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sarah2438's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
2.0
Review contains spoilers.
I went in with low expectations. I was intrigued and started to really enjoy it. But then I noticed the issues...
Here is a list of problems I had with this book:
-- It was far longer than it needed to be, with plenty of unnecessary conflict that didn't add to the story.
-- Lua was a very toxic character, and it makes me feel weird that the only genderqueer character was so mentally unstable. Maybe that's supposed to be okay, since no one calls out how batshit crazy and toxic Lua is, but all of that just left a bad taste in my mouth. And regardless of how bad Lua is, the end of their story is not the positive one it's made out to be. They are dating an abusive douchebag, and their relationship will 100% be just abuse back and forth.
-- The SA storyline made me feel really uncomfortable because of the "love interest needs a backstory to explain why they're so moody so let's say they experienced SA" trope, which I really don't like.
-- The faux-science. I didn't think any of it made sense, and seeing the actual void at the end and having all of these unanswered questions that Ozzy never even attempts to understand was very frustrating. Ants had an open ending that I really enjoyed. This one had a closed ending with a million unsatisfied questions.
-- Finally, this book was too similar to We Are the Ants. We have a young gay boy in Florida who may or may not be crazy with his beliefs that he knows something about the universe that no one else does. He also has a mentor teacher. Because of this similarity, comparison is impossible to avoid, and Ants without a doubt comes out on top. (Something Hutchinson should've reused-- brief article chapters. Imagine articles talking about advancements in our understanding of the universe... as it's shrinking with each chapter! Would've been awesome.)
Things I liked:
-- The writing style. Even when I didn't like the plot, the writing was strong in it's mixture of sentimentality + dry humor.
-- The concept. I would've liked to have seen more done with it, but I do like this idea that the universe is shrinking and most of us have no clue we're forgetting things.
I think this is a two-star read, unfortunately. The cons just can't come close to balancing out the pros.
I went in with low expectations. I was intrigued and started to really enjoy it. But then I noticed the issues...
Here is a list of problems I had with this book:
-- It was far longer than it needed to be, with plenty of unnecessary conflict that didn't add to the story.
-- Lua was a very toxic character, and it makes me feel weird that the only genderqueer character was so mentally unstable. Maybe that's supposed to be okay, since no one calls out how batshit crazy and toxic Lua is, but all of that just left a bad taste in my mouth. And regardless of how bad Lua is, the end of their story is not the positive one it's made out to be. They are dating an abusive douchebag, and their relationship will 100% be just abuse back and forth.
-- The SA storyline made me feel really uncomfortable because of the "love interest needs a backstory to explain why they're so moody so let's say they experienced SA" trope, which I really don't like.
-- The faux-science. I didn't think any of it made sense, and seeing the actual void at the end and having all of these unanswered questions that Ozzy never even attempts to understand was very frustrating. Ants had an open ending that I really enjoyed. This one had a closed ending with a million unsatisfied questions.
-- Finally, this book was too similar to We Are the Ants. We have a young gay boy in Florida who may or may not be crazy with his beliefs that he knows something about the universe that no one else does. He also has a mentor teacher. Because of this similarity, comparison is impossible to avoid, and Ants without a doubt comes out on top. (Something Hutchinson should've reused-- brief article chapters. Imagine articles talking about advancements in our understanding of the universe... as it's shrinking with each chapter! Would've been awesome.)
Things I liked:
-- The writing style. Even when I didn't like the plot, the writing was strong in it's mixture of sentimentality + dry humor.
-- The concept. I would've liked to have seen more done with it, but I do like this idea that the universe is shrinking and most of us have no clue we're forgetting things.
I think this is a two-star read, unfortunately. The cons just can't come close to balancing out the pros.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm
Moderate: Rape, Domestic abuse, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Gaslighting, Adult/minor relationship, and Bullying
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