need to be written.
And I note that if it hadn't been wrapped in SF I wouldn't have read it. So well done, RS.
I'll look for this author's next one. There's real talent here.
The half is for being so bold with a first novel.
There are problems in the book, but whenever an author tackles Big Social Issues but is still able to Just Tell Us A Story, I can forgive those.
There could have been a few more ordinary people. At times it seems the ship should have been called Box of Special Cases. The more-ordinary characters who appeared in lesser roles were almost refreshing.
+1 for Aster telling Melusine "Stop. Calling. Me. Child!" Seems as if the writers' workshops must teach authors that any woman over 60 must call everyone "child" as often as possible. That's on my list with "steaming mug" and "crisp white shirt."
I just accepted as part of the story all the abuse that most characters had undergone, but about halfway it got darker pretty fast. OK, because at that point we realize that would have been inevitable; also, the plot needed to speed up and force the ending.
At one point, Rivers carefully tells us that the guards are doubled and Aster is restricted to lower decks. Then we follow Aster for the rest of the book as she goes anywhere she likes. Tsk.
The societal worldbuilding is quite strong, but Rivers cheats a bit on the space science, That's allowable, but a bit LESS of an attempt to explain the science might have worked better.
The Lieutenant. Gosh. I know the Big Bad Guy has to be worse than the average Bad Guy, but like so many authors Rivers gives us a character that really didn't need to be THAT bad.
Many "just one more chapter, gotta see what happens next" parts. Good.
The ending was a bit slapdash. The passwords near the end? Argh. Right out of the Hollywood Tropes book. "Let me think .... Mom liked Asimov [who wrote 300 books and a zillion short stories] .. hmm .. Yes! The password is "Beenay25"! And isn't it lucky that one of the books Aster absorbed happened to be a Latin textbook, on a spaceship in 2xxx?
And the last few pages? Hmm. And What Happened to the Matilda ??????
Numerous homonym errors suggest no human copy editor, just an automated spellchecker.
I liked the way everyone was presented as just people. Aster's some kind of autistic, Giselle's mentally ill, genders are all over the place, Theo is whatever-they-are, and everyone except the orc-like guards seems to be, "yeah, whatever, I'll like you or not but that won't be why." Deftly handled.
Overall, maybe this tries a little TOO hard to be An Important Book, but as an old white guy who started on sexist white-guy fiction because that's all there was then, I suppose I'm just lagging behind a bit. Also, I firmly believe that every story is ENTIRELY the author's choice, and an author who is trying to please the crowd is not for me anyway.
I hope I live long enough to reach a time when this book doesn't need to be written.
And I note that if it hadn't been wrapped in SF I wouldn't have read it. So well done, RS.
I'll look for this author's next one. There's real talent here.
zhy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
orangerequired's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual assault