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Green Jay and Crow
"I was meant to come to Barlewin, but i was never meant to stay."
The half-forgotten streets of Barlewin, in the shadow of the High Track, are a good place to among the aliens and the couriers, the robots and the doubles, where everyone has secrets. Like Eva, a 3D-printed copy of another woman, built to be disposable.She should have disintegrated days ago... and she hasn't. And now her creator wants her back.
The half-forgotten streets of Barlewin, in the shadow of the High Track, are a good place to among the aliens and the couriers, the robots and the doubles, where everyone has secrets. Like Eva, a 3D-printed copy of another woman, built to be disposable.She should have disintegrated days ago... and she hasn't. And now her creator wants her back.
- GenresScience Fiction
384 pages, Paperback
First published December 3, 2018
2 people are currently reading
65 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
October 3, 2018
Green Jay and Crow is an unusual story that never fully reveals its world and often has the reader wondering where the story is leading. The story explores time travel, 3-D human copying, tentacled aliens, secret boxes, alternate realities, trust, distrust, robots, conjurers, gangsters, and all kinds of mysterious connections and rips in the universe. Told through two points of view, the story is one where you are not told everything right away and neither are the two lead characters. Is a plant-based copy just as human? What about a benign alien?
September 16, 2018
Three points I liked about Green Jay and Crow...
A bold new voice in science fiction I will gladly visit again...
Creative prose that’s as colorful and eye-catching as the book’s cover...
Originality on par with the likes of Philip K. Dick.
I’m glad I had the chance to read this and recommend it gladly.
A bold new voice in science fiction I will gladly visit again...
Creative prose that’s as colorful and eye-catching as the book’s cover...
Originality on par with the likes of Philip K. Dick.
I’m glad I had the chance to read this and recommend it gladly.
December 28, 2018
Originally published at Risingshadow.
Of all the science fiction novels I've read during the recent months, DJ Daniels' Green Jay and Crow is definitely one of the most original. It's a fresh, strange and thought-provoking literary exploration of humanity and identity in a trans-human world. It's a celebration of creativity, imagination and originality.
I was positively surprised by this novel, because it was something altogether different from what has been published by other authors. I was impressed by its various elements and found the story intriguing. It was simultaneously a bewildering and enthralling reading experience that left me yearning for more.
Green Jay and Crow is not a simple novel, because the author doesn't explain everything to her readers, but the story rewards its reader with various elements ranging from 3D-printing to time travel. It's possible that this novel may not be to everybody's liking, because it's slightly different from other science fiction novels and more difficult than them, but I consider this to be one of its strengths.
I was intrigued by the story, because it's not your normal kind of science fiction. It's an incredibly fresh read, because it explores survival and what it is like to be human and a real living person, but different from others.
The events in this novel take place in Barlewin and the High Track. It follows what happens to two characters, Eva "Green Jay" and Kern Bromley "Crow" (Brom). The story is told from their perspectives.
Eva "Green Jay" is a 3D-printed copy of a woman and has been made of disposable plant matter. She is the body double of Olwin Duilis and has her original's memories. She has been designed to disintegrate quickly, but that hasn't happened to her. She is gradually becoming more and more herself, but feels that she is more of a plant than a person. The robots allowed her to escape from her maker.
Brom "Crow" is a human who lives in Barlewin. He does errands for the crime lord Guerra, who deals in drugs. He collects and delivers packages with Mac "Blue Jay". When he decides to deliver a Time-Locked package to Guerra, he visits alternate realities with the box. Soon Brom finds out that Eva needs the Time-Locked box and he is the person who can open it.
This novel has fascinating details that create a sense of a futuristic cityscape. For example, there are big screens that are used for brain training. The author's slightly obscure vision of the world is fascinating.
The alien beings, the Tenties (the Trocarn), are hovering aliens that haven't been long in the world. Technology seems to have attracted them to contact humans and become part of the world. Because I've always had a soft spot for tentacled and strange aliens, I enjoyed reading about the Tenties and their weird existence, and was fascinated by how they arrived among humans.
