this had some at times annoying, at times downright confusing consistency errors that should've been caught by an editor or proofeader, but it is a sothis had some at times annoying, at times downright confusing consistency errors that should've been caught by an editor or proofeader, but it is a solid entry in the series. didn't activate the brain worms as much as the ancillary trilogy but ingray is a believable protagonist in another cool world out of ann leckie's mind....more
a smart and gripping conclusion to a deeply moving series. one of those stories where you wonder how the series could have ended any other way. i lovea smart and gripping conclusion to a deeply moving series. one of those stories where you wonder how the series could have ended any other way. i love u breq i love u seivarden <3...more
It’s a slower pace, compared to Justice. There are a lot of sociopolitics that don’t grip and entertain quite as much as Justice’s tense revenge thrilIt’s a slower pace, compared to Justice. There are a lot of sociopolitics that don’t grip and entertain quite as much as Justice’s tense revenge thriller (and I enjoy sociopolitics normally, it just wasn’t what I expected from Breq). I imagine it’s setting the stage for Mercy so I’m very excited to see where that one goes....more
as a sequel, this didn’t capture me as much as “rogue protocol,� because it seemed a bit like its background goal of obviously setting up the pieces fas a sequel, this didn’t capture me as much as “rogue protocol,� because it seemed a bit like its background goal of obviously setting up the pieces for book four cast a shadow over its own plot, but I still enjoyed it. Bot’s relationship with these new characters isn’t as strong as its relationships in previous books�, but the way it reacted to and engaged with the new bot character was both interesting and heartbreaking,...more
a delightful read. i was a little underwhelmed by the answer to murderbot's origins, it felt a little anticlimactic, but i had fun with the "a" plot: a delightful read. i was a little underwhelmed by the answer to murderbot's origins, it felt a little anticlimactic, but i had fun with the "a" plot: murderbot learning how to be a person (which involves learning how to pass as human, something it is very uncomfortable with) and ultimately learning to make friends, and learning what its own morals are. ART was a great addition to this cast and Tapan is a great new human character; i hope to see both of them again in future installments. ART and murderbot watching serials together might now be my favorite scene across both books so far. excited to dig into the next one....more
I liked this more than I thought I was going to. By the time I reached the end, I was surprisingly emotional, and I realized its shortness was the perI liked this more than I thought I was going to. By the time I reached the end, I was surprisingly emotional, and I realized its shortness was the perfect length to get me attached and leave me wanting to know what happens to Murderbot after the last line. I didn’t think I would be picking up the others in the series, but after the ending here, I think I would be missing out if I didn’t continue....more
i'm not sure where to begin with this. i certainly wanted to like it more than i did - i came in prepared to love it, high off of "what the hell did ii'm not sure where to begin with this. i certainly wanted to like it more than i did - i came in prepared to love it, high off of "what the hell did i just read," which i thoroughly enjoyed. i started out believing this is an interesting idea about technology gone wrong. but then, slowly, my temple started throbbing, and then my face started melting around halfway through, and then the protagonist did nothing but scream and faint and be held hostage for 200 pages, occasionally delivering shitty clap-backs that only succeeded in giving me second-hand embarrassment, and around then was when i started allowing myself to ask the question i try never to ask: how the f*** did this get published???
i thought this would be a book about social media, classism, or the dark future of technology. instead it was a book about... shit blowing up? mindless violence against women? nothing is learned, nobody grows. (in case i need to say it, which apparently i do, no white man should ever write a story that includes women lecturing men about sexism. or people of color lecturing white people about racism. every instance of these came off so awkward, ham-fisted, and embarrassing that they felt more racist than the actual racism.)
because yeah, of course there's misogyny and racism, but there are a lot of other terrible things i could mention in this review. i could talk about poorly this thing is edited; there are several typos that someone should have caught in here. i could talk about how none of the characters had realistic or consistent personalities, including the main character, who is so aggressively annoying that i had to double-check with my friends to ask if any of us ever acted like that as 20 year olds and discover, no, it wasn't just me, zooey ashe is just not a likable, intelligent, or mature person, leading me to the suspicion that this is just what happens when middle-aged men are allowed to write about young women with no supervision for 400 pages, and when nobody on the publishing staff stops to say "uh, real people don't actually talk like this." i could talk about how the only thing consistent about zoey is that she is consistently the stupidest person in the room, a fact that she always fails to appreciate, as she quickly and eagerly she takes up bossing everyone around, because that's a charming feature that we want in our female protagonist, ladies, am i right? i could talk about how the world-building falls apart after thinking about it for three seconds (at that point, i had to just accept this book as a loss, because to be fair, i've accepted way shittier fictional worlds, but none of them actually made me question the sobriety of the author like this one did). i could talk about how most if not all of the POC are stereotypes; the chinese bodyguard is literally a ninja (wrong race) and at one point, explains the meaning of a kintsuji get-well gift (again, wrong race), which reads like it was taken straight from that barely-researched tumblr post that went viral on kintsuji pottery a few years ago. i could talk about how of the three female characters, all of the other women (aside from zoey, of course) are whores (her mom) or sluts she hates for no reason at all, a point zoey makes certain to hammer home several times, because of course women don't get along in this universe. i could mention how half of this book is just watching characters - older men, usually white, even the good guys - lecture to a young woman about the real meaning of life and the universe and humanity, about how the strong eat the weak, blah blah blah. i could talk about how the main character is a victim of sexual abuse that is brought up maybe twice times for shock and angst value, but gives no depth to and has no association with her actual actions or thought patterns or personality, and we're forced to watch male villains further torture, threaten, and abuse a woman as a form of torture porn for people who i guess didn't get enough of that in game of thrones.
i could talk about each of those for a long while, but i've already wasted enough braincells actually digesting it in real-time.
if i have learned anything from reading this, it is that i must accept that i am not a part of the target audience for david wong books. apparently that demographic will always be white men under 40 who still find fart jokes funny. the sad thing is that despite all the intelligence and black humor and creepy, unsettling philosophy that I love in the john & dave series, there was absolutely none of that author to be found here. whatever excitement i once had at finding out david wong has a series with a lead female character in a cyberpunk scifi series, is now down the toilet. as would be this book, if i owned a copy. but fortunately i just borrowed this ebook from the library, so at least by deleting it i can get my gigabyte space back....more
Loading...
