I picked up this book on Kindle purely because of a blog post by the author completely owning the fact that he had written about a character who was gay without homosexuality being used as a plot device or some sort of moral lesson. As someone who strives for the same diversity in her own writing, I knew I had to get the book based on that blog post alone.
I’ve read other works by Wendig, and his distinct narrative voice is always a joy to experience. While I didn’t quite like the main character of this book, I was still sucked into Cael’s life and experiences and wanted to root for him against all the adversity he faced.
The world-building in this novel was amazing, with definite ties to current political and environmental dystopic possibilities. However, there was so much of the world that we didn’t see that also intrigued me. In the end, I almost felt like I read the book from the wrong perspective. I was frustrated with Cael’s shortsightedness at times, and wanted to instead read about his sister’s adventure as she escapes farther out into the world. I hope more of what I felt like I missed is covered in the rest of the trilogy.
Mostly, this book made me want to eat a salad.
Rating: 4 (out of 5) stars. Cross-posted to Amazon and Goodreads.
Currently reading: Tempest, edited by Mercedes Lackey
Currently writing: 88,426/90k words
Added to my to be read list….