There's something in this novel that reminds me of the stories and novels written by a few classic science fiction authors. The story has a strong feel of Philip K. Dick to it and will inevitably draw comparison to his stories, but it also has tiny echoes of Harlan Ellison.
The cover image by Pye Parr fits the story perfectlty. The portrait of Eva looks good on the cover.
I consider DJ Daniels to be a bold and talented new voice in science fiction. I like her literary output, because she doesn't reveal everything and is slightly mysterious about the futuristic world she has created. She has written a story in which the readers need to read between the lines to understand some of the things that are going on. I definitely have to take a look at her short stories, because I enjoyed this novel.
If you're looking for a new and original science fiction novel to read, you can't go wrong by reading DJ Daniels' Green Jay and Crow, because it's utterly delightful and unique. It will please readers who love fresh science fiction stories with thought-provoking elements.
My final words are:
This novel is weird, original and wonderful science fiction!
Of all the science fiction novels I've read during the recent months, DJ Daniels' Green Jay and Crow is definitely one of the most original. It's a fresh, strange and thought-provoking literary exploration of humanity and identity in a trans-human world. It's a celebration of creativity, imagination and originality.
I was positively surprised by this novel, because it was something altogether different from what has been published by other authors. I was impressed by its various elements and found the story intriguing. It was simultaneously a bewildering and enthralling reading experience that left me yearning for more.
Green Jay and Crow is not a simple novel, because the author doesn't explain everything to her readers, but the story rewards its reader with various elements ranging from 3D-printing to time travel. It's possible that this novel may not be to everybody's liking, because it's slightly different from other science fiction novels and more difficult than them, but I consider this to be one of its strengths.
I was intrigued by the story, because it's not your normal kind of science fiction. It's an incredibly fresh read, because it explores survival and what it is like to be human and a real living person, but different from others.
The events in this novel take place in Barlewin and the High Track. It follows what happens to two characters, Eva "Green Jay" and Kern Bromley "Crow" (Brom). The story is told from their perspectives.
Eva "Green Jay" is a 3D-printed copy of a woman and has been made of disposable plant matter. She is the body double of Olwin Duilis and has her original's memories. She has been designed to disintegrate quickly, but that hasn't happened to her. She is gradually becoming more and more herself, but feels that she is more of a plant than a person. The robots allowed her to escape from her maker.
Brom "Crow" is a human who lives in Barlewin. He does errands for the crime lord Guerra, who deals in drugs. He collects and delivers packages with Mac "Blue Jay". When he decides to deliver a Time-Locked package to Guerra, he visits alternate realities with the box. Soon Brom finds out that Eva needs the Time-Locked box and he is the person who can open it.
This novel has fascinating details that create a sense of a futuristic cityscape. For example, there are big screens that are used for brain training. The author's slightly obscure vision of the world is fascinating.
The alien beings, the Tenties (the Trocarn), are hovering aliens that haven't been long in the world. Technology seems to have attracted them to contact humans and become part of the world. Because I've always had a soft spot for tentacled and strange aliens, I enjoyed reading about the Tenties and their weird existence, and was fascinated by how they arrived among humans.
There's something in this novel that reminds me of the stories and novels written by a few classic science fiction authors. The story has a strong feel of Philip K. Dick to it and will inevitably draw comparison to his stories, but it also has tiny echoes of Harlan Ellison.
The cover image by Pye Parr fits the story perfectlty. The portrait of Eva looks good on the cover.
I consider DJ Daniels to be a bold and talented new voice in science fiction. I like her literary output, because she doesn't reveal everything and is slightly mysterious about the futuristic world she has created. She has written a story in which the readers need to read between the lines to understand some of the things that are going on. I definitely have to take a look at her short stories, because I enjoyed this novel.
If you're looking for a new and original science fiction novel to read, you can't go wrong by reading DJ Daniels' Green Jay and Crow, because it's utterly delightful and unique. It will please readers who love fresh science fiction stories with thought-provoking elements.
