Spencer Wilkerson

Fun until it wasn’t

Revisado: 10-27-24

As other reviewers have noted, the ending is…well, it isn’t an ending at all. The book telegraphs its punches to a degree visible from space. From very, very early on, you know exactly where this is going. I was expecting a twist, some kink in the otherwise clear-as-glass story arc. The only twist was that there was no twist at all. Whatever you’re suspecting the ending is going to be around 25% of the way into the book, you’re right. That’s it. There’s no explanation, no deeper questioning, no attempt at meaning, and not even bothering to close all the plot loops.

This author clearly went to the Tana French School of Loose Ends, where they firmly believe that the best way to end a story is to give the reader absolutely no closure. It feels like the author was writing this for a timed exam, and when the teacher said, “Pencils down!”, she hurled hers across the room, got up, and walked out.

2 stars for being mildly entertaining up to the last 25%, and 1 more star for wasting less than 3 hours of my life. Would not read anything else by this author.

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Hard to connect with

Revisado: 09-07-23

I deeply wanted to like this book. Mecha and AI in a weird future-past-present? Sign me up. Especially with a cover blurb from Tamsyn Muir, whom I adore. But alas, it is extremely hard to build any sort of emotional connection to the world or these characters because the author buries everything in layers of obfuscation that feel pretty unnecessary.
I respect her commitment to avoiding info-dumps. Another reviewer was like, “Please spell out the world-building,” and I disagree with that sentiment. Info-dumps take you out of the flow of the story and often feel very YA. The author clearly decided she would avoid them altogether. That’s great, it’s a laudable goal, but she doesn’t pull it off. I spent 80% of this book saying—out loud—“what? wait…what? who? why?!” There’d be these passages where the narration was like “suddenly it all made sense” or “sunai understood everything” and I was like, “Uhh, I don’t.”
I STILL do not understand almost any character’s motivation, which I think is the central reason it’s so hard to connect with. The main love story is so rushed that it’s nonsensical. Everyone knows everyone or maybe they don’t but they definitely do? Divine convergence, amirite? Who is the Harbor? Wtf do they want? What does ANYONE want? The plot ends up feeling like nonsense, and by the end I was just desperate for it to be over. The last 40 minutes took me two weeks to finish. The ending lacked any sort of emotional punch, both because of the aforementioned complete lack of understanding of why anyone was doing what they were doing, but also because the perspective shifts so constantly that it becomes impossible to tell who is talking.
It’s hard not to compare this to what I think to be pretty obvious influences: Tamsyn Muir’s Locked Tomb series and Neon Genesis Evangelion. The Locked Tomb is similar in how it handles world-building, but the writing is nuanced instead of intentionally obfuscated, and you learn about the world in pieces that make sense, like a slowly revealed tapestry instead of jackson pollock painting. Where I think it fails in comparison to Eva is that was a visual medium. The author has also written graphic novels, and I honestly think this would have been waaaay better as one. She could do so much with images that she can’t with words, and I think we’d all be less confused.
I had this on my wishlist for almost a year before it came out, and I was pretty disappointed in the result. I highly doubt I’d return for a book 2, but I might sample the author’s work again down the road once she’s figured some things out.

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Favorite Series Ever.

Revisado: 02-05-23

I’m going to start this review by self-identifying: I’m a 36-year-old man. I state that because of the surprising number of reviews claiming this is only for “woke teens.” If anything, I think this whole series is designed for millennials who were extremely online between like 2007 and 2015.

This is my favorite book series ever, full stop. I haven’t been sucked into a book series like this in well over a decade. I believe I like it for the exact reason so many reviewers seem to hate it: it is multilayered, demands your attention, occasionally confusing, absolutely unpredictable, and wildly funny. If you were confused by this series, it’s because you weren’t paying attention. It’s a Rube Goldberg machine of intricate plot development.

It’s really hard for me to get into most SF/Fantasy because so much of it feels extremely derivative. Never once, not for one second while listening to this, did I feel like any aspect of it was derivative.

Tamsyn Muir is an incredibly nimble author, and her work rewards re-reads. You have to pay extremely close attention. This isn’t a book to have on in the background. The hints and clues in this book (and especially in the subsequent book) are so clever and camouflaged that catching them is extremely rewarding. The writing is water-tight, there are no holes (reviewers that say there are just weren’t paying attention). She does an excellent job of what I call “implied worldbuilding.” You get juuuuust enough to put the pieces together, if you’re paying attention, but so much is just hinted at. I *hate* info dumps, they take me out of the story so much, but Gideon’s perspective is of a person who has spent her whole life in this world. She doesn’t comment on things just to hold the reader’s hand. The world itself feels so lived-in and real, which is an incredible accomplishment for a book about spacefaring necromancers.

People complain that the characters are unlikeable, which is absolutely wild to me. Gideon and Harrow are fantastic (Harrow can be A Lot, but she’s supposed to be and you root for her), Ianthe, Palamedes and Camilla? Even the teens from the Fourth. All great.

Lastly, Moira Quirk is incredible. I would’ve loved this book in any way I consumed it, but her narration made it next-level. She brought the characters to life, and her delivery of the humor was unerring.

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Like 9 Insufferable People and Nico de Varona

Revisado: 01-04-23

Much the same as the first book. Little happens for the vast majority and the plot seems lost, then she wraps it up in the last 25%. Still enjoyable, just oddly paced. There are huge gaps where things happen off-screen and we're only told about them later.

Everybody continues to be extremely insufferable, except Nico (and Gideon, I guess). It's a little hard to get engaged at times when everybody is so Godawful All the Damn Time. Of the original 6 + 2 in the first book (the Atlas Six plus Atlas himself and Dalton), it's really only Nico (and occasionally Libby) that I felt any meager degree of sympathy for. The rest are terrible, terrible, terrible people.

As for the performance, it's...mostly fine. Nico, Libby, and Tristan's performers are good. Callum is mediocre. Reina and Ezra aren't great (Reina mostly for the Plant-Speak). Gideon is terrible. Parisa is absolutely unlistenable. I found myself physically wincing every time I heard the "Parisa" chapter announcement. Once I said, out loud, "Ah sh*t, here we go again." She delivers it in this hypersexualized breathy sort of way that is nails on the chalkboard of my soul. It's awful. It's especially terrible when she has to also do Atlas' voice as well.

One final note: Atlas Six had the different character POV chapters selectable from the chapter menu. This book does not. It, instead, has only the multi-hour Parts (Part I, Part II, etc.) to choose from. This made trying to revisit an earlier section a near impossibility. Zero stars for layout.

tl;dr slightly less good than the original.

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