Reviews

The Old Lie by Claire G. Coleman

Only show reviews with written explanations

tmdreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

An alien war comes to earth, humans join with the Federation thinking they saved earth from the Conglomerate but when those who went to help fight the war return to earth what will they find?

This is a heart breaking science fiction pulling from truth and history. It’s ultimately a story about colonization and it doesn’t hide the parallel between human colonization and alien colonization. There are several POVs of humans impacted by the war and the threads that bind them get revealed by the end.

Content Warnings

spinescens's review

Go to review page

DNF at 50%

Honestly I'm upset to DNF this one. Read 'Terra Nullius' and loved it, but honestly whenever I pick this up I just lose interest. Hopefully I'll return to this in the future (and love it) but for now it joins the DNF pile.

carleesi's review

Go to review page

I just wasn’t drawn in to this story. The short disjointed chapters from different POVs made me feel lost everytime someone came up again, I struggled to keep track of characters and storylines.

I was also pulled out of the story whenever descriptions of other species were vague or alluded to. I like a rich sci-fi/ spec fic world that helps me imagine the diversity in sentient life around the galaxy.

gbatts's review

Go to review page

2.0

I really struggled with this one. The prose was clunky, some metaphors seemed mixed and paragraphs lacked progressive flow. As an example of the last point, at the beginning of the paragraph Kelly noticed a drop of water on her phone. Next sentence was that her eyes were pouring tears. By the end of the paragraph her tears were red, presumably with blood. There was no process of escalation between the three descriptions of tears.
The story was also remarkably unimaginative. My guess is that this is why it’s not being marketed as sci-fi; it’s much more historical fiction that is set in the future. I’d recommend saving time by just reading the author’s note at the back.
Redeeming the novel slightly is that the characters, although one dimensional, were sketched with warmth and the sense of longing for country was acute.

katelarsenkeys's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous hopeful reflective

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Cleverly devastating speculative fiction that uses an intergalactic war to expose startling insights into nationalism, colonialism, gender and more.

jadeaway's review

Go to review page

4.0

A little disjointed to begin with, but regardless, I found myself invested in the characters very early on. An interesting take on an issue that needs more discussion with an unexpected ending.