nicastronaut's reviews
40 reviews

Should be required reading for understanding the modern world. 

I love octopuses and am fascinated by the psychology of them, so I was excited to read this. But overall: meh, it was aight.
The writing on a micro level is good. The chapters are bite sized and easy to get through. But on a macro level, meh. All around pacing felt slow. Not near as much happened in 500 pages as I would have expected. It's more about the people and the prospect of communication with an alien species than it is about an octopus society. Kinda misleading premise. Maybe I'm just dumb but I still never fully understood the point of Rustem or Eiko's plotlines, or why it felt like at the end we just skipped over significant events.
While I never necessarily wanted to put it down, I can't say I was very invested. I just keep reading hoping something would land or some big twist but, eh, not really.
It is the author's first book as I understand it too.

A love letter to New England, and a wicked engaging set of stories beautifully interweaved but just ever so slightly. The hook and chain structure is super neat. Not my typical read, and picked this book up on a whim knowing nothing about it. Best decision. I adore this book.

I heard this was the sneaky underrated Le Carre novel to start with instead of the Spy Who Came In From the Cold, and while it wasn't bad and I appreciate his writing style, it felt sort of shallow. I didn't have much emotional investment. It felt like a weak crime mystery but trying to double as a spy story.

Wicked fascinating and gave me an even further appreciation for music I hadn't thought was possible.

Sort of answers some questions from TMOG but also blows open the series even more.

Takes a bit to really build out what's going on but it closes out real strong and I am real excited for the sequels. A unique take on alien invasion.