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The Blue, Beautiful World
The Blue, Beautiful World: A Novel | Karen Lord
5 posts | 5 read | 1 to read
As first contact transforms Earth, a team of gifted visionaries race to create a new future in this wondrous science fiction novel from the award-winning author of The Best of All Possible Worlds. A complex story of first contact from a unique perspective that is warm, engaging, and wildly original.Martha Wells, New York Times bestselling author of The Murderbot Diaries The world is changing, and humanity must change with it. Rising seas and soaring temperatures have radically transformed the face of Earth. Meanwhile, Earth is being observed from afar by other civilizations . . . and now they are ready to make contact. Vying to prepare humanity for first contact are a group of dreamers and changemakers, including Peter Hendrix, the genius inventor behind the most advanced VR tech; Charyssa, a beloved celebrity icon with a passion for humanitarian work; and Kanoa, a member of a global council of young people drafted to reimagine the relationship between humankind and alien societies. And they may have an unexpected secret weapon: Owen, a pop megastar whose ability to connect with his adoring fans is more than charisma. His hidden talent could be the key to uniting Earth as it looks toward the stars. But Owens abilities are so unique that no one can control him and so seductive that he cannot help but use them. Can he transcend his human limitations and find the freedom he has always dreamed of? Or is he doomed to become the dictator of his nightmares?
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review
Hooked_on_books
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Bailedbailed

Since it‘s longlisted for the Women‘s Prize for fiction, I tried really hard to make this book happen. But despite having engaging writing, the story is so convoluted that I‘m not following it well and I just don‘t care. I made it 2/3 through and am calling it. I could stare at that cover all day long, though.

ChaoticMissAdventures It is always a bummer to me when prizes pick random books in a series for their lists. Most of the books don't make sense if you haven't read the others in the series, and we are not given the time to read a whole series and all the other long list books! 2w
squirrelbrain Makes me feel better that I bailed. ☺️ 2w
50 likes2 comments
review
rmaclean4
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Panpan

What a disappointment. I love science fiction and was delighted that an SF book made the #Womensprize long list. For most of the book, I was confused. When the puzzel pieces came together, I no longer cared about the story. 2 🌟

squirrelbrain I bailed on this and I‘m not a bailer! 🤣🤷‍♀️ 2w
rmaclean4 @squirrelbrain i wish I had given up. It took forever to finish this short book. 2w
18 likes3 comments
review
Leniverse
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Pickpick

Only marginally a standalone. Readers who haven't read the first two books will struggle to orient themselves or feel invested. Lots of characters from previous books, allusions to events and people that are only relevant if you know the backstory. I read these back to back and I still found it messy. Soft pick for me but fully understand if others bail in confusion.
#WomensPrize2024 #WomensPrize

squirrelbrain Thanks for the (retrospective) permission to bail! 🤣 3w
32 likes1 comment
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charl08
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Owen was also a benefactor... Money from his music royalties... was being funneled into teamwork research, both in raw games like football and in VR gaming. But it had been Charyssa, a savvy media mogul and entertainment icon in her own right, who had noticed Owen's interests and decided to recruit him to her dream of a unified Earth.

"That's perfect, that is," Kanoa muttered to himself. "A former beauty queen who really wants world peace."

42 likes1 stack add
review
squirrelbrain
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Bailedbailed

It‘s official…I‘m going to be a non-completist of this year‘s #womensprize for fiction!

The first 20% of this was OK then it lost me completely. I looked it up on GR to see if I could glean any clues, only to learn that it‘s book 3 in a series. (Although some called it a ‘companion piece‘ not a sequel and others said it stood alone just as easily).

I also read that there was a glossary of characters in the back so I thought that might be ⬇️

squirrelbrain …helpful. Still makes no sense to me - see the pic above and there were over 80 names listed in this manner, although some appeared to be worlds rather than people and some were repeated with slightly different information. 🤯 I‘m also not keen on books that include ‘world-building‘ (not a fantasy fan - sorry! 😬) and when the world has apparently been built in the previous books, then no! 1mo
TheKidUpstairs I just returned this one unread because I wasn't going to get to it any time soon. Now I don't feel bad about prioritizing other reads! 1mo
Centique That sounds like a sensible choice! 1mo
See All 11 Comments
BarbaraBB Thanks for making clear that I don‘t need to read this one! 1mo
TrishB I don‘t like space stuff so this wasn‘t looking promising to me! Bail away 😁 1mo
youneverarrived Sounds like you made the right choice in bailing 😬 1mo
Deblovestoread So glad to know the particulars. Thank you! 1mo
Hooked_on_books Oh wow, book 3? That‘s challenging for sure. 1mo
ChaoticMissAdventures I have been curious to see how this one goes with everyone. I love Lord, but her writing is very difficult. I have found her short stories to be much more readable. I have tried the 1st in this series a couple of times and have never finished it. 3w
Leniverse The cast of characters in the back is from all three books, and yes several of them have multiple identities or titles. The books span 40 or so years. I find it so odd that they put this on the WP longlist, because why would they encourage people to jump straight into book three?! 😂 3w
squirrelbrain @ChaoticMissAdventures - I was going to reply to you saying that @Leniverse was reading / has read the first 2 books then, lo and behold, Leni commented too! Leni, I was interested to hear what you thought about book 3 - seems an odd to choice to put on the list, as you say! 3w
62 likes11 comments