heartbrekker's Reviews (797)

What does an exile, criminal's ex, bestselling author, and some scientists studying simulation theories via time travel in 2401 all have in common?

An unforgettable moment of pure, illustrious music spanning centuries.

"I think, as a species, we have a desire to believe that we're living at the climax of the story. It's kind of narcissism. We want to believe that we're uniquely important, that we're living at the end of history, that now, after all these millennia of false alarms, now is finally the worst that it's ever been, that finally we have reached the end of the world."

Emily St. John Mandel sold me as a talented writer the moment I read Station Eleven back in my first fiction class my freshman year of college. Her level of detail, symbolism, and commentary on the human spirit was music to my years— pun intended. I haven't read The Glass Hotel yet because I was nervous about the mixed reviews. It didn't seem like her writing, so I've been on the fence about it. Yet as soon as this was announced, I knew it would lean more towards Station Eleven.

Sea of Tranquility follows multiple POVs that upon first inspection seem entirely unrelated, especially cause some take place centuries apart, but as the story develops, the stories start to interlink and grow into a broader, all encompassing story. If you're a fan of Cloud Cuckoo Land or This Is How You Lose the Time War then I highly recommend that you pick this up.

The eeriest part of the novel is actually not what you'd initially expect. Sea of Tranquility is actually the first book I've read that actively discusses COVID-19. Granted, it's not directly in line with that year, but the book mentions it offhandedly during another pandemic time period. My mouth was hanging open as soon as that word crossed my line of vision, and I had to close the book for a second. The fact that so much time has passed that now we can read about it in currently published fiction... means A LOT of time has passed. I was taken aback, and I needed to grab my bearings. That realization makes me go back to the first quote i mention in this review, and I sat with those thoughts for a while. I wish I could be in my fiction class discussing this book in comparison to Station Eleven.

Some other interesting elements about this book involve music in a silent Canadian forest, morality of time travel, space colonization, and even some innate human rebellion. All you have to do is get past those initial confusing chapters, and then you'll be on your way reading this captivating speculative fiction piece.

Thank you to PRH for sending me a finished copy to review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

What this book suffered the most from was the fact that it’s a standalone. Too much happened in such a short amount of time. I was never able to build a deep connection to the characters because their arcs happened so quickly and constantly. I was just along for the ride, never with them. Plus, while at times the writing is beautiful, there’s many other points where it gives me the ick because “she wanted to see their demise” or whatever sounds like a cartoon villain cackling and twisting their mustache. The ending leaves the story open to a sequel, but if that’s the case, there should’ve been three books to build this tension, plot, and characters.

The potential was there— just not executed correctly.

DNF @ 50%

There was one big issue for me while reading this book, and it is the reason that this rating is as low as it is— slow pacing. Now don't get me wrong, I'm a sucker for a slow build story. Those are typically my favorites, but The Final Strife was different because it was too slow. I understand the need to build the relationship between two characters, but it felt extremely drawn out to the point where we were getting way too many casual conversations. The trials of combat and skill, in my opinion, are the driving forces of the plot, and I felt like they were sprinkled far and few between. Their pages compared to the others were too small. I think this novel could have been around 150-175 pages shorter, and it still would have accomplished the same thing.

Now in terms of the characters, I adored them. Morally grey leads are my favorite, and all of them are doing what they deem as best even when it toes the line to criminal actions. Sylah dreams of the days when the rebellion will overthrow the current people in power, but she's currently suffering with an extreme addiction to joba seeds. The handling of drug addiction/ abuse and withdrawal were one of the most powerful parts to this story. It made me tear up to see Sylah lose her potential again and again because she can't help but get more seeds. It was for sure the best character arc, and I am very excited to see what she has up her sleeve in the sequel. Moreover, Anoor is the daughter of their empire's ruler, but she holds a terrible secret— she's actually not the ruler's true daughter because her blood runs blue (red= elite, blue= poor, clear= slaves). While Sylah's arc was stronger, Anoor is a close second. She grows from a naive, vulnerable woman into a capable and strong potential leader. She's the one who goes through the trials of combat and skill, and with each trial, her growth is steady but always rising. In many ways, I think this book was more of a setup than anything else because both Sylah and Anoor's growth made them better/ more interesting characters. Lastly, Hassa is the final main POV, but I'm not going to say much about her since her POVs are honestly the most secretive and intriguing.

Another point that'll be interpreted differently depending on the reader was the fatphobia. It was flagrant and almost never rebutted. Anoor is constantly dealing with comments about her body from her mother to even Sylah, who is ultimately her love interest and complicates this more. While Anoor does ultimately rise above that negativity to be confidant with herself, this doesn't necessarily happen until the very end, and she's forced into this headspace by some negative situations. There's a lot of heavy topics within this story that are actively rejected by multiple characters and the content within the book, but the fatphobia was less so, which made me uncomfortable at times.

Overall, like I said before, this book felt like a setup one rather than a start to a trilogy. I was highly anticipating this, so my disappointment is intense. The Final Strife isn't a bad book; the writing (besides pacing) was good, and I loved the characters. It just needs more work, and I'm hopeful that the sequel will be better.