We

by John G.H. Dickinson

We are the only Humans left...In the furthest, coldest, darkest reaches of our solar system, Paul Munro is on a mission from which he can never return. A desolate ice-covered moon will be his home for the rest of his life. And only from here can he see what humanity has become. A thriller to freeze your blood. To absolute zero.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Young Adult, Dystopia, Space, Speculative Fiction

299 pages, Paperback

First published January 7, 2010

About the author

John Geoffrey Hyett Dickinson (born June 1962) is an English author of young adult novels, and has also written one adult novel- Lightstep.
Dickinson lives in Painswick, Gloucestershire with his wife, Pippa Thomson, and two children. He is the household cook, an accountant & church treasurer when he's not writing.

Reviews

[TheBookSmugglers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Original Review HERE

In a not-so-distant future, mankind has changed. The majority of the human population is interlinked by the World Ear, an implant that allows its user to instantaneously connect with anyone else who is implanted, communicating in a mixture of images, sounds, and even transmitted sensations like touch, scent, or taste. The World Ear has allowed humanity to supersede the individual; it has allowed humanity to be connected in one massive consciousness, with information received and dispersed at the speed of thought.

There is no need for speech.

There is no need for strong emotion.

The World Ear has taken humanity to its next evolutionary stage.

WE is the story of Paul Munro, one man selected by the collective consciousness of the World Ear as a telemetry specialist on an important outpost at the furthest reach of the solar system, dedicated to analyze the gas planet, its moon, and search for any sign of intelligent life. But because of the unique problems posed by the planet and moon, none of the station’s inhabitants can be connected to the World Ear. Our first introduction to Paul is immediately after he awakens from the procedure that has disconnected him from the network – and his abject terror at being utterly alone, mute and almost completely incapable of communication. After his eight year journey (in stasis) to the outpost at the edge of the solar system, Paul gradually adjusts to new life with the three other humans that will likely be his only companions for the rest of his life – May (exuberant doctor), Lewis (imposing commander), and Vandamme (partner to the lost telemetrist and a self-contained astro-geologist) – learning to speak, emote, and interact. As Paul becomes more articulate and self-conscious, he suspects that there is something amiss in his mission to uncover the source of the interference with transmissions to Earth. With his suspicions mounting, Paul is determined to discover the truth at any cost.

This is the first book I have read by John Dickinson, and what a fabulous introduction it turned out to be. WE is one hell of a novel. This is cerebral science fiction at its best, posing ambitious questions and demanding its characters and readers to confront what it truly means to be human. It is one of those books that gets better the longer one thinks about it; processing, digesting, and interpreting the data in every possible way (much like Paul’s “hunter” program). Ever since discovering Stephen Baxter last year, I have been on the lookout for hard science fiction titles that manage to blend human character appeal with the cold, cruelty of space – and WE manages to do just that.

Reminiscent of Baxter’s Titan and of M.T. Anderson’s dystopian SF masterpiece, Feed, WE examines the meaning of humanity, the definition of intelligent life, and the value of the individual in relation to the whole. It is in these quiet questions, asked both explicitly by the characters, and implicitly of the readers, that WE shines. Is emancipation from “the We” (as the characters aboard the station call Earth and the World Ear) a good thing? At what level of connection does the individual begin to become irrelevant? The We is utilitarianism in the extreme, with a new overall consciousness comprised of ALL its interlinked consciousnesses – akin to a giant brain, with each human acting as a neuron, firing signals and interacting with others to produce the desired result. Instead of painting a dystopian future where consumerism runs amok (as in Anderson’s Feed), WE‘s future is more quietly menacing – our cult of personality and fixation on the individual falls to the greater good, which sounds fine, doesn’t it? Except in such a society, there is no individual autonomy – just as protagonist Paul is asked by Lewis, “Did you consent?” he is unable to answer.

