Reviews

Menneisyyden kaiku by Einari Aaltonen, Rivers Solomon

laynazaubinde's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, and Police brutality

carollynnw's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

interesting and creative take on slavery -  science fiction about enslaved individuals set on a space ship 

ksomers's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

cptskyheart's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

abbey_jarvis's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

cococorycollins's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

antoniag's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book set out to tackle a lot and I feel like it accomplished this and balanced everything really well. 

The spaceship they live on is structured based on slavery and Jim Crow and the racial and class themes were illustrated well throughout Aster’s day to day life and the time she spends on different decks. The characters are all complex and fully flushed out and I appreciated the neurodivergence and gender queerness that was represented in the main characters, especially since it was so well integrated into how you see the characters move through the life onboard the Mathilda.

jess_mango's review against another edition

4.0

I am torn on what to rate this. Somewhere around 3.5 or 4. There was a lot I liked about this and other stuff that I didn't. It is definitely an ambitious book. The best way to describe it is "Slave Narrative in Space".

Humans have been living on the Mathilda for several generations. They left a dying Earth and are headed for a new place to settle. The Mathilda has many decks with the upper decks being populated by the Sovereign and their ilk and the lowest decks being populated by the dark-skinned slaves who do all the farming and other work to keep the ship society functional. The protagonist Aster is a wonderful character. I also found it interesting that in this society babies are presumed and treated as female or non-binary. There are a lot of non-binary characters in this book.

So, lots of stuff here about race, gender, etc. There is a lot of trauma, misery and outrage packed in this story. Imagine a slave narrative where the slaves have no chance of escape since they are on a space craft moving through deep space. I enjoyed the writing and the characters and will definitely check out Solomon's latest novel.

This book reminded me of:
[b:Binti|25667918|Binti (Binti, #1)|Nnedi Okorafor|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1433804020l/25667918._SY75_.jpg|45491127]
[b:Dawn|60929|Dawn (Xenogenesis, #1)|Octavia E. Butler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388290339l/60929._SY75_.jpg|1008111]
[b:Across the Universe|8235178|Across the Universe (Across the Universe, #1)|Beth Revis|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1401852218l/8235178._SY75_.jpg|13082532]

allie_rose's review against another edition

4.0

Brutal but interesting world and I loved the exploration of neuro- and gender divergence. Some pacing issues—felt a little rushed in some places, slow in others

kendylldrilling's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0