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A review by usandalgona
Null Set by S.L. Huang
5.0
SPOILERS GALORE - PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
I love how we only get little peeks and hints of Cas's past in each book. Also, I love Cas and Rio's mutual trust, it's something really private and I don't know. I rarely see relationships like this written in books and not revealed instantly. Like, it was literally the first line of the first book, and we still dunno what is going on, and I love it because I know there's gonna be substance behind it. A good reason. So thank you, Ms. Huang.
But many questions. A good 80% of them have to do with Rio and his background, which will hopefully be given in tiny morsels because that's how I like it, to be honest. Building up suspense instead of instant gratification. But also, something a little trivial (?): what is Rio's first name? I'm pretty certain Cas doesn't even know. It's not like his name is Rio Sonrio, right? Btw, Sonrio is a very ironic choice name. I appreciate it. And Cas's other name means something really, really intriguing. I can go on about their names for a while, especially especially Cas Russell's. Anyway, lots of suspicions around Rio and I'm still entertaining all of these theories with nothing to go on, like a lovesick fool for this series.
I also have a feeling Null Set is supposed to make us feel like we can more or less guess at Cas's history and be more or less right, but I'm pretty certain Huang has way more in store for us than just that. This series doesn't have a set number of books determined yet, after all.
I also love how the idea of mind control was explored in this book, and how Rio respects the choices Cas makes and lets her make her errors, if we should call them that. It's so refreshing and kind of encouraging that she was so resistant to telepathy even if that was a possible cure for her. And also, thank you so much for addressing romance clichés and giving a huge fuck you to that. It's really hard to write about someone who loses her own past and decides she doesn't want anything to do with it and the past chases her anyway, as if almost forcing her to give up her present self. So I loved Cas's reluctance and stubbornness and her unwavering belief in at least this. She has an attachment to herself in the present, and that's something I admire. And yes, I liked her hypocrisy. I read for hypocritical characters, because it's just the way life goes.
I'm so psyched for Critical Point. More Cas and more Rio, please. Because wow, the last chapter finally brought up the question all the readers have but nope, we only get a teeny tiny answer for it. So many theories in my head right now, and I'm not sure if I hope all of them are wrong or a few of them are right, because quite a few of them are clumsy and... underwhelming. And I know Arthur's background will come up, too (the question was brought up by Checker's slip-up) but... I'm a lot less attached to him. I think because he likes to fix people. I'm all in for more Checker. God, I love it so much when he and Cas bicker. And Sonya is seriously cool and underrated and I'm sort of hoping she might come back? Heh. I feel like I'm writing a wishlist here.
I love how we only get little peeks and hints of Cas's past in each book. Also, I love Cas and Rio's mutual trust, it's something really private and I don't know. I rarely see relationships like this written in books and not revealed instantly. Like, it was literally the first line of the first book, and we still dunno what is going on, and I love it because I know there's gonna be substance behind it. A good reason. So thank you, Ms. Huang.
But many questions. A good 80% of them have to do with Rio and his background, which will hopefully be given in tiny morsels because that's how I like it, to be honest. Building up suspense instead of instant gratification. But also, something a little trivial (?): what is Rio's first name? I'm pretty certain Cas doesn't even know. It's not like his name is Rio Sonrio, right? Btw, Sonrio is a very ironic choice name. I appreciate it. And Cas's other name means something really, really intriguing. I can go on about their names for a while, especially especially Cas Russell's. Anyway, lots of suspicions around Rio and I'm still entertaining all of these theories with nothing to go on, like a lovesick fool for this series.
I also have a feeling Null Set is supposed to make us feel like we can more or less guess at Cas's history and be more or less right, but I'm pretty certain Huang has way more in store for us than just that. This series doesn't have a set number of books determined yet, after all.
I also love how the idea of mind control was explored in this book, and how Rio respects the choices Cas makes and lets her make her errors, if we should call them that. It's so refreshing and kind of encouraging that she was so resistant to telepathy even if that was a possible cure for her. And also, thank you so much for addressing romance clichés and giving a huge fuck you to that. It's really hard to write about someone who loses her own past and decides she doesn't want anything to do with it and the past chases her anyway, as if almost forcing her to give up her present self. So I loved Cas's reluctance and stubbornness and her unwavering belief in at least this. She has an attachment to herself in the present, and that's something I admire. And yes, I liked her hypocrisy. I read for hypocritical characters, because it's just the way life goes.
I'm so psyched for Critical Point. More Cas and more Rio, please. Because wow, the last chapter finally brought up the question all the readers have but nope, we only get a teeny tiny answer for it. So many theories in my head right now, and I'm not sure if I hope all of them are wrong or a few of them are right, because quite a few of them are clumsy and... underwhelming. And I know Arthur's background will come up, too (the question was brought up by Checker's slip-up) but... I'm a lot less attached to him. I think because he likes to fix people. I'm all in for more Checker. God, I love it so much when he and Cas bicker. And Sonya is seriously cool and underrated and I'm sort of hoping she might come back? Heh. I feel like I'm writing a wishlist here.