Reviews and Comments

Maybe I've just been reading the wrong mysteries, but I'm used to stories in which one, maybe two, of the characters are Black, swimming around in a sea full of white characters, and not much is said about the effect of that on their lives. This one is nothing like that. Many of the characters, both the "heroes" and the "villains," are Black, and the racist structures that constrain them are addressed head-on. So that was refreshing.

It's beautifully written, and a pretty good mystery, but up until the very end, the main character always feels kind of hollow, like there isn't much substance or nuance to him. He has internal conflicts but somehow they don't seem very present; it's like you're viewing them from a great distance. That makes it hard to really get immersed in the story.

Literary junk food, I think. Fun, but not much substance, which is odd now that I think about it, given the gravity of some of the subject matter.

Quick and enjoyable read, if you're willing to accept the premise that a ghost can inhabit and control electronics, and carry on a relationship with a living person. (Yes, that includes adult toys. You know your mind went there.) And that nobody would find the manner of his death a bit suspicious. And that someone can fall 80 feet into the sea without being seriously injured, while clutching a paper notebook that not only stays with him but is still perfectly readable afterward.

Went ahead and finished the book in spite of my misgivings. It did get better, though there was still too much attempt to be witty and very, very contemporary. That part won't age well. The book will give you a good understanding of how ridiculously hard establishing space settlements would be, and why we probably are not capable of doing that anytime soon.

There's a whole section on the legal aspects of space settlements; there is already some international law covering this. It's here I think the authors are wrong, in that they fatally underestimate the willingness of broligarchs to simply ignore established law, international diplomacy, ethics, and basic decency; and their willingness to sacrifice human lives by the hundreds.

I may end up not finishing this one. The science is solid and well-researched, but the presentation is cartoon-cute, including actual cartoons. I am a grinch and do not like my science to be cutesy.

Oh, and in case you wondered, the answer to all three questions (Can we settle space? Should we settle space? And have we really thought this through?) is no.

It was a fun book but not particularly compelling.

Really liked this book, but it is not easy to read. The action is brutal and gory; there's a lot of killing and the details are not spared.

It's never explained why only one person can see all these ghosts. And it's never explained why one ghost can do things no other ghost can do. The lack of any logical framework is infuriating.

Was not thrilled with this one. I don't like books where much of the content consists of the main character's internal dialogue. Makes me want to yell, "Stop agonizing and just do something!"

This is November's choice for the Queer Romance Club read on Mastodon.

Reading books like this, set in worlds where magic or supernatural forces are normal, always makes me feel like there's some western/christian cultural mythos that is familiar enough to other people to be just background knowledge, and is something I never learned.

In spite of that, I really enjoyed the story.

Well, that was frustrating. Good story, but it ends with a cliffhanger. And I don't think there's a sequel.

This is October's choice for the Queer Romance Club read on Mastodon.

This seems like it would be fun to read!

Didn't care for this book at all. Not only were none of the characters really likeable, but it's supposed to be a romance and it didn't really seem believable that they liked each other. Besides, the setting never felt plausible either. It's a future society that somehow retains social structures from the last century.