neera_exlibris's reviews
286 reviews

An Accident of Stars by Foz Meadows

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 27%.
I really didn't like that sexual harassment and physical trauma were used very transparently as ways to make Saffron dislike her world and create a secondary reason for why she couldn't immediately go back to Earth. Additionally, the sexual harassment was used as a quick and easy way to make the reader sympathise with Saffron before she goes through the portal, instead of just allowing us to spend more time with her. A lot of things about this reminded me of old-school fantasy and not in a good way. The physical trauma was presumably also meant to show the reader how dangerous the situation in Kena was at that moment, but that could've been done in so many ways that didn't involve what felt like frankly unnecessary trauma for the main character. 

I'm very glad that I'd already read the author's more recent book, A Strange and Stubborn Endurance, before picking this up because otherwise I would've missed out on a great book!
Everfair: A Novel by Nisi Shawl

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 23%.
I wanted to like this book so much after hearing great things about it from authors I trust, but although I was really interested in the premise and the ideas being explored here, there's just something about the writing style that didn't work for me 😩