3.5, round up
I had a really strange experience reading this book. Whenever I was reading it, I enjoyed it. But as soon as I set it down, I was reluctant to pick it back up again. As a result, it took me a inordinately long time to finish it. And I ended up feeling so-so about it in the same way.
I love the cover; think it's absolutely stunning. And I had so much fun reading the beginning and picking out who each character is. I thought the writing was really good, easy to follow. I thought Szabo played with the idea and ideals of gender in interesting ways and I think they tried to do the same with race (both with actual characters of color and metaphorically with the idea of 'monsters.') I'm just not sure they were as successful in this latter aspect.
However, I also thought the plot slow and ending too vague to be satisfying. So, all in all, not bad, but not an all-out winner either.
I had a really strange experience reading this book. Whenever I was reading it, I enjoyed it. But as soon as I set it down, I was reluctant to pick it back up again. As a result, it took me a inordinately long time to finish it. And I ended up feeling so-so about it in the same way.
I love the cover; think it's absolutely stunning. And I had so much fun reading the beginning and picking out who each character is. I thought the writing was really good, easy to follow. I thought Szabo played with the idea and ideals of gender in interesting ways and I think they tried to do the same with race (both with actual characters of color and metaphorically with the idea of 'monsters.') I'm just not sure they were as successful in this latter aspect.
However, I also thought the plot slow and ending too vague to be satisfying. So, all in all, not bad, but not an all-out winner either.