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A review by chantaal
The Mercy of Gods by James S.A. Corey
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I wish I loved this more, but it was a lackluster start to a series that I think has a lot of promise and may build up to bigger and better things as we get more books.
The main issue I had with The Mercy of Gods is the pacing in the middle of the book - it slowed down incredibly, and I was very bored as a result. The thought experiment happening here is interesting, but not even alien overlords forcing humans to prove that they're worth staying alive can't overcome the sheer boredom of watching them do research and think about research and think about how they're doing their research.
The writing is great, which is what I expected from them, and the sheer alien-ness of the aliens and their world was great as well. Like I said, the bones of a very interesting story is here, this felt very much like a prologue. I'm still going to continue on because I'm intrigued to see where it goes.
The main issue I had with The Mercy of Gods is the pacing in the middle of the book - it slowed down incredibly, and I was very bored as a result. The thought experiment happening here is interesting, but not even alien overlords forcing humans to prove that they're worth staying alive can't overcome the sheer boredom of watching them do research and think about research and think about how they're doing their research.
The writing is great, which is what I expected from them, and the sheer alien-ness of the aliens and their world was great as well. Like I said, the bones of a very interesting story is here, this felt very much like a prologue. I'm still going to continue on because I'm intrigued to see where it goes.