NMwritergal

Where is book 2?

Revisado: 04-26-25

I listened to this twice for free with KU. When I went to find it yesterday, it was gone. So I used a credit--that's how much I like it.

I almost want to call it a "cozy" science fiction/mystery novel.

The first mystery is our MC, Anailu. She's got grey hair and skin. Found as a toddler in a dying spaceship, nobody knows where she came from or what race she is. There's the mystery of the ship--and where the necessary parts are, the mystery of who wants to kill her.

While it does feel cozy (lots of emphasis on Anailu growing as a person, making friends) there's lots of fixing the ship, maintaining the ship, etc.

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The fourth section makes the book worth it

Revisado: 04-25-25

If you don't enjoy unlikeable narrators, you might want to skip this one because it's only the last section who has a likeable one.

If this were a shorter book, the 3 unlikeable narrators may have been more tolerable. We start off with the father, and it's ok for a couple of hours but then becomes tedious as he, his wife, teenaged daughter (the 4th section's narrator), son, and infant daughter escape the fire. He's interesting but his...issues...just become too much. I started scrubbing forward.

Melissa is intolerable (second section) and I scrubbed forward a lot.

Anders is awful but interesting enough until he becomes completely horrendous. More fast forwarding.

Villia (sp?) is the only one I could stand to listen to all the way though. She's completely different from how the dad sees her in the first section and this section was really interesting.

The four narratives are all interconnected (to a greater or lesser degree) so I didn't want to completely skip the middle two but the degree to which most of the characters are horrid was a bit overwhelming.

If the writing had not been so stellar, I would have given up entirely in the first section. At least the dad has SOME redeeming qualities and to varying degrees you understand why he feels and thinks as he does. If the book had started with Melissa or Anders, I would have quit after a half an hour.

I'm guessing that those who don't have issues with unlikable narrators will rate this a 4 or 5. The climate change aspect was very prevalent and interesting.

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Audio narrator is horrible

Revisado: 04-23-25

Good story but the audio performer is so awful (and horrendous with male voices), she ruins the book. The female main character has a gravely voice but the male characters have smooth voices, a little high--picture a 5-yr-old with hands on hips, petulant, saying, "You're not the boss of me." Now imagine that cadence repeating in every sentence. It's just strange and unpleasant.

This is the only time I've listened to Elizabeth Morton narrate, and I'm guessing in the many years since this book she either improved or dropped off the map because I don't think I've encountered her again.

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Enjoyable listen for fans…

Revisado: 04-23-25

…of Kristen Kish and Top Chef fans. Kish has lots of interesting things to say. Unfortunately, many of them she says about 10 to 50 times--e.g., countless repetitions of how her family loves her, how she has social anxiety, and stuff like that. The book needed a serious edit. She also is excessively grateful. I mean, it's nice that she appreciates what she has and she seems like a genuine person, but it was excessive. She does a lot better when she's just describing what's happening--working in kitchens, working on TV, opening a restaurant, meeting her wife... Still, it was a good listen.

As a reader of memoirs (even when I've never heard of the person), the mark of a good memoir is that it doesn't matter that the person is unfamiliar to you. There are plenty that if you're unfamiliar with the author then it's only about the story and the writing. I'm not sure how much appeal this will have to someone who doesn't watch Top Chef and isn't a fan of Kish. There's enough interesting stuff (Korean, adopted by white people, raised in the midwest, queer, cooking, TV) but it's mostly "tell" rather than "show," which weakens the writing.

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False "Advertising" all around

Revisado: 04-21-25

This is not like The Handmaids Tale or Wilder Girls. This is not dystopian or post-apocalyptical. It is a very long novel about a religious cult. There is a pandemic out there but it is so little of the story. It was ok but if you're not into religious fanaticism, you might die of boredom. I listened at 1.5 speed with half an ear.

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Poorly written, badly edited

Revisado: 04-18-25

Full of plot holes. No world building. The only reviews are good ones—friends of the author I suspect.

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Very interesting, albeit fairly academic

Revisado: 04-16-25

If you're interested in the subject of war brides of World War 2, I'd recommend this. As far as I know, this is the only book specifically about Jewish war brides so I snapped it up the day it was released.

It is pretty academic though the author does follow a number of different women so you hear pieces of their stories, which provides a break from all the (interesting) facts.

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Seriously riveting!

Revisado: 04-14-25

I love it when investigative journalism rises to the level of incredible storytelling. This one did. I listened to this on normal speed because I didn't want it to end.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

A few hours in and I'm bored and have no idea...

Revisado: 04-14-25

...what's going on. It's just a massive info dump about "the cure" and what it's lead to, but it's so boring that even an info dump (which generally holds my attention if it's relevant to the story) can't hold my attention.

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So boring I fell asleep...

Revisado: 04-14-25

I dozed off and on through this book after the first hour. So boring. Lots of tell, tell, tell, but nothing very interesting.

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