My final words are:
This novel is weird, original and wonderful science fiction!
September 28, 2018
This longish, ambitious novel, has been described as exploring what it means to be human. Actually, in the world this book is presenting, is that even a valid question? Maybe it would be better ask what does it mean to be real and what does it take to achieve this.
The Crow of the title, whose real name is Kern Bromley, is a human, born and bred in Barlewin with no wish to travel anywhere else. This city as he knows it is a complex mishmash of ultra-modern high technology. Giant screens seem to watch everyone, particularly recording whether an individual participates in the daily ‘brain-training’. Complex multi-talented robots also known as the Chemical Conjurers, Felix and Oscar. We never learn if here are other robots in Barlewin, but these two are very important to this story. Communication devices come in a variety of forms, from traditional smart phones, through plastic strips that attach themselves to your skin, to sentient dragon-flies.
The Green Jay aka Eva, of the title is a walking, talking, thinking copy, spewed out by a 3-D printer, not a human at all and not supposed to live beyond a few weeks. Created for the mysterious Olwin Duilis, she starts existence with Olwin’s memories but spends most of the book trying to escape these and achieve an identity and personality of her own. She is helped to do this by Mac, who is a kind of genius and in love with her. She calls him Blue Jay.
The action of the book is set off when Carine, who I think is human, asks Crow to help her with the delivery of a Time Locked Box to Guerra, her boss and Crow’s. If there is a villain in all this, it is maybe Guerra, a wealthy drug lord who has taken over the High Track, which I think is similar to the High Line in NYC. In the process of delivering the box, Crow becomes linked to it and spends much of the book being delivered to alternate realities in 0.63 seconds, making jumps from time frame to time frame, that leave him nauseous and even sees him meeting two of his future selves.
And then there’s the Tenties, Rose-Q and T-Lilly, among other, many others, who seem to be a variety of octopus. We learn that their real name is the Trocarn and that they migrated to this world because of its high levels of technology.
The writing here and the characters are very, very interesting, and engrossing but there is so much going on that even a score card can’t always tell you what is happening. I enjoyed reading this and would not want to dissuade anyone from reading it. But at the end I was left with a sense of ‘What was this all about?’ It seems to me that the author has tried to do too much and in the process has created a confusing kaleidoscope that leaves the reader as dizzy as Crow after one of his time jumps. But then what do I know? I’m a reader who believes Neal Stephenson would be greatly improved by the services of a good editor. 3***
The Crow of the title, whose real name is Kern Bromley, is a human, born and bred in Barlewin with no wish to travel anywhere else. This city as he knows it is a complex mishmash of ultra-modern high technology. Giant screens seem to watch everyone, particularly recording whether an individual participates in the daily ‘brain-training’. Complex multi-talented robots also known as the Chemical Conjurers, Felix and Oscar. We never learn if here are other robots in Barlewin, but these two are very important to this story. Communication devices come in a variety of forms, from traditional smart phones, through plastic strips that attach themselves to your skin, to sentient dragon-flies.
The Green Jay aka Eva, of the title is a walking, talking, thinking copy, spewed out by a 3-D printer, not a human at all and not supposed to live beyond a few weeks. Created for the mysterious Olwin Duilis, she starts existence with Olwin’s memories but spends most of the book trying to escape these and achieve an identity and personality of her own. She is helped to do this by Mac, who is a kind of genius and in love with her. She calls him Blue Jay.
The action of the book is set off when Carine, who I think is human, asks Crow to help her with the delivery of a Time Locked Box to Guerra, her boss and Crow’s. If there is a villain in all this, it is maybe Guerra, a wealthy drug lord who has taken over the High Track, which I think is similar to the High Line in NYC. In the process of delivering the box, Crow becomes linked to it and spends much of the book being delivered to alternate realities in 0.63 seconds, making jumps from time frame to time frame, that leave him nauseous and even sees him meeting two of his future selves.
