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sweetsandhorror's review against another edition
5.0
Gay X-files. No, seriously. It’s marketed as hard sci-fi but really the core of this is a love story between the partners (which is not a spoiler - it’s in the description kind of. I think they strayed away from overt queer marketing maybe to get to a wider audience, but I think that was a mistake). Also, it genuinely has one of the most romantic lines at the very end I’ve ever read. I legit clutched my heart like an old lady. One of my new all time favorites.
creekhiker's review against another edition
5.0
Read this based on a "best of 2023" review in Scientific American. Fantastic sci-fi spy thriller novel. Couldn't put it down. Hard to say too much about it without giving things away, but the main characters of Rao and Adam just continued to pull me in deeper in love with them.
sazerina's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
davidbaker2025's review against another edition
2.0
Started off brilliantly but then became complex, convoluted, confusing and tedious. So I gave up on it.
yrioona's review against another edition
Just couldn't get into this. It was smart/engaging enough that I stuck around a few hundred pages waiting for it to get better but it just didn't.
Plodding pace, flat characters, pages and pages of dialogue that was very in love with itself without adding much to plot/character/concept. Almost no action. The sci fi conceits are vaguely interesting but underdeveloped. Rao has some charisma but not enough to carry the whole book. Adam's trauma is sad but...just sad. The plot is vague and the spy/intrigue stuff is not very new or interesting to me, and also feels like this weird halfhearted propaganda. Like it's trying to rehabilitate the image of the CIA/MI6 and the military and cast them as like...morally grey but ultimately well-meaning good guys, with Feelings. I liked that the leads were gay for each other but they lacked chemistry and I didn't care much what happened to them.
Maybe I'm missing out but I feel like I already put too much time into this and it's just not for me.
Plodding pace, flat characters, pages and pages of dialogue that was very in love with itself without adding much to plot/character/concept. Almost no action. The sci fi conceits are vaguely interesting but underdeveloped. Rao has some charisma but not enough to carry the whole book. Adam's trauma is sad but...just sad. The plot is vague and the spy/intrigue stuff is not very new or interesting to me, and also feels like this weird halfhearted propaganda. Like it's trying to rehabilitate the image of the CIA/MI6 and the military and cast them as like...morally grey but ultimately well-meaning good guys, with Feelings. I liked that the leads were gay for each other but they lacked chemistry and I didn't care much what happened to them.
Maybe I'm missing out but I feel like I already put too much time into this and it's just not for me.
stacy11's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
aidenryde's review against another edition
DNF’d at 31%. Hoping to give it a shot again someday
cozyghost's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
axellae's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
3.75
A surreal techno-thriller that hits all the high points. It drags a bit in the middle, but was overall still really fun. Extra points for the mind-bending final set piece.