Akiva Reads

by Neon Yang

More fantasy-in-space than sci-fi, which is fine but not my personal preference. Interesting choice to start building a found family cliche and then pop it by continuing to focus on Misery's manipulativeness and unreliability and not developing any of those side characters other than Lightning. (Intentional: ???) Misery suuuuuucks, which is definitely intentional but not a fun read. I could usually understand why she did things but I couldn't bring myself to root for her at any point after the audience with the emperor, which is only a quarter of the way into the book. If that had been a one-off... but it wasn't. That's where the comparison with The Locked Tomb falls down: Harrowhark is the product of mass murder, but she didn't commit mass murder, repeatedly and with increasing levels of glee and self-righteousness and religious zealotry.

The writing is fine, a little overdone but good at setting the mood. Very occasionally, though, Yang goes too far: "It's cold here, cold enough to purple the tits." can you even get frostbite on your tits? that seems a bit too close to your core, too covered in fat, and usually under several layers of clothing. and... purple??