And then there’s the Tenties, Rose-Q and T-Lilly, among other, many others, who seem to be a variety of octopus. We learn that their real name is the Trocarn and that they migrated to this world because of its high levels of technology.
The writing here and the characters are very, very interesting, and engrossing but there is so much going on that even a score card can’t always tell you what is happening. I enjoyed reading this and would not want to dissuade anyone from reading it. But at the end I was left with a sense of ‘What was this all about?’ It seems to me that the author has tried to do too much and in the process has created a confusing kaleidoscope that leaves the reader as dizzy as Crow after one of his time jumps. But then what do I know? I’m a reader who believes Neal Stephenson would be greatly improved by the services of a good editor. 3***
October 5, 2018
Publishing Date: December 2018
Publisher: Rebellion
ISBN: 9781781086445
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 1.3/5
Publisher’s Description: In the half-forgotten borough of Barlewin, in the shadow of the High Track, where neon lights fall on broken cobbles, you do what you must. To survive. To make it another day. For Eva, a 3D-printed copy of another woman, the fight is for her very existence. She was meant to be disposable. She should have disintegrated days ago…and she hasn’t. Now the powers that be want to know why.
Review:
The Good: Intriguing style of writing where events that are wholly strange, are accepted norm by the characters. The aliens are fairly alien and the chemical robots are a great addition to an infinitely boring story line.
The Bad: To say this was a long, hard , slog across pages and pages of more or less the same situations is selling it short. The story moves in a spiral ouroboros where events fail to culminate in a noteworthy direction. This makes for characterization that is fairly one dimensional and flat. The characters reflect this flatness with situational responses that are internalized and unemotional. Their behavior is almost stunted to the point of being automatons. Perhaps this was the author’s attempt at world building through characterization.
The Ugly: Oh my fuk this was boring. Lop off a third of this novel and get to the fuking point. What does it mean to be human……Blah, blah, blah, I am green humant plant, blah, blah, blah, everybody wants me….blah. It is too bad, really, that information was intentionally dribbled to the main characters (and the reader) in order to create a salable novel. Slow reveals does not a story line make.
If you have a lot of time to burn and nothing to read, don’t read this.
Read all of my reviews, here.
Publisher: Rebellion
ISBN: 9781781086445
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 1.3/5
Publisher’s Description: In the half-forgotten borough of Barlewin, in the shadow of the High Track, where neon lights fall on broken cobbles, you do what you must. To survive. To make it another day. For Eva, a 3D-printed copy of another woman, the fight is for her very existence. She was meant to be disposable. She should have disintegrated days ago…and she hasn’t. Now the powers that be want to know why.
Review:
The Good: Intriguing style of writing where events that are wholly strange, are accepted norm by the characters. The aliens are fairly alien and the chemical robots are a great addition to an infinitely boring story line.
The Bad: To say this was a long, hard , slog across pages and pages of more or less the same situations is selling it short. The story moves in a spiral ouroboros where events fail to culminate in a noteworthy direction. This makes for characterization that is fairly one dimensional and flat. The characters reflect this flatness with situational responses that are internalized and unemotional. Their behavior is almost stunted to the point of being automatons. Perhaps this was the author’s attempt at world building through characterization.
The Ugly: Oh my fuk this was boring. Lop off a third of this novel and get to the fuking point. What does it mean to be human……Blah, blah, blah, I am green humant plant, blah, blah, blah, everybody wants me….blah. It is too bad, really, that information was intentionally dribbled to the main characters (and the reader) in order to create a salable novel. Slow reveals does not a story line make.
If you have a lot of time to burn and nothing to read, don’t read this.
Read all of my reviews, here.
October 11, 2018
Green Jay and Crow
By DJ Daniels
Expected pub.date 12-11-2018
Abaddon Books, UK
Eva "Green Jay" is a body double. A 3-D print made of disposable plant matter, designed to disintegrate quickly. She should have disintegrated weeks ago, but has stayed alive by hiding with The Chemical Conjurers, twins she refers to as Felix and Oscar who are into making music and chemicals. Eva is also helped by the Tenties, a group of guard like creatures that hover in space.
