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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
Magnificent. In her own inimitable style Whiteley has done it again. Such truthful insight delivered so bizarrely, this book was a delight to read. Can’t wait to reread again in a few years and discover yet more, for I’m sure that there are layers to this tale.
Most of this was incomprehensible. There was potential for this story, but it lacked a lot of necessary exposition. The relationship between the two MC’s was touching, though, even if I was left unsatisfied by it. I think this novel desperately needed a good editor.
Also was not aware going into this that it was a not-so-subtle critique of Doctor Who, a show I’d love to forget.
2.5/5
Also was not aware going into this that it was a not-so-subtle critique of Doctor Who, a show I’d love to forget.
2.5/5
I wish the opening scenes and spirit had continued throughout the book. Fun, light and reflective. But, with the world ending, perhaps it was too much to ask. Maybe I was hoping for a different journey, but Whiteley lost me several times. Quite a wonderful world and worlds. Loved the Rampion and all the flowers.
I loved it. A dreamy trip with echoes of Jeff Noon and Lewis Carroll. Think interstellar travel with flamingo freedom fighters, and a protagonist who may be a pot plant.
You know what? About halfway through this novella, I thought for sure that this was going to be my first Aliya Whiteley flop. The sci-fi story was so rushed, and the comedy and lack of characterization made the whole thing seem… cheesy. Juvenile, even. The middle-aged protagonist and her hunky alien lover did not elicit the reader’s sympathy. It was just a badly written adventure story supported by a strangely grim backstory.
BUT I WAS WRONG TO DOUBT ALIYA WHITELEY.
From the meeting with the Rampion, this book really kicks off. Whiteley shows her prowess at crafting beautiful scenes from seemingly nothing (literally inside a blank, limitless box). Penelope’s character develops, and we come to find her endearing. By the end of the book, she is one of Whiteley’s strong and complex, but unlikely, female heroines. Even though I had been confused by and skeptical of Lily’s audio recordings, I was so satisfied with the ending. But this is typical of Whiteley’s endings. She knows how to end a damn story.
BUT I WAS WRONG TO DOUBT ALIYA WHITELEY.
From the meeting with the Rampion, this book really kicks off. Whiteley shows her prowess at crafting beautiful scenes from seemingly nothing (literally inside a blank, limitless box). Penelope’s character develops, and we come to find her endearing. By the end of the book, she is one of Whiteley’s strong and complex, but unlikely, female heroines. Even though I had been confused by and skeptical of Lily’s audio recordings, I was so satisfied with the ending. But this is typical of Whiteley’s endings. She knows how to end a damn story.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Whitely writes really interesting books. Her novel is sort of like a Dali, or Hieronymus Bosch come to life, weird and surreal but trying to get to ideas that are hard to express conventionally. It's a book I need to reread because i read it too fast the first time...
challenging
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is… odd. An odd, reflective read that is not without charm or interest but is also fragmented with rapid changes in tone.
A haunting and beautiful adventure through space and time with a handsome, oddly dressed and quirky human-looking alien; complete with ancient races and grudges, universe-altering stakes, self-reference and lots of running down corridors. Hang on is this a Doctor Who fanfic? Well it seems like it sort of is. Whitely uses the familiar structure of the human companion swept up into these grander adventures, but colours it with fantastic imagination, and uses it to comment on and deconstruct the ideas often present and persistent in Doctor Who. It's also a bittersweet and elegiac story on the beauty and fragility of nature; and a story about forging who you are. Lovingly written and thoughtfully considered, a great book.
I liked the premise, and the wonderful Britishness of the main character and the writing. I would have loved to learn more about the strange information war taking place on Earth. Unfortunately, this, and Earth, is quickly left behind, and things get more and more surreal in a mixture of Doctor Who, told from the perspective of the Doctor’s companion, who has almost no agency whatsoever over large parts of the story, and the weirdness of Alice in Wonderland. In the last third or so, I had to force myself to read on.
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No