On a less-nebulous/more-concrete level, the reason why WE is able to provoke such intriguing questions is because the science, the setting, and the characters are impeccably written. From the technical aspects to the science (the space elevator, the limitations of the World Ear, the physiological changes to those in deep space, the temperature and atmosphere readings) Mr. Dickinson appears to have done his homework, working within the parameters of our current understanding of physics and our own solar system (see additional thoughts below for more on that). The images of a distant gas giant and its icy moon are richly – if coldly – detailed, providing a harsh, unforgiving, and evocative backdrop for the novel. On the character level, WE is told through Paul’s observations – effective, since Paul’s communication skills are underdeveloped to say the least, especially in his exchanges with his fellow crew members. In such an unrelenting, isolated environment, these character are a microcosm of humanity – Van, who turns to religion; May and Lewis, who cling to a different hope for the future; Paul, obstinate and determined to uncover the truth. As these characters say in the book, they are the last four humans in existence, differentiated from their siblings on Earth because of their disconnection from the We, their ability to feel acute emotion, and even physically with their low-gravity distorted bodies. It’s a scary and effective picture, with these fragile creatures struggling for life in the most inhospitable of locations. These characters are flawed, genuine creatures that make questionable decisions – and that is part of the beauty of WE. Ultimately, regardless of whether or not Paul and the crew made the right choices, they are able to make a choice, and that is the important thing.

From a plotting perspective, I am loathe to say too much for fear of spoilers – suffice to say that WE is a psychological thriller, with a mystery and a powerful revelation. Though this is more of a quieter, slowly simmering plot, heavy on dialogue and internal reflection and lighter on action, WE may not appeal to everyone (this is no military science fiction novel, so if you are looking for nonstop battle scenes, look elsewhere). That isn’t to say the plotting is poor or the book cumbersome – because it’s not. I devoured WE in a single sitting.

What else can I say? I loved this book. On a final note concerning the genre – WE is a young adult novel as much as, say, The Handmaiden’s Tale or 1984 or The Martian Chronicles (all books that are frequently shelved in the YA section, as well as the mainstream SF or Literature sections). Which is to say, WE doesn’t really fit into the typical, current mold of romance-featuring, adventure filled coming-of-age sort of novel that one might normally associate with YA F/SF (in fact, author John Dickinson has blogged about the mis-categorization of this book). That isn’t to say that WE shouldn’t be read by young adults – rather, it is a book that can transcend age barriers. Yes, neither the protagonist nor any other character in this book is a young adult, but need that be a defining quality for the genre?

How about I put it like this: WE is a mainstream Science Fiction novel that I encourage anyone – of any age – to read. Rife with imposing, challenging questions, WE resonates as one of the best new science fiction titles I have had the pleasure of reading this year.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this an utterly gripping novel, especially after the slow and steady start signalled by its opening:

He had asked to be alone when he woke. After all, he had reasoned, from now on he would always be alone.

But are we really, truly alone? Will there be, though we may not be aware of the fact, someone else? Are we, like Cowper's Alexander Selkirk, wrong in our assumptions that we are monarchs of all we survey, that we're "out of humanity's reach" and must finish our "journey alone" even at the edge of space?

This issue is at the heart of this novel, questions about Earth's uniqueness as a cradle for life. And if there is life 'out there', what form will it take?

A mission, a little over half a century from now, is based on a distant planet's moon (probably Neptune's Triton, though neither body is ever mentioned), there to search for extraterrestrial life. The residual team of three -- missing one of its original members -- is joined by Paul Munro; he's arrived from an Earth where nearly everyone is linked to the World Ear, a future development of the internet where individuals have implants to enable them to communicate directly with others without recourse to speech, to access necessary information and to regulate emotions.

Paul, having endured an eight-year journey in a kind of stasis, is not only disorientated from the journey and from being cut off from the WE but now also has to adjust to the dynamics of a tight-knit team -- an outsider therefore who can only feel isolated from undercurrents and relationships he has not been part of. As the telemetry executive his task is to discover why radio messages back to Earth are often corrupted, but he soon discovers that this is not the only communication that has become garbled: there are unspoken messages at the station that he needs to address.

We is a cleverly plotted speculative thriller, one I found totally immersive with fascinating human characters. It sets out to explore a number of ideas: what form might an alien intelligence take, how would humans react knowing that there was no way back to Earth, why do pioneers sometimes distrust the society they have left behind, how should one interact with those whom you dislike but on whose actions you rely for continued existence?

There are also so many literary echoes, both implicit and explicit, in these pages: Biblical tropes of Eden, the Tower of Babel, the Ark, the Annunciation; the claustrophobic and suspicious atmosphere of Sartre's Huis Clos (in English translated as No Exit or In Camera); the heart-stopping moment when Robinson Crusoe discovered the footprint that wasn't his in the sand.

Dickinson only had his attention drawn to Yevgeny Zamyatin's dystopian 1924 novel We after he'd chosen his own title, but retaining it kept many of the issues he includes here relevant: whether the individual becomes completely subsumed in a collective thereby losing independence of action, the implications of the development of something like the World Ear (its acronym perfectly fitting its nature), the responsibly the individual might have in ensuring the continuance of the species.

But this isn't just an ideas novel: I enjoyed the characters Dickinson created even if they weren't particularly likable: Munro, from whose point of view we observe events; Erin Vandamme, who covers the search for life forms; May, the station's doctor; and her partner Lewis, the station manager. Flawed individuals all.

Dickinson also had me accepting the technology that might be available in the 2070s, on a planet's captured satellite where the outside temperature was not much above Absolute Zero. Here is an environment to enjoy vicariously, knowing that to close the book was to open the door to somewhere a lot more hospitable. Like Fred Hoyle's classic The Black Cloud (1957) in which an alien comes a-visiting, We postulates that our attempts to go out to discover alien life may be fraught with danger.

[saturn · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 Stars

CW: Suicide, Abortion

WE is a science fiction novel that takes place in the future, where humanity has begun to colonise space. On Earth, the majority of people are fitted with the World Ear, and communicate with images, colours and feelings. Paul Munro, our protagonist, is a scientist who has been selected to take part in research on a far out planet. As part of conditioning, he has his World Ear removed and must learn how to talk properly - another, far more permanent part of it, is that his body is altered, his bones are brittle and his fat is removed so he can survive the low gravity on the new station. On the station, however, Paul discovers that his predecessor did not die via accident, and that there is something sinister lurking around the mission.

I first read WE when I was 11 or 12 and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was the first proper sci-fi book I had read and I lapped up the world and thrills, honestly devouring the story in a matter of hours. Now as an adult of 20, who thinks a little more critically and understands a bit more, I cannot believe I read this at such a young age.

I still love this book to pieces, it’s a fantastic read with many important topics discussed within it. It is not, however, a book that I would put in the YA section. WE deals with difficult topics. Paul’s predecessor killed himself and the crew dealing with that loss is a key theme throughout the book; when I was younger, I did not realise how much that effected the story, but reading it now I read it as one of the main themes. Dickinson tackles depression well. Instead of casting it off as a bit of sadness, he shows it as an actual illness, and that sometimes it just happens. Paul, who grew up on Earth without knowing about depression, has to learn about it, and how to be respectful to the people who lost his predecessor.

Abortion is another topic that is discussed in WE, but not to the same extent. It’s an important, climatic discussion that I personally feel is handled well. To some people it may be read as negative, especially as it is a man telling a woman what to do with her body.

One of the most common themes in WE is consent. Did Paul truly consent to work? Did he consent to be taken from his partner and child? He does not understand the concept of consent, and his new coworkers keep asking him to think about it. This topic, out of all the others, is the one that brought me to tears. Dickinson writes Paul’s confusion and sadness with such tenderness and heartbreak that it feels as if you are experiencing Paul’s pain yourself.

Another thing I did not notice at age 11 was how well Dickinson writes. His writing is atmospheric and chilly, perfectly fitting for a story taking place on a frozen and deserted planet. It draws us, the reader, in, and gives us an environment to immerse ourselves in. His world in constructed well, his characters play against each other, creating an almost Shakespearean level drama and mystery. The only concern is that it feels as if the story falls flat towards the end - almost like the novel should have been longer than a small 299 pages.

Regardless of that, WE is a science fiction novel that deserves far more praise than it gets. I personally recommend it to everyone who enjoys science fiction, especially science fiction that tackles difficult topics that could be relevant in our climate today. WE is a book that should be on everyone’s TBR list, and maybe even their shelves.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

WE is another book that I recently received and, with a quick look at the lovely cover and interesting blurb, I wanted to read pretty much right away. With the synopsis vague enough not to spoil the story, it raised my interest and made me wonder just how John Dickinson was going to approach a subject such as this - separation and isolation within the solar system. The first thing that struck me was the writing and how effortlessly he pulled me into a story that is much more than it first appears.

Paul Munro is separated from the World Ear, the one thing that almost all the population of Earth now use to communicate. It can allow instant discussion and interaction while providing a platform to have feedback and opinions at a mere thought. Once this has been removed, Paul feels very lonely and had to adjust to life with what feels like inferior and slower interaction. However, he has done this for a reason and soon embarks on an eight year frozen voyage across the solar system to his new home where he will take up the position of communications officer on an ice moon where only four humans live, and the World Ear is a distant memory.

On this moon he lives with three others -Lewis, Van and May - and must be a vital part of the team that keeps the moon in operation. He must deal with the loss of the World Ear, learn to engage in conversation and human interaction in a way he has never before needed to do, and he must solve the problem that is plaguing the communications to Earth. With all of these little things adding up it gets too much for Paul and events take an interesting turn.

The setting is definitely one of the highlights of WE and John Dickinson does a fantastic job of creating a haunting atmosphere and the feeling of complete isolation. The explanations and detail given of the station is realistic and believable and it felt like the fifth member of the group. The distance involved between the station and Earth mean that communication can take up to eight hours, and with the absence of the World Ear on the station it can feel like an completely alien civilisation.

The characters are also great and help bring the story to life. Munro is our main character and it's through his eyes that we see what Earth is like before heading into the outer reaches of the solar system. It is his struggle to adjust that pushes the story forward and his determination that shows just how much of his humanity was lost on Earth. His new colleagues - Lewis, Van and May - are supportive when they can be, but are also trying to deal with a new member of their group that has very little social skills. The views each of these characters hold also become a key part of the story and it allows Dickinson to explore what it is to be human very effectively.

I found this such a great read and I was very pleasantly surprised by the prose and style of WE - I'll look forward to anything else John Dickinson writes. Highly recommended.

[Ove · Rating 5 out of 5]

From my blog review on Cybermage.se
What’s chilly about WE is the future it paints. The Story:

We are the only Humans left…

In the furthest, coldest, darkest reaches of our solar system, Paul Munro is on a mission from which he can never return. A desolate ice-covered moon will be his home for the rest of his life. And only from here can he see what humanity has become.

A thriller to freeze your blood. To absolute zero.

I bought this after reading Mark Chitty’s excellent review (link below) and it lived up to my expectations. This is one of the best science fiction books i have read in a long time.

Earth is a world where everyone is online, all the time, with brain implants that assist them in everything they do. Every decision they make is habitually done by asking the net for advise. And no one living in the wired society reflects over the situation. They never knew anything else.

It takes an eight year trip to an icy moon around Jupiter and four humans alone, cut off from Earth to rediscover what it means to be human. This is a recurring theme of our times (not for the first time in history), what it means to be human, there is even a British TV show called “Being human” from a fantasy perspective. There are many issues with technologies and life sciences today and in the near future that can hold a Damocles’ Sword of Change over our heads, but I never suspected Social Media of being one of them. I understand now that I was wrong, it do have the potential.

But there is more than one terrifying secret lurking for our protagonist.

Masterful world building and characters that are lifelike, with motivations you understand and can relate to. There is a scene, when Paul the main character cry for the first time and he can’t understand what it is, that is really moving.

WE is a masterful story of discovery and revelation on so many levels that you have to read it, it relates to everything we are today.

[Joe Reese · Rating 5 out of 5]

A distant moon-base crew of four have settled within a protective eco-bubble on an icy satellite, orbiting a gas giant at the edge of the solar system. Its inhabitants, too far from Earth, have been separated from the World Ear, an advanced electronic network that connects the Earth's population by surgically-implanted receivers. No longer now are they part of a hive-mind of knowledge, shared experience and ideas, but isolated and alone in their thoughts, forced to revert back to using speech as their prime means of communication.

The new crew member and central character, Paul Munroe, is finding it difficult to adapt to his newly discovered independence and is frustrated, arrogant, emotionally adolescent and lacking in social skills. The author could have run the story aground creating such an unpleasant protagonist, but it is through Paul’s growing isolation from the crew we feel pity for him and avidly follow his mounting anger, despair and paranoia as an investigation into a communications error on the moon-base grows into a manic obsession.

WE is a tense, slow-paced, science-fiction thriller and an outstanding vision of how communication technology may affect the psychological future of our species.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the future everyone on earth is connected shortly after birth to the World Ear and from that point onwards not even speech is necessary. When Paul Munro is selected to replace a man on earths furthest outpost - and the only one beyond the world ear connections - he is about to find what he thought he knew about being human was wrong and that the past was something he never really understood.

The author has a nice clean writing style and an interesting future history but I would class this as a book I wouldn't read twice. Mostly because I found it hard to connect to the characters. The book is pure science fiction rather than fantasy and if you are after a dose of scifi I think you could do worse than this and while I thought it was ok It's certainly not a future I'd hope for myself.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting, very different. Eery, scientific, technical and definitely other-wordly. It was quite stark and bleak. I stopped reading it and only finished it about 6 months later. But looking back on it, I remember just being transported to this new, crazily different and out-there place. It was like nothing I've read before. John did nothing to make anything in the novel relatable or normal, and I liked that, it was something SO different from anything else, so strange and fascinating! My advice is to read it, just to broaden your horizon or something, I don't know. But it's definitely something 'other'.

[Ingrid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very very intriguing concept. A man gets disconnected from a 24/7 live feed ( via special contact lenses and an implant) of an upgraded version of the internet/facebook/twitter to go live on a space station far out in space.
I loved the way the writer described the confined space, climate and time relay with Earth.
The way the main character had to start to think for himself again, speech, writing. Very clever.

[Sean Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great to see a novel with real science written so engagingly, with real heart, and without trying too hard.

[Januzrocket · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cerebral science-fiction at its best!

[Airaology · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here, it was deemed, was a suitable platform for a station that would observe the giant planet and its magnetic field. And for reasons that seemed good it was decided that the station should be manned. In that appalling cold, in that miserable crevice of gravity, a seed of life was planted.


The concept blew me away. Dickinson explained nicely with how Paul depended on the World Ear. There were no weather reports, news pictures, financial statements, alerts concerning the state of his house or vehicle or the transmission systems that he was supposed to maintain. There were no demands from his supervisors. And there were no personal messages. Like everyone else he always went to those first AND With the World Ear he could have guessed at Vandamme's mood from the way she framed her messages and from the colours she used in them. And there were other cues too that were present but that he was maybe not interpreting correctly

I had to throw away any preconceived notions what I thought it was going to be. Not going to lie, I expected Alien meets The Martian but it is more....Coherence? Asking you to question your reality and what you would do to survive.

I love the attention to detail. Water freezes at zero Celsius, mercury at minus thirty-nine, nitrogen at minus two hundred and ten. In the coldest places on Earth molecules still dance with energy. At thirty-eight Kelvin they are almost lifeless,rigid. and the characters are distinct from each other.




Fav quotes

It is simply a fusion of earlier technologies: the Internet,mobile telephone, computing, look-up displays and speakers that resonate against the earbones
-----
Generations of adaptation and feedback from the environment- that's what makes a brain. Yes?
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Social interaction has been the key to the growth of the human brain, both through the generations and to the learning child
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Where did the consciousness rest? Could there be an 'I' and a 'We' at the same time? And which ruled which?
----
If a single human was an axon in the brain of a larger consciousness l, then a Hunter was a white blood cell.

[Hrh George · Rating 4 out of 5]

In giving this four stars I'm not proclaiming it great lit, it's just a good read. The author is new, I think, as some of the writing feels a bit stilted and simplistic. The characters aren't particularly fleshed out, but are much more than tropes. You definitely get a sense that each character has agency on their own, acting on their own beliefs and not just as plot magnets.

The book is basically thirds. The first third is the characters awakening, independence, and communication. The second is a psychological breakdown that could be as good as a PK Dick novel if it was a little longer, deeper, and unhinged. The third is the finale and closure. At the closure I felt hungry for more. Not that the story wasn't concluded, it certainly was, but I wanted more from the middle. Particularly in the area around after the protoganist has got it figured out and the closure, there's a lot of room for expansion of the findings and interactions between the characters. The last third of the book just kind of falls into place closing threads of the story; easily the weakest part of the book.

The concept level is high, which is a good thing for new sci-fi, even with the high concept of things like the WE everything is relatable to people (readers) of the now. It never devolves into space fantasy or

[Wayne Palmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall I enjoyed reading this book mainly as it raises interesting questions worthy of some thought and also as it does so set in an interesting environment which the author has clearly taken pains to provide a realistic feel of such a remote barred outpost of humanity. The story does tend to stretch somewhat in the middle as the author emphasises the question of "I" versus "We". However I believe his repetition of the central theme at times made me want to yell at him, "I get it - move on". As such the conclusion seems rushed and does not allow a fuller exploration of what has been discovered of which there are boundless possibilities that lie dormant - though maybe a sequel?
The characters are sufficiently complete for us to understand and feel a little towards them though this is not a strength of this story and the "We" is as remote and unknowable as the distance it is from the antagonists so there is little to connect to in this way than second-hand references.
However the strengths of the story do outweigh the much lesser weaknesses and I do like it that the tale reminds we of the older sci-fi stories that required imagination.

[Evan Þ. · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this dystopian sci-fi book, our protagonist has left Earth for a tiny research station on the moon of a gas giant. But also, he essentially needs to learn to be an individual: Earth has the "World Ear," a telepathic communication device which (we find) is verging on a hivemind, and this station doesn't. The other three people on the station, in fact, consider themselves the sole surviving human individuals.

On top of this psychological journey, our protagonist faces a mystery: what's blocking certain parts of the radio transmissions back to Earth? Could it be natural interference? Or some other person on the station? He must decide how to trust these other individual humans without telepathy.

The plot isn't the most exciting, but the psychological journey is well done.

[Lottjuuuh · Rating 3 out of 5]

It really wasn’t what I expected. The description on the back was not so clear about the plot. There was a lot of detailing in this book which I didn’t like. I don’t think I will read it again but it wasn’t bad.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little too much or too little thinking- for me it wasn't the right "dose".

Some important themes and other looks on them.

[Lee Penney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set almost exclusively in a remote outpost, a place inhabited by just four humans now the latest crew member has arrived, having made a journey that took him eight years. It’s not explicitly stated, but I assumed the moon they were on was Titan.

Aside from leaving his family behind, Paul Munro has had to endure a lot of physical changes to cope with the lighter gravity of his new home. It’s a one-way trip because he could never survive a return to Earth.

His biggest sacrifice was giving up the World Ear, a device that connected him to the global network 24/7 and through which much of his life flowed.

Paul has been sent to work out why some transmissions from the station to Earth are being corrupted. The story follows the investigation as it unfolds. It’s essentially a mystery story, set in an usual location.

This isn’t a long book, at about 300 pages, so it’s quick to get through, which was nice when the tension started to ramp up and offered the hook of a page turner.

It ends rather abruptly, not unsatisfactorily so much, but there was more that could have been added and it would have expanded the tensions often shown between the crew and between the crew and Earth, which some of them believe is evil.

It’s far from perfect, with a lot of the story simply describing mechanical actions. Then there’s the stereotypes of the crew and the crotchety new arrival. The limited cast does focus the mind though and the extreme location provides both a character and an obstacle.

I think it’d make an interesting TV special, as you could boil it down to a reasonable run-time and emphasize the claustrophobia, there are times when the book seems to draw the story out just to increase word count. I enjoyed it though.

[Mats Forssblad · Rating 2 out of 5]

It started as an excellent book, but deteriorated at the end. Even the language fell apart, and the author's weakness with dialogues made the whole thing a mess. It's like he made an excellent rewrite and edit but stopped 70% into the text.
The basic plot and concept is great, and the start is so well written and chilly that I think the author should give it another try. It could become a classic.
As for the actual content, the less you know about it when reading, the better.

[Nathan Hurst · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some good ideas here but should have been longer and the ending should have followed an earlier story thread to it's conclusion, rather than the slow stop that it actually came to. In conclusion, it promised more than it gave.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good science fictiony, future story. The main character was overly irrational at times, but it made sense in a way within the story. I really didn't like the ending though, I felt like I was missing part of the book. I wanted to know what happened, at least some of it. It was very abrupt.

[Wealhtheow]

http://io9.com/5617136/what-its-like-...

[Bryce Perry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent story, but very slow at times.

[Anid Harker · Rating 3 out of 5]

basically a massive meh.

[Scott S.]

Lower goodreads rating than I usually require for a book to go on my to-read list, but I really like that cover.