Eva needs to find the TimeLocked Box, a box locked by time and owned by a local crime lord, Guerra. Eve only trusts Mac "BlueJay" but he cant save her. Only crow can save her, but will he? He works for Guerra making deliveries, after all.
One of the strangest and most original time travel books I'
ve read. Alternative worlds and travelling between different alternative realities.....organic vs. electronic.....real vs. body double.....i really enjoyed this story of diverse characters and worlds.
By DJ Daniels
Expected pub.date 12-11-2018
Abaddon Books, UK
Eva "Green Jay" is a body double. A 3-D print made of disposable plant matter, designed to disintegrate quickly. She should have disintegrated weeks ago, but has stayed alive by hiding with The Chemical Conjurers, twins she refers to as Felix and Oscar who are into making music and chemicals. Eva is also helped by the Tenties, a group of guard like creatures that hover in space.
Eva needs to find the TimeLocked Box, a box locked by time and owned by a local crime lord, Guerra. Eve only trusts Mac "BlueJay" but he cant save her. Only crow can save her, but will he? He works for Guerra making deliveries, after all.
One of the strangest and most original time travel books I'
ve read. Alternative worlds and travelling between different alternative realities.....organic vs. electronic.....real vs. body double.....i really enjoyed this story of diverse characters and worlds.
Read
December 13, 2023As someone with limited eyesight, I use a special device to take an ebook as input and produce a spoken voice I can listen to. Listening to this book for a few chapters caused me confusion. Upon investigating, I learned this: The book's chapters begin by saying "Green Jay" (which turns out to be a character's name) and then below on another line the text begins with the first few words in capital letters. Later in the chapter, on a separate line it says "Crow" (another character) and below on another line has more text with the first words in capitals. This was true in each of several chapters I checked.
Knowing this, perhaps I could have gone back to the beginning of the book and understood everything that someone would by visual reading. But I chose to move on to another book as I have plenty of others on my to-read list.
Knowing this, perhaps I could have gone back to the beginning of the book and understood everything that someone would by visual reading. But I chose to move on to another book as I have plenty of others on my to-read list.
August 25, 2019
I'm always excited when people try to push the boundaries of SFF story-telling. Ambitious approaches are good, and we should encourage them. But they don't always work. And Green Jay and Crow by D J Daniels (review copy from Rebellion) was a fail for me. It just doesn't quite work.
There's an interesting puzzle box story in there. Brom is hired by the local crime boss to collect a box and deliver it to a location. The box is "time-locked", reflecting the value of its contents. Inevitably, the box goes astray and shenanigans ensue. The box contains mysterious medication that can help Eva. Eva is a 3D printed copy of a person that was designed to only live for a few days. But Eva is a girl on the run, desperate to live a separate life. As the story unfolds, Brom, Eva and his best friend Mac travel between parallel versions of the place they live in, meeting strange characters and trying to find a way to save Eva. That premise is incredibly engaging, but Daniels fails to deliver on it.
I was most frustrated by the characterisation of Brom, the point of view character for most of the book. Despite Mac being his best friend, Daniels writes Brom as having little or no knowledge of his friend's past, motivations or their shared life in the place they live. Within the novel it is a technique to hide Mac's motivations to enable a reveal later in the book. But it's a lazy way of creating suspense that undermines the reader's confidence in the writer and the work.
There are a lot of extremely intriguing things about the setting of the novel - particularly the alien Tenties that have arrived in the world; the 3D printing technology; the sentient robots; the parallel versions of the same place; the technology around travel between the parallel worlds; and strange cult-like figures. But the whole is put together in a way that feels chaotic and difficult to navigate. And Daniels doesn't help you to find a coherent path through it.
It's definitely an interesting work, but I don't think it ultimately succeeds. I'll keep an eye on Daniels as I suspect any future work - as she matures as a writer - has the potential to be extremely interesting.
