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mebius's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
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
3.0
timinbc's review against another edition
3.0
At first I liked the what's-going-on puzzle, but it soon became clear that . But we still have "Whodunit?" and "Why?" so we're OK.
Newman wanted to write about mental illness and non-traditional feelings about motherhood, and that's OK. For me, she spent too long on it.
I had read the first two, but remembered them only vaguely. I must have retained the ending subconsciously, because I felt this one ended with a big old Pffffft! It's kinda hard to sell "we're all gonna die!" when you have a first-person narrator.
And I have to ask, maybe I missed it, WHY was her ring replaced with a fake? Did they want her to figure out what was up?
Also, the thing with Travis/Trevor/whatever and the secret comm channel inside a mersive? Came across as desperate handwaving to solve a plot problem. Ditto Banks's ability to go undetected with very little effort. You can maybe sell me the latter by saying that the AI was not unsympathetic to their situation, and was looking the other way whenever ot could plausibly do so.
Worth reading, but I'm not eager for more.
Spoiler
Anna was being gaslit.Newman wanted to write about mental illness and non-traditional feelings about motherhood, and that's OK. For me, she spent too long on it.
I had read the first two, but remembered them only vaguely. I must have retained the ending subconsciously, because I felt this one ended with a big old Pffffft! It's kinda hard to sell "we're all gonna die!" when you have a first-person narrator.
And I have to ask, maybe I missed it, WHY was her ring replaced with a fake? Did they want her to figure out what was up?
Also, the thing with Travis/Trevor/whatever and the secret comm channel inside a mersive? Came across as desperate handwaving to solve a plot problem. Ditto Banks's ability to go undetected with very little effort. You can maybe sell me the latter by saying that the AI was not unsympathetic to their situation, and was looking the other way whenever ot could plausibly do so.
Worth reading, but I'm not eager for more.
crimsoncor's review against another edition
5.0
I can't tell if I liked this more or less than After Atlas. They are both so similar and yet so different; both are incredible. Here we have a supremely unreliable narrator, a narrator who doesn't even trust they can trust even themselves. And yet, again, the broken parts of the main character are also some of what propels them to the end. As Newman points out in the afterwards, we almost never get the people in books for whom being a parent is a struggle not a joy. Sure, lots of books about people who struggle to provide for their families but not people for whom the desire for the child is a struggle. Nice to see that done so well here. Reminded me a bit of [b:Six Wakes|28962996|Six Wakes|Mur Lafferty|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1483175828l/28962996._SY75_.jpg|46869174] as well.
frasersimons's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-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
3.0
A bit less interesting than the other setups, but mostly because the mystery revolving around a woman either experiencing psychosis or a conspiracy feels like it is well and truly drawn out, as are her musings on motherhood, atypical as they are. The character work and themes all feel thread upon and the cliffhanger from the previous book isn’t answered, nor is the macro plot line much at all.
Aside from pacing and what feels like filler, it was still compelling enough to get through because the mystery was done well.
Aside from pacing and what feels like filler, it was still compelling enough to get through because the mystery was done well.
chlcrc617's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
booksmacked's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-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
3.75
karinlib's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars really. I rated this a little less than the other two books in the series. Newman's prose is amazing. I have a really hard time putting her books down, once I have started. It seemed to get bogged down in the middle, but I really liked the ending.
shadyeglenn's review
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
mabs's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
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
4.5
librarian_of_trantor's review against another edition
4.0
Like [b:After Atlas|28361265|After Atlas (Planetfall, #2)|Emma Newman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1456689269s/28361265.jpg|48430277] this is a tightly plotted story where all the pieces fit nicely together at the end. The characters are well drawn and the world well built. Newman does a good job of describing the struggle with mental health issues. But there are a couple sections of the book where the first person narrator's inner turmoil needed to be balanced more with some action.