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hahanimation's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
fast-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
5.0
Has stayed in my mind. Wonderfully intriguing worldbuilding that is unfurled so well. proper sci fi, raising so many questions relevant to our day.
Little flavors of Doctor Who, Pathologic, and Hunger Games.
Little flavors of Doctor Who, Pathologic, and Hunger Games.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Gore, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Genocide, Torture, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol
Minor: Cancer
themarquessmagpie's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Gore
solenekeleroux's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Genocide, Sexual content, Transphobia, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism
obviousthings's review against another edition
There were a lot of worldbuilding details given, but the setting as a whole just wasn't all that believable to me. In particular, in Chapter 2,
we see children being trained to work in the beast's heart. They are punished very harshly for making very minor mistakes, and several are allowed to die just because they didn't instinctively pick up what to do without being taught. This makes NO sense to me. It's a society with a one-child-per-family rule! Their mothers are right there watching them! You're telling me they're all so on board with societal norms that they'll let their own children die rather than give them basic instruction about how to survive in this environment? No! I don't believe it! Frankly, I think it's stupid. I won't be reading the rest of this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Blood
Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Sexism, and Excrement
Minor: Suicide, Transphobia, and Abortion
lycanhood's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Slavery, Torture, Vomit, and Classism
rorikae's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
'Escaping Exodus' by Nicky Drayden is a creative science fiction novel that tells of a matriarchal society living aboard a large space beast.
We follow Seske and Adalla, two girls within this society. Seske is air to the matriarchal society while Adalla is a beast worker, who helps excavate and prepare the beast. From two separate stations, they begin to fall in love as they learn more about the truth of their society and their host.
Drayden has created a fascinating world that hinges on the parasitic relationship between a matriarchal society and the beast that they call home. The world building in this book is fascinating and incredibly unique. Drayden pairs this with a dual perspective that weaves between two very different characters. By following the heir to the throne and a beast worker, we get to see different parts of this world and the inequality that is inherent with it. Through the matriarchal society, Drayden makes the inequalities and harms of our patriarchal society stand out as the society in the book holds many of the same issues, just gender swapped.
This book is rife with body horror elements and bodily fluids, which I think is crucial to know going in. Drayden balances the more nauseating elements of this world with their evocative prose to create the engaging world. I am fascinated to see where this story goes next and I will definitely be checking out more of Drayden's work.
We follow Seske and Adalla, two girls within this society. Seske is air to the matriarchal society while Adalla is a beast worker, who helps excavate and prepare the beast. From two separate stations, they begin to fall in love as they learn more about the truth of their society and their host.
Drayden has created a fascinating world that hinges on the parasitic relationship between a matriarchal society and the beast that they call home. The world building in this book is fascinating and incredibly unique. Drayden pairs this with a dual perspective that weaves between two very different characters. By following the heir to the throne and a beast worker, we get to see different parts of this world and the inequality that is inherent with it. Through the matriarchal society, Drayden makes the inequalities and harms of our patriarchal society stand out as the society in the book holds many of the same issues, just gender swapped.
This book is rife with body horror elements and bodily fluids, which I think is crucial to know going in. Drayden balances the more nauseating elements of this world with their evocative prose to create the engaging world. I am fascinated to see where this story goes next and I will definitely be checking out more of Drayden's work.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Medical content
Moderate: Slavery, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
nessynoname's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Some incredible worldbuilding and intriguing sociopolitical circumstances with a really irritating central character.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Gore, Pregnancy, and Classism
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, and Grief
Minor: Drug use, Racism, Vomit, and Trafficking
Almost the entirety of this book takes place within a living organism, which the humans surgically exploit for their livelihood. Body systems/functions are explicitly described and manipulated often to the harm of the creature. If bodily description/body horror is not your thing you really need to sit this one out. Furthermore, there is a sequence later on that does intersect with the whole parasite/pregnancy/tentacles trope but its... not played for horror per se? Its supposed to be unsettling but its purpose in the plot is not harmful or disturbing to the character it happens to and they are fine after the situation is dealt with. The society that primarily features in the book is matriarchal and numerous characters including the main character until she gets character development, think of men as lesser. Class struggle, whether it be sexism against men, or the upperclass oppressing the working class are strong themes in this book. Additionally, the main character becomes engaged to a man and struggles with her fear of consummating that relationship, as she seems to have exclusive preference for women partners. This never culminates in any kind of sexual assault but the main characters anxiety about the pressure to be sexually involved with her fiance is a recurring topic.albernikolauras's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book was the squishiest of sci fi from the very beginning, and it was great. Such an interesting and well-built out world, my favorite kind of likable characters that make very questionable decisions, and a plot that progresses very rapidly. Definitely a book for those who enjoy sci fi and space travel outside the realm of technology. The ending went from fast to blink-and-you'll-miss-it, and was a little too quickly wrapped up for it to become a new favorite. One of the easiest books I have read to fall into.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Body horror
Moderate: Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
laurareads87's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I've had Escaping Exodus on my 'to read' list for quite a while, so I was thrilled when it was chosen for the #Blackathon2022 readathon's Team SFF group book!
The story follows two alternating POV characters: Seske, who is of the most privileged social class and next in line to inherit the throne, and Adalla, her friend and romantic interest who is a member of the lower beast-worker class (a skilled manual labourer). Their society has caught yet another of the space-dwelling creatures who they've learned to live inside of, and are in the process of extensively altering the insides of the creature and setting up their home (which they must do every so many years because, unsurprisingly, these animals don't live forever when they have thousands of humans inside). Of course, many things go wrong. The story is, at its heart, an exploration of rigidly unequal power relationships (of class as well as gender), extreme reproductive inequalities and restrictions (articulating important critiques of so-called 'population control'), and the possibilities of building meaningful relationships across difference. While I was several times very frustrated while reading by what to me was almost totally unbelievable naïveté on Seska's part -- like, how is it that you're just learning very basic information about how your society functions? -- I also feel like this is a valuable reflection of how privilege makes so many realities of a society harder to see + one must do the work of (un)learning to understand the injustices that one benefits from that are naturalized within a society. I'm looking forward to reading more from Nicky Drayden, including the sequel!
The story follows two alternating POV characters: Seske, who is of the most privileged social class and next in line to inherit the throne, and Adalla, her friend and romantic interest who is a member of the lower beast-worker class (a skilled manual labourer). Their society has caught yet another of the space-dwelling creatures who they've learned to live inside of, and are in the process of extensively altering the insides of the creature and setting up their home (which they must do every so many years because, unsurprisingly, these animals don't live forever when they have thousands of humans inside). Of course, many things go wrong. The story is, at its heart, an exploration of rigidly unequal power relationships (of class as well as gender), extreme reproductive inequalities and restrictions (articulating important critiques of so-called 'population control'), and the possibilities of building meaningful relationships across difference. While I was several times very frustrated while reading by what to me was almost totally unbelievable naïveté on Seska's part -- like, how is it that you're just learning very basic information about how your society functions? -- I also feel like this is a valuable reflection of how privilege makes so many realities of a society harder to see + one must do the work of (un)learning to understand the injustices that one benefits from that are naturalized within a society. I'm looking forward to reading more from Nicky Drayden, including the sequel!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Drug abuse, Gore, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexism
Minor: Racism
tonysipsandreads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This book says its a sci-fi/fantasy, but it's horror. A very dark horror. It's probably one of the most disturbing things I've read in a long time. I honestly can't put together a coherent sentence to describe how I feel about this book. Read at your own risk!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy