gossamer_lens's Reviews (1.48k)

I wished I like this more then I did. I think it is just too "intelligent" for me. Many poems seem to clearly have thought and word play within them... Things that I could get if I took some time to put two and two together. But I just don't particularly care for that kind of poetry reading. 

There was one poem that was towards the middle that was so very excellent and evocative that the whole thing was worth the read for myself... Though I cannot say I "liked" the book for it. The last poem was also good imo. 

I'm sure a lot of good things are going on here, just not in the way I enjoy for how I read poetry. 

I don't have much to say. I wanted more after reading the main trilogy. This gave something. It obviously couldn't give what the main story gave. It was nice to get a little last taste before saying goodbye to the series and helped me move on to other reading. 

This was a solid book. I think I would have truly loved it and felt heard in many ways if I had read this when I was 13-15 and it would have brought a lot of hope to my teen self suffering through the recent death of a loved one. 

Reading it now I had a hard time with the characters as everything felt a bit forced in trying to be "relatable." I struggled with the way the narrator would say things as if she had a lot more experience then she does... like she said something to the affect of her Grandma doing something specific every year for her boyfriend during Christmas when they have only been together for 1 year. Just odd little things where she would say things as if she has the knowledge of a mother who has had several kids, or many years with her partner... and it was clearly the author's voice bleeding through as the narrators. That all said... 

I would have given this a 4 star if it wasn't for the most cringy and weird and pointless intimacy scene. I cannot even say it was a make out session or sex scene... it was just the weirdest intimacy. It was a painful discovery of there being a weird other thing that people might be into sexually. Which I don't want to yuck anyone's yum, and it was probably so cringy and weird because the author wanted to write the intimacy of youthful exploration but didn't want to write teens actually doing it... but my god. If the teens just did it I would have felt more wholesome for it. 

This was a fun light sort of mystery read. I enjoyed the humor and I thought the ending was ambiguous and intriguing. I enjoyed the mystery being about what was causing strange events to occur and not about a crime case of some sort.... though crimes certainly did appear to happen. A fun afternoon read that I would recommend to anyone who wants something a little odd but funny to settle down with during a rainy day with a warm cider in hand. 

Just... I cannot with how good of a finale this was. You really had to wait for it over the course of the trilogy but it was well well worth it. I sat there just staring at a wall after for a solid while, processing. Thinking. Coming to terms with it being over. Just wow! 

Highly recommend to anyone who wants a dark, complex and thoughtful fantasy read that ties in real world topics in interesting and subversive ways. 

Please note the content warnings could spoil the content of the book(s).

I honestly just love these main characters and I'm so happy to have gotten this glimpse into their past life. Like I just loved it. 

I wanted to like this more then I did... I love all the characters and really care about who they are. But the text is a little difficult to read as it feels like something that could have been a handful of good graphic novel panels but got written out more fully and became clunky and a bit to "how to do therapy talk if you are a teenager." I did like the brief insight into Charlies' sister and her inner world and view of life...

I really liked these scenes in the Heartstopper show... I think the emotional through lines work when they are a bit less hammered upon and this might inspire me to do a rewatch. The show is so charming. I am excited to read Solitaire and hope it gives a bit more then this did. 

If this book had just had an unenjoyable lack of interesting characters, unenjoyable narration, and a completely dry plot... I could have given this a 3 star for the pure impact on the science fiction community. But then one realizes if he hadn't been there, someone else could have had the "impact" that is credited to him. So given the sexism, racism, and libertarian ideals of this book I cannot in any good conscious give this a higher rating then I am. I am giving it 0.5 because I was able to at least push through for the sake of participating in my book club and being able to give it the rating it deserves. 

What I loved: 
- It has a great title.... but it was titled by his editor. 
- Everyone was of mixed race and it is portrayed in a positive manner most of the time. 
- Mild spoiler:

Mike, the AI, was at some point given suction cups to use so that he could read physical books which was adorable

What I liked: 
 - Medium spoiler:

Mike overall was very cute and funny until the point where the revolution truly began

 
- The author created a type of creole that the whole book is written in. It is innovative even if unenjoyable to read.
-Full spoiler:

Mike's very apparent interest in jokes and the idea of "one time funny" or "all the time funny" gives a great lead into the idea that the plot might just be one big joke. This alongside the the light (but never fully explored) poking at the idea that computers cannot be fully trusted gives an interesting idea that maybe Mike's interest in the revolution is all one big joke.

What I hated: 
- The book is one big exposition. It just keeps info dumping after we meet two of the main side characters. It is dry, boring, and way to much telling and no showing. It feels in many ways like reading "terms and conditions". 
- It was overly boring in the way it chose to present the entire story. 1) There was no tension at any point in the book.

We are given "odds" for the likelihood of the revolution succeeding, but often after the fact of various events and it is the idea of tension. It doesn't provide any real tension because the book consistently is being told as "the history of the revolution" so we know where things are going.

2) No characters are made dimensional or interesting enough for one to care about them.

The main female character we are given is an archetype of a pretty blonde that the hero will get as a prize in the end for existing and for acknowledging to some level her basic humanity. She is a prop. The main character is just a guy who "goes with the flow" and never has any personality of his own other then "funny and friend of Mike and revolution". Another main character is just the authors self insert and is just spouting political nonsense that the author thinks is pure genius.

3) Some interesting ideas pop up and are just never explored for more boring explanations that go on for pages. 
-Full spoiler:

Main side characters dying at the end just after announcing the revolution won was ridiculous and laughable if I wasn't so bored at that point

 
- The "Feminism" 1) Women are constantly just there to provide and hand things to the men. 2) Women's boobs are mentioned an ungodly amount... 3) Women's autonomy is only due to how valuable they are to men as a limited commodity that must be preserved. 4) Women's role in almost every aspect of the books is to ask "silly questions that are smart only in that they allow the men to think further through things" and as "sex objects." 5) Author incorporates underage women to such an extent that it is highly uncomfortable and is presented in a way where it thinks you should be fine with it as a reader. 6) It would have been better the author just forgot women existed (like Asimov usually did). 
- Racism is just bad and this book tries to present very intense, objectifying and cartoonish black face as reasonable and fine. I get the times it was written in.... but not all books from the 1960's or earlier incorporated this and it just is disgusting and ages like milk. Also the person doing blackface is praised for her looks most when she stripes herself of the black face and presents again as a beautiful white woman... which undermines the one point I liked where everyone was mixed... because it clearly reads as being closer to white is better even if "others" are accepted. Then all over the place there are little racist phrases like, "Life has never been sacred in Africa." Just ew.
- I could go into it for ever... but the homophobia. The author goes out of his way to ensure that people know gay sex is a last resort only if women aren't available and that it is never considered proper. It just reeks of "no homo, I swear" while trying to also portray itself as considering a sexually liberated future. 
- Full spoiler:

There was no point to the revolution... it was artificially created, egged on and aided only by help of the super computer AI character, and it was so very stupid in how it ended and went nowhere.

 

A very solid installment in this series. I thought this would be the final book in the series and was really very disappointed when I realized about 75% of the way in that it definitely couldn't finish... I was just so ready to see where in the world it was going and I am so frustrated I have to wait in real time for the next book! It is just so good and I love the characters so very much. 

Really enjoyable sort of dark folktale vibe in the form of a graphic novel. Quite enjoyable!