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!  

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!

IIt's a fun, past-paced read that delves into repairing harm (if possible), the cost of justice, class divides and gender. The whole, reverse-sexism was an interesting take on the society as a whole, but I found the alternative family structure of 9 parents for every one child the most interesting world-building aspect (even if I'm still a little fuzzy on every parents' exact role in the family structure). Even the living-fish ship wasn't as interesting as all of that. I feel like the pacing at the end doesn't quite match the speed of the rest of the book, and it sort of feels like So Much happens So Fast and there's not a lot of time to process anything (an epilogue would have fit great here). Also, I felt that many of the secondary characters fell a little flat to me. 

This was very off putting at first with the intense descriptions of living inside an animal and interacting with its body systems. But the intricate, robust world building and engaging characters fascinated me! By the halfway point, I was completely invested in the story!

The gist 📚: Surviving inside of space beasts is not easy, especially when you're a member of the working class and risk your life every day to make life on the beast possible in the first place. Seske is the heir to the noble bloodline that rules her people. She has to play her cards carefully if she wants to take over in a few years. When she discovers a fatal secret within the beast, everything changes. 

For readers looking for 💕: Vivid sci-fi worlds, complex friendships, assassination and espionage, creative survivalist societies, something a bit dark, bipoc characters, powerful women, and LGBTQ characters. 

My thoughts 💭: I enjoyed seeing the contrast between the lives of royal Seske and her best friend (and crush) Nyla. The world building in this book is incredibly vivid as well. Maybe not the best read for fairly squeamish people.

This book was fascinating. I love the way that it unfolded. The worldbuilding was imaginative and engaging. My only complaint is that there were some moments where the author did more telling than showing.