There's an interesting puzzle box story in there. Brom is hired by the local crime boss to collect a box and deliver it to a location. The box is "time-locked", reflecting the value of its contents. Inevitably, the box goes astray and shenanigans ensue. The box contains mysterious medication that can help Eva. Eva is a 3D printed copy of a person that was designed to only live for a few days. But Eva is a girl on the run, desperate to live a separate life. As the story unfolds, Brom, Eva and his best friend Mac travel between parallel versions of the place they live in, meeting strange characters and trying to find a way to save Eva. That premise is incredibly engaging, but Daniels fails to deliver on it.
I was most frustrated by the characterisation of Brom, the point of view character for most of the book. Despite Mac being his best friend, Daniels writes Brom as having little or no knowledge of his friend's past, motivations or their shared life in the place they live. Within the novel it is a technique to hide Mac's motivations to enable a reveal later in the book. But it's a lazy way of creating suspense that undermines the reader's confidence in the writer and the work.
There are a lot of extremely intriguing things about the setting of the novel - particularly the alien Tenties that have arrived in the world; the 3D printing technology; the sentient robots; the parallel versions of the same place; the technology around travel between the parallel worlds; and strange cult-like figures. But the whole is put together in a way that feels chaotic and difficult to navigate. And Daniels doesn't help you to find a coherent path through it.
It's definitely an interesting work, but I don't think it ultimately succeeds. I'll keep an eye on Daniels as I suspect any future work - as she matures as a writer - has the potential to be extremely interesting.
December 8, 2018
Body double Green Jay, Eva, 3D printed from plant matter, has not been created to last and yet she still has not disintegrated. This is because robot twins, called the Chemical Conjurers, have managed to keep her alive thus far. But her continuing survival may lie within a Time Locked box. A box which exists in its own time stream and can only be handled by a specific set of actions performed by a trained courier. When the box is delivered to Barlewin’s local crime boss by Brom (who Eva calls the Crow) Brom becomes Eva’s hope for a longer life, but also her constant worry because it is not clear where his allegiances lie.
Green Jay and Crow is a convoluted book of alternate realities and possible futures. Because of this the choreography between time and reality shifts became a bit bewildering and I had problems holding onto the main thread of the plot, as well as adjusting to what was going on in that time frame.
With so much ground to cover there were many tantalising hints of the technology, and sociology of Barlewin, but little exploration of a richly textured world, which gave the sense of missed opportunities.
But Green Jay and Crow delivers on an intriguing narrative with regards to the characters Brom meets in his shifts, the ways in which Brom is able to work out which reality or time he is in, and how recognisable technology is in use in Barlewin’s society.
The narrative on outsiders (the mysterious and ubiquitous Tenties, so called because of their tentacles) and the population of Barlewin’s relationship with them, was also highly relevant.
The examination of friendship, loyalties and compassion for others in need worked well in the sense of enabling the reader to care about the characters and engage with them.
Green Jay and Crow was courtesy of Abaddon.
Green Jay and Crow is a convoluted book of alternate realities and possible futures. Because of this the choreography between time and reality shifts became a bit bewildering and I had problems holding onto the main thread of the plot, as well as adjusting to what was going on in that time frame.
With so much ground to cover there were many tantalising hints of the technology, and sociology of Barlewin, but little exploration of a richly textured world, which gave the sense of missed opportunities.
But Green Jay and Crow delivers on an intriguing narrative with regards to the characters Brom meets in his shifts, the ways in which Brom is able to work out which reality or time he is in, and how recognisable technology is in use in Barlewin’s society.
The narrative on outsiders (the mysterious and ubiquitous Tenties, so called because of their tentacles) and the population of Barlewin’s relationship with them, was also highly relevant.
The examination of friendship, loyalties and compassion for others in need worked well in the sense of enabling the reader to care about the characters and engage with them.
Green Jay and Crow was courtesy of Abaddon.
