DNF'd after page 25... between the lack of a glossary/dictionary to keep track of far-too-frequent new word definitions, and the dialog style, i was reading another book after only 25 pages. usually, it takes me 50+ pages to get that feeling... ( )

had to think about this one awhile after i finished it. the writing style was stiff and all too stately. but the characters and the sf story had lots to say. quite looking forward to the conclusion, but i hope the style gets a bit looser. ( )

DNF ( )

Series Info/Source: I got a copy of this on ebook through Amazon First Reads. This is the first book in The Alloy Era series. The second book in the series will be titled "Loka" and is expected to release in July of 2024.

Thoughts: I enjoyed the first part of this book but thought the second part was a bit slow and too politically motivated for me. The dialogue throughout sounded a bit awkward, which threw me off at times. I did enjoy the themes of humanity being protected by a more intelligent life-form (like children) and the adventure we got to go on to another planet.

The story follows Jayanthi who is the adopted human child of two alloy (post-human descendant) parents. Jaya wants nothing more than to be allowed to become a genetic scientist and explore worlds beyond her own. Her ambitions to become a genetic scientist are thwarted because humans are not allowed that profession. However, when aan Earth-like planet called Meru is discovered she desperately wants to be allowed to explore it. Unfortunately, humans almost destroyed Earth and the alloy are loath to let a humans on to another planet, despite the fact that literally centuries have passed since humans harmed Earth. Jaya teams up with a pro-human alloy political figure in order to be given a chance to go to Meru.

We also hear from Vaha, the alloy pilot that will take Jaya to Meru. Vaha is a living alloy birthed as a spaceship. The relationship that develops between Vaya and Jaya is intriguing. I enjoyed watching the two navigate their differences and learn about each others speech patterns, lifestyles, and habits.

What I thought was initially going to be about space exploration, quickly turns into a sort of romance between Vaha and Jaya, then just as quickly turns into a political mess. The bulk of the second half of the book is spent with Jaya trying to navigate the messy political situation unfolding because of her actions on Meru, which I didn't enjoy that much.

I thought the book was lacking in a couple of areas. Divya doesn't do a great job describing the alien surroundings for the reader, they remain hard to picture. Also the dialogue between characters feels unnatural and stilted throughout the book. Lastly, I just didn't find either Vaha or Jaya that engaging as characters. There isn't a lot riding on Jaya's success on Meru, at least not from a survival perspective. Jaya has a perfectly wonderful situation back on Earth and Vaha is in a fine situation as well. Jaya just wants more and the main driving point behind the book is that she should be allowed to want more and not be overprotected by alloys to protect her from her own bad decisions.

My Summary (3.5/5): Overall this was a decent space opera that had some creative elements that were intriguing. The awkward dialogue and lack of engagement with the worlds and characters dampened my enthusiasm some. I was eager to read a space exploration adventure but a bit disappointed in how much romance and politics diverted the story. I don't plan on reading future books in this series, the writing style just wasn't for me. ( )

Humans and Alloys are both highly genetically engineered beings. Alloys are several centuries post-human, and mainly live in space as explorers and couriers between planets, though some have humanoid avatars that they use to live among humans: they also take care of Earth’s biosphere after the terrible destruction previously wreaked on it by humans, and a disastrous terraforming attempt on Mars. For these reasons humans are confined to Earth and excluded from entering the illustrious bio-engineering sphere which the alloys appropriate to themselves alone.

This is the story of a young human who’s desire to become a genetic engineer and live off-planet lead her to propose an experiment whereby if she can live on the planet Meru for a year without damaging it or causing any pollution the alloys will consider being more accommodating towards human needs and desires for travel and resettlement.

The style of writing gives me a Becky Chambers type vibe – especially in the way the various characters interact with each other and the blossoming relationship between human Jaya and alloy Vaha as they struggle to fulfil the strict terms of the Meru experiment.

There are a couple of niggles. The use of the term “consciousness” to describe planets and stars is a bit jarring, but seems to be used symbolically in-story to remind people that every environment must be respected whether there is life there or not; also the use of pronouns “zie” and “zir” for gender neutral Vaha were too close the “she” and “her” so I ended up thinking of zir as female – might have been better using “they” and “them”.

In any case, the niggles are minor and I will definitely be picking up the second book, and looking for more by this author. ( )