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inkandplasma 's review for:
The Lightest Object in the Universe
by Kimi Eisele
Full review: https://inkandplasma.wordpress.com/2020/06/29/the-lightest-object-in-the-universe-by-kimi-eisele-blog-tour-review/
I’ve read a lot of books about the world ending, but Kimi Eisele’s THE LIGHTEST OBJECT IN THE UNIVERSE is really a story about the world beginning. And god, it’s beautiful. It absolutely has its dark moments, covering both the mass loss of any apocalyptic setting and the loss of friends and family in the aftermath. There’s also an extremely dark scene towards the end of the novel, related to the trigger warnings listed at the top of my post. Those dark moments are perfectly balanced though, and what I loved about this book was the hope threaded through the entire thing. When I finished the final page I honestly hugged my kindle to my chest for a minute because it left such a positive impression on me that it had me a little weepy.
Initially I was a little concerned that I might not be well suited for the book because I’m used to fast-paced books, but after the 30% mark I couldn’t put it down anyway! THE LIGHTEST OBJECT is slow paced, but in a beautifully measured way. It’s not rushing towards a finale but slowly building. Which is fitting, because THE LIGHTEST OBJECT IN THE UNIVERSE is all about rebuilding. I think that’s what makes it so appealing, especially with the world the way it is right now. Rather than focusing on the immediate destruction like most post-apocalyptic stories I’ve read, Beatrix and Carson’s story is about societies rebuilding themselves from the ground up. And it was incredible to see.
People in this story are, with a few significant exceptions, inherently good. They’re protecting themselves and their family but they’re not going out of their way to hurt each other if they can share and show kindness instead. There’s a beautiful moment when a moment of conflict is resolved by Carson teaching would-be robbers to identify safe food, instead of attacking back. I loved seeing people working to better their community, even if it did make me realise I have absolutely no marketable skills in-case-of-apocalypse. I need to learn how to grow food or dig a well, stat.
The sub-plot around Blue was interesting but honestly? I was so interested in the Halcyon radio station and the development of Beatrix’s settlement, and in Carson’s cross-country trek that even if that big (and well-written, don’t get me wrong) plot was removed, I’d still have adored this book. The characters were all just realistically well-rounded, skilled and flawed in lots of different and fascinating ways, and I loved seeing how people fit their skills to the situation to all help out.
I struggled a little with the POV switches, though that may have been the formatting in the eARC that I had. The POV between Carson and Beatrix switched without much warning or significant line breaks. Even if that wasn’t a formatting mistake in the eARC I did get used to it eventually and it didn’t detract much from the reading experience. In the end I absolutely loved this book and if anyone has been feeling a lot of ‘the world sucks’ blues lately, I would recommend THE LIGHTEST OBJECT IN THE UNIVERSE – the ending made me feel like there was a whole new world waiting to be built from scratch.
I’ve read a lot of books about the world ending, but Kimi Eisele’s THE LIGHTEST OBJECT IN THE UNIVERSE is really a story about the world beginning. And god, it’s beautiful. It absolutely has its dark moments, covering both the mass loss of any apocalyptic setting and the loss of friends and family in the aftermath. There’s also an extremely dark scene towards the end of the novel, related to the trigger warnings listed at the top of my post. Those dark moments are perfectly balanced though, and what I loved about this book was the hope threaded through the entire thing. When I finished the final page I honestly hugged my kindle to my chest for a minute because it left such a positive impression on me that it had me a little weepy.
Initially I was a little concerned that I might not be well suited for the book because I’m used to fast-paced books, but after the 30% mark I couldn’t put it down anyway! THE LIGHTEST OBJECT is slow paced, but in a beautifully measured way. It’s not rushing towards a finale but slowly building. Which is fitting, because THE LIGHTEST OBJECT IN THE UNIVERSE is all about rebuilding. I think that’s what makes it so appealing, especially with the world the way it is right now. Rather than focusing on the immediate destruction like most post-apocalyptic stories I’ve read, Beatrix and Carson’s story is about societies rebuilding themselves from the ground up. And it was incredible to see.
People in this story are, with a few significant exceptions, inherently good. They’re protecting themselves and their family but they’re not going out of their way to hurt each other if they can share and show kindness instead. There’s a beautiful moment when a moment of conflict is resolved by Carson teaching would-be robbers to identify safe food, instead of attacking back. I loved seeing people working to better their community, even if it did make me realise I have absolutely no marketable skills in-case-of-apocalypse. I need to learn how to grow food or dig a well, stat.
The sub-plot around Blue was interesting but honestly? I was so interested in the Halcyon radio station and the development of Beatrix’s settlement, and in Carson’s cross-country trek that even if that big (and well-written, don’t get me wrong) plot was removed, I’d still have adored this book. The characters were all just realistically well-rounded, skilled and flawed in lots of different and fascinating ways, and I loved seeing how people fit their skills to the situation to all help out.
I struggled a little with the POV switches, though that may have been the formatting in the eARC that I had. The POV between Carson and Beatrix switched without much warning or significant line breaks. Even if that wasn’t a formatting mistake in the eARC I did get used to it eventually and it didn’t detract much from the reading experience. In the end I absolutely loved this book and if anyone has been feeling a lot of ‘the world sucks’ blues lately, I would recommend THE LIGHTEST OBJECT IN THE UNIVERSE – the ending made me feel like there was a whole new world waiting to be built from scratch.