January 6, 2019
Green Jay and Crow is a bizarre yet enjoyable read from a new voice in science fiction which offers an interesting look at humanity, identity, hope and friendship in a peculiar new world. Each chapter alternates between the perspectives of Eva (Green Jay), a 3D printed copy made from plant material, and Brom (Crow), an apathetic human delivery man. At first, these two characters appear to have nothing more in common than Mac (Blue Jay) but as the characters become entangled within a complicated tale Green Jay and Crow’s paths converge in unexpected ways. They must put their differences aside if they are going to survive the weirdness that has come to plague their small town.
There is a lot to appreciate in this debut science fiction. Its creativity and originality is definitely one of the things I enjoyed the most. Daniels has very cleverly crafted a strange world full of curious beings such as the ‘Tenties’, a tentacled alien race who were attracted to human technology, the robotic ‘Chemical Conjurers’ who always seem to be in the right place at the right time, and the ‘humants’ who are a mixture of aliens, plants and humans. It was incredibly refreshing to delve into a science fiction world which was full of new concepts and beings. Given my interest in humanness, robotics and reality, Green Jay and Crow had lots of interesting things in it for me.
That being said, I felt that the actual concept of the book wasn’t as well executed as it could have been. Although the story is only 384 pages, it feels like it’s a lot longer than that and there were times when it was hard to keep going because I just wasn’t grabbed by the story. The story is complex and, at times, convoluted which makes it difficult to follow and I found the writing to be strangely apathetic which made it hard for me to connect with the characters. Reaching the end of the book felt like quite a relief and I was left confused as to what I had just read. A lot of the story didn’t make much sense to me, there were whole sections that could have been cut out of the book, and it could have done with a lot more tightening during the editing process.
To see the full review of Green Jay and Crow please visit my blog here!
Thank you to Rebellion Publishing for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. It has in no way influenced my review.
There is a lot to appreciate in this debut science fiction. Its creativity and originality is definitely one of the things I enjoyed the most. Daniels has very cleverly crafted a strange world full of curious beings such as the ‘Tenties’, a tentacled alien race who were attracted to human technology, the robotic ‘Chemical Conjurers’ who always seem to be in the right place at the right time, and the ‘humants’ who are a mixture of aliens, plants and humans. It was incredibly refreshing to delve into a science fiction world which was full of new concepts and beings. Given my interest in humanness, robotics and reality, Green Jay and Crow had lots of interesting things in it for me.
That being said, I felt that the actual concept of the book wasn’t as well executed as it could have been. Although the story is only 384 pages, it feels like it’s a lot longer than that and there were times when it was hard to keep going because I just wasn’t grabbed by the story. The story is complex and, at times, convoluted which makes it difficult to follow and I found the writing to be strangely apathetic which made it hard for me to connect with the characters. Reaching the end of the book felt like quite a relief and I was left confused as to what I had just read. A lot of the story didn’t make much sense to me, there were whole sections that could have been cut out of the book, and it could have done with a lot more tightening during the editing process.
To see the full review of Green Jay and Crow please visit my blog here!
Thank you to Rebellion Publishing for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. It has in no way influenced my review.
December 11, 2018
Following two people, Green Jay/Eva and Crow/Brom, this story is about aliens, humants (part plant, part alien, part human people) and alternate realities. It has a beautiful cover and an intense description, and although the book is really unique in comparison to other books I’ve read lately, it just wasn’t my new favourite.
Check out my full review here!
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Check out my full review here!
https://radioactivebookreviews.wordpr...
dnf
September 20, 2020Nice concept, nice world, interesting characters, but nothing freaking happens! I made it to Chapter Six and the only that had happened was a mysterious box had been delivered. Moving on.
(No rating because I didn't finish it.)
(No rating because I didn't finish it.)
January 11, 2019
DNF 21%. Apparently I now have the attention span of a five year old? Very high concept but too lethargic for me despite being packed with tasty fun tropes.
June 12, 2019
meh got a bit bored of it
February 21, 2023
I liked the extremely stubborn disinterest of Crow and the equally stubborn hatred of Green Jay of Crow. Very enjoyable, brought hints of Vurt to me plus the Tenties were nicely Oankali-esque while also being original.
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