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nutty_bookseller's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this science fiction adventure. You follow Mira who belongs to a group called The Reconstructionists who travel to different worlds collecting and downloading literature which has been banned on their Earth. It is a death sentence. It was very easy to imagine the individual worlds from Matthew's descriptions and become immersed in the story (Being a bookseller this filled me with horror). I felt there could have been more action and less politics but don't let that put you off.
Thank you to Booksirens and Matthew Buscemi for my ARC ebook.
Thank you to Booksirens and Matthew Buscemi for my ARC ebook.
lillist's review
4.0
I have received a digital review copy via BookSirens and voluntarily provide my honest opinion. Thank you!
4 stars - Creative political Sci-Fi
Mira lives on an Earth in the future, where the North-American Continent is governed by two quite different but similarly oppressive regimes, which both do not allow for literature and philosophy to exist, so all of the classics have been destroyed. Mira and 8 fellows are the Reconstructionists and they travel to parallel Earths to find and restore literature. While travelling this inter-world space Mira stumbles upon the Intersections, living spaces made out of energy, carved out of space itself. In the beginning their society looks too good to be true to Mira, but as time progresses and an event that marks the the unravelling of the Intersections she comes to find out more about the dark underbelly at their foundation.
This was very well constructed, tightly written, well-paced Sci-Fi with an absolutely intriguing plot, interesting and complex characters and plenty of food for thought. Not to mention that it is centered on saving books - how can this not let the heart of any bookish lover of Sci-Fi beat faster? The autor is quite obviously well-read and eloquent and by using Mira's thoughts and voice incorporates plenty of polital and social commentary into the story that relates to our current times (like all good Sci-Fi does to some degree, I think).
When I started reading this I was sure that this was going to be a 5-star-read for me as it is ticking ALL of my boxes.
However, there is one aspect that I found a bit off-putting: the general political and social commentary comes across as pretty judgemental. There is plenty of mention of how naive people are for buying into the narrative that Capitalism sells. Some parts of the plot are also obviously commentary on how people and governments dealt with the COVID-crisis. He makes good points and I agree with some (Capitalism is bad! Being afraid to be killed by your government is even worse!) but also disagree with others (People are naive idiots for falling for Capitalism! They are also naive idiots for not believing in the crisis!). And I kind of dislike being force-fed the "right way" to see things. Honestly, I feel like the author is a bit of a smartass - but it takes one to recognise one, so I cannot be too annoyed by this
4 stars - Creative political Sci-Fi
Mira lives on an Earth in the future, where the North-American Continent is governed by two quite different but similarly oppressive regimes, which both do not allow for literature and philosophy to exist, so all of the classics have been destroyed. Mira and 8 fellows are the Reconstructionists and they travel to parallel Earths to find and restore literature. While travelling this inter-world space Mira stumbles upon the Intersections, living spaces made out of energy, carved out of space itself. In the beginning their society looks too good to be true to Mira, but as time progresses and an event that marks the the unravelling of the Intersections she comes to find out more about the dark underbelly at their foundation.
This was very well constructed, tightly written, well-paced Sci-Fi with an absolutely intriguing plot, interesting and complex characters and plenty of food for thought. Not to mention that it is centered on saving books - how can this not let the heart of any bookish lover of Sci-Fi beat faster? The autor is quite obviously well-read and eloquent and by using Mira's thoughts and voice incorporates plenty of polital and social commentary into the story that relates to our current times (like all good Sci-Fi does to some degree, I think).
When I started reading this I was sure that this was going to be a 5-star-read for me as it is ticking ALL of my boxes.
However, there is one aspect that I found a bit off-putting: the general political and social commentary comes across as pretty judgemental. There is plenty of mention of how naive people are for buying into the narrative that Capitalism sells. Some parts of the plot are also obviously commentary on how people and governments dealt with the COVID-crisis. He makes good points and I agree with some (Capitalism is bad! Being afraid to be killed by your government is even worse!) but also disagree with others (People are naive idiots for falling for Capitalism! They are also naive idiots for not believing in the crisis!). And I kind of dislike being force-fed the "right way" to see things. Honestly, I feel like the author is a bit of a smartass - but it takes one to recognise one, so I cannot be too annoyed by this
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