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renayHow you react to the first chapter of Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee is a good indicator of your reaction to all the other wild things you'll see in later chapters. (My reaction throughout: "WTF is that? WTF is this? WTF IS HAPPENING???" You start with calendrical rot and end up in a battle sequence that uses a system of loyalty to create defenses known as formations that are then used to fight bad guys and resist weapons. But don't worry: there are robots (called servitors), so at least one thing will be familiar.
It took me a solid four or five chapters to feel comfortable in this world, and that's only because I started assuming the calendar was a form of time manipulation and pushed it aside until I had more world building in my toolkit, because I never understand time travel, anyway.
Approaching sans worry about what I was missing helped because this novel isn't pulling punches or providing tons of context clues to hold your hand. It wants you to work for the world building and the characterization and the visualization, and it's like this book knew that was my weakness. "CHALLENGE ACCEPTED, BOOK!", I said in Chapter 3, "I'LL REVEAL ALL YOUR SECRETS!". By the end I was grateful because figuring out how all the pieces fit together was fun and also gut-wrenchingly painful because a deep dive results in lots of empathy pain, ha ha ha. But take some advice from an extremely visual reader: if you give this novel a try, give yourself the benefit of the doubt. ♥ ( Read more... )
It took me a solid four or five chapters to feel comfortable in this world, and that's only because I started assuming the calendar was a form of time manipulation and pushed it aside until I had more world building in my toolkit, because I never understand time travel, anyway.
Approaching sans worry about what I was missing helped because this novel isn't pulling punches or providing tons of context clues to hold your hand. It wants you to work for the world building and the characterization and the visualization, and it's like this book knew that was my weakness. "CHALLENGE ACCEPTED, BOOK!", I said in Chapter 3, "I'LL REVEAL ALL YOUR SECRETS!". By the end I was grateful because figuring out how all the pieces fit together was fun and also gut-wrenchingly painful because a deep dive results in lots of empathy pain, ha ha ha. But take some advice from an extremely visual reader: if you give this novel a try, give yourself the benefit of the doubt. ♥ ( Read more... )
