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zombiezami's review against another edition
2.75
If you were to tell someone about a book focusing on a technofuturistic society in which coupling is largely decided by a dating site based in genetic testing, the British empire never fell, one of the characters is intersex, and the main characters essentially end up in a throuple , that person would likely think this was a fascinating book. In another author's hands (I'm thinking N.K. Jemisin in particular), it could have been. However, aside from a few moments, getting through this book was a trudge. It was incredibly boring and repetitive.
The characters really didn't have much personality, and I had trouble telling them apart. Up until the end, I was like, "Wait, which one is Helena again?" There were so many missed opportunities. For example, the author didn't explore the eugenicist implications of this genetic testing program, which definitely would have been an issue. Also, this is a society with robots part of everyday life, and they're barely mentioned. here were fucking pirates involved in one of the plotlines and, again, they're barely brought up. What do they want other than money? Is it no more complicated than that? What is an average person's daily life like in this society? You won't find out from reading this book.
Finally, I take issue with the author's framing of this society in the author's note as just "a little bit better" than what actually happened in history. Empires require incredible amounts of violence to expand and maintain. Surely the author could have explored possible contradictions between how the empire is on the surface and what people experience on a more in-depth level. But nope. It's just, "What if there was a British empire that respected your pronouns and said Black Lives Matter? uwu" And because of this surface-level plot, it felt like there were never any real stakes or point to any of the characters' actions.
The characters really didn't have much personality, and I had trouble telling them apart. Up until the end, I was like, "Wait, which one is Helena again?" There were so many missed opportunities. For example, the author didn't explore the eugenicist implications of this genetic testing program, which definitely would have been an issue. Also, this is a society with robots part of everyday life, and they're barely mentioned. here were fucking pirates involved in one of the plotlines and, again, they're barely brought up. What do they want other than money? Is it no more complicated than that? What is an average person's daily life like in this society? You won't find out from reading this book.
Finally, I take issue with the author's framing of this society in the author's note as just "a little bit better" than what actually happened in history. Empires require incredible amounts of violence to expand and maintain. Surely the author could have explored possible contradictions between how the empire is on the surface and what people experience on a more in-depth level. But nope. It's just, "What if there was a British empire that respected your pronouns and said Black Lives Matter? uwu" And because of this surface-level plot, it felt like there were never any real stakes or point to any of the characters' actions.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation
Moderate: Medical content, Stalking, and Sexual content
Minor: Mental illness, Slavery, and Religious bigotry
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