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superborbI was going to save this for my media round up, but it turned out... so long... I guess it will be a separate post!
This is a scifi novel wherein multiverse travel only works if the traveler is dead in the target world. In a dystopia where those living in a walled off city are healthy and thriving while those outside the walls suffer from exposure and pollution, the traversers, largely from outside the city so their counterparts' higher death rates can give them access to more worlds, can precariously make a life in the city... for now.
I'll start with what I enjoyed! I thought the plot was engaging, and the characters interesting. The way the multiverses are set up, each characters' counterparts are really like AU versions of themselves, where you're meant to see some of the similarities and how they reflect onto the Earth Zero version. The confusion over what Cara, the main character, feels about each version of the other characters and how those feelings bleed through also was really interesting, how they were separate people, but also not really separate.
I also thought this was one of the deftest touches of handling nonbinary and bisexual characters in a novel, where it was just accepted instead of getting... for lack of better word, issue!ficcy.
However, my main issue with this novel was that the worldbuilding was so thin. I really had to turn off every part of my 'science logic' brain for this one because every attempt to be sciencey really fucked with my suspension of disbelief, from the big (how the multiverse could contain exactly the same people down to genetics / appearances yet have such large differences in history instead of being super similar) to the small (you can't make guns from random scraps of metal). But even beyond that, the world just didn't feel DEEP, you know? Everything felt like a thin skin of commentary over current issues, without a lot of thought over how they'd interact or change in this new environment.
I don't regret reading this, but I don't think I'd recommend this unless this genre is exactly one which suits you. Also, perhaps Memory Called Empire has spoilt me for considered worldbuilding.
This is a scifi novel wherein multiverse travel only works if the traveler is dead in the target world. In a dystopia where those living in a walled off city are healthy and thriving while those outside the walls suffer from exposure and pollution, the traversers, largely from outside the city so their counterparts' higher death rates can give them access to more worlds, can precariously make a life in the city... for now.
I'll start with what I enjoyed! I thought the plot was engaging, and the characters interesting. The way the multiverses are set up, each characters' counterparts are really like AU versions of themselves, where you're meant to see some of the similarities and how they reflect onto the Earth Zero version. The confusion over what Cara, the main character, feels about each version of the other characters and how those feelings bleed through also was really interesting, how they were separate people, but also not really separate.
I also thought this was one of the deftest touches of handling nonbinary and bisexual characters in a novel, where it was just accepted instead of getting... for lack of better word, issue!ficcy.
However, my main issue with this novel was that the worldbuilding was so thin. I really had to turn off every part of my 'science logic' brain for this one because every attempt to be sciencey really fucked with my suspension of disbelief, from the big (how the multiverse could contain exactly the same people down to genetics / appearances yet have such large differences in history instead of being super similar) to the small (you can't make guns from random scraps of metal). But even beyond that, the world just didn't feel DEEP, you know? Everything felt like a thin skin of commentary over current issues, without a lot of thought over how they'd interact or change in this new environment.
I don't regret reading this, but I don't think I'd recommend this unless this genre is exactly one which suits you. Also, perhaps Memory Called Empire has spoilt me for considered worldbuilding.
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Date: 2021-09-13 04:44 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-09-13 13:38 (UTC)