Reviews and Comments

This world seems, sadly, headed for an Overplot. It's a great setting. Why does there need to be a world-changing cataclysm?

Interesting premise. Unusual worlds. It's in character for the narrator, but I felt the language was too abstracted to really engage me.

A solid adventure, but I like these characters less the more I learn about them.

Gave up after a few chapters. Leaden writing, overly RPG world-building.

Part travelogue, part memoir, part meditation on whiskey, all delightful.

I couldn't get through this. Seemed tediously predictable.

A different take on the French Revolutionary era nautical adventure. Lots of introspection from the lead character. Less instantly likeable than the Aubrey/Maturin books.

This was not the nautical adventure I was expecting. Much more philosophy than sailing. It pits a tyrannical sea captain with materialist views against an idealist scholar, convinced of man's finer nature.

Atmospheric, but not very satisfying.

Entertaining tell-all book about the sausage-making of guidebook writing.

The best SF takes a supposition about the world ("What would happen if...?") and follows it to interesting conclusions. McDonell's setting holds together well, with a lot of details that seem like "obvious" extrapolations of present trends into the future, but she throws in some "aha!" moments as well. Just when you think you know who a character is, you discover they're not what you think... but when you consider it, who they really are follows perfectly from the setup. The pleasure of seeing interesting ideas fit together well combines with well-paced drama and relatable characters to make this a fun read.