What do you think?
River's Child
Trapped underground in the Svalbard Seed Vault, Mavin Cedarstrom is rescued by a band of strange women dressed in furs. The Peregrine scout Simone Kita was sent to recover seeds from the top of the world and bring them south to the floating gardens of Kashphera. Conjuring myth and magic, this fun, action-packed novel is a delight. River's Child is a wild ride into an ancient future. Fasten your seat belt as our spirited heroes ride icebergs from the frozen north, battle wild men, and fall in love while they race to prevent world war.
302 pages, Paperback
Published April 3, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
August 3, 2019
I found this very difficult to rate. There were many story aspects that I liked, a few I didn't. I felt like parts of the story were missing and I had hoped there would be more characterization of main characters, and more back history of what happened after the nuclear attack, and what happened in between the time Mavin is found and he spends two years traveling with Simone. Another huge gap at the end of the story, where Mavin is in servitude again, and Simone is imprisoned.
April 14, 2020
This is the first action scifi fiction I've enjoyed in a long time. What I loved was the richness of characters and blend of cultures. We also witness our characters changes, & their nature unfold. I appreciate the author keeping us in the perspective of our main character who is trying to figure out what happened to the world, we get to be drawn into that mystery. I also relished some of the flashback type imagery, to piece together this man who existed in many lives and timelines, & to bring relevance and harmony to the events throughout the book. The ending of the book doesn't feel finished though, maybe we're getting a sequel?
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August 30, 2018He had me at Svalbard. The seed storage vault up in Norway is just plain interesting. In this set-in-the-near-future novel, an influx of big corporate money has "improved" the seed vault by adding a supercomputer system that runs on geothermal energy, so it can keep things climate controlled for basically ever. And it has added deeper levels. On the deepest level, seven, there is work on preserving animal DNA, and it is rumored that they are freezing whole animals. (Those two details are important.)
Mavin, a Native American with a degree in biology and a natural talent for fixing things, goes to work early one morning in the vault. He is the only one there. The computer tells him, "The GCDC is in emergency lockdown." The doors are shut, and Mavin can't get out. And no one comes to rescue him. He is trapped alone underground, wandering around, talking to himself, until he finds a way into level seven.
Somehow he gets himself frozen. He wakes up centuries later, when a party of women wearing furs breaks in to gather seeds. When they leave, they take Mavin with them.
There really had been a global catastrophe. The world had burned, and the remaining survivors had started over. But it is not the same. There are no more tall trees. No trees grow more than three feet tall. Other plants are thorny and stunted. And all the cereal crops are plagued by fungal diseases, so the mass of people are starving, although, then, as probably always, there are some rich people living in luxury.
Mavin buys into this plan of seeing the seeds safely to their new home, and overseeing their germination. It was his life's work, after all. But getting the seeds home is not easy. They have to face hostile peoples and harsh environments. Only one of the women, Simone, survives. And the home she is taking him to has issues of its own.
To begin with, there is prejudice against men, who are expected to be quiet and look at their feet. Men can't own property, or get an education, or have any position of responsibility. Women are running everything, but there is still corruption and greed, which hamper their quest. And, as it happens, there is an equally sexist but male-dominated society elsewhere in this world.
There is also mythology/religion, some of which is "real." There are visions (such as the vision of Leto, the elder woman who saw that there were seeds at the top of the world). Simone, Mavin's protector, and sometime partner in this new world, is a master of using "ki" energy to move things and people. Mavin was trained as a scientist, but he reaches back to his Native American past to find stories he can use to communicate with these people, and finds that sometimes the mythological explanation and the scientific explanation are saying the almost same thing, or the same thing in different ways.
I agree with other reviewers who say that the passage of time was not handled smoothly. You would turn a page, and it would be months, or even years, later. But the story was interesting, and it does make you think about many things. The seed science aspect reminded me of The Wind-Up Girl. The descriptions of the society reminded me of the fantasy of Richard Adams. I wondered if the sexism was not necessarily meant to address gender issues specifically, although surely it does that, but to represent the dysfunction of any highly polarized society. The men's country and the women's country are unable to accept each other's world view. They are divided by every aspect of culture, and their continually fighting about it makes them unable to work together to solve their real common enemy: their food crisis.
Mavin, a Native American with a degree in biology and a natural talent for fixing things, goes to work early one morning in the vault. He is the only one there. The computer tells him, "The GCDC is in emergency lockdown." The doors are shut, and Mavin can't get out. And no one comes to rescue him. He is trapped alone underground, wandering around, talking to himself, until he finds a way into level seven.
Somehow he gets himself frozen. He wakes up centuries later, when a party of women wearing furs breaks in to gather seeds. When they leave, they take Mavin with them.
There really had been a global catastrophe. The world had burned, and the remaining survivors had started over. But it is not the same. There are no more tall trees. No trees grow more than three feet tall. Other plants are thorny and stunted. And all the cereal crops are plagued by fungal diseases, so the mass of people are starving, although, then, as probably always, there are some rich people living in luxury.
Mavin buys into this plan of seeing the seeds safely to their new home, and overseeing their germination. It was his life's work, after all. But getting the seeds home is not easy. They have to face hostile peoples and harsh environments. Only one of the women, Simone, survives. And the home she is taking him to has issues of its own.
To begin with, there is prejudice against men, who are expected to be quiet and look at their feet. Men can't own property, or get an education, or have any position of responsibility. Women are running everything, but there is still corruption and greed, which hamper their quest. And, as it happens, there is an equally sexist but male-dominated society elsewhere in this world.
There is also mythology/religion, some of which is "real." There are visions (such as the vision of Leto, the elder woman who saw that there were seeds at the top of the world). Simone, Mavin's protector, and sometime partner in this new world, is a master of using "ki" energy to move things and people. Mavin was trained as a scientist, but he reaches back to his Native American past to find stories he can use to communicate with these people, and finds that sometimes the mythological explanation and the scientific explanation are saying the almost same thing, or the same thing in different ways.
I agree with other reviewers who say that the passage of time was not handled smoothly. You would turn a page, and it would be months, or even years, later. But the story was interesting, and it does make you think about many things. The seed science aspect reminded me of The Wind-Up Girl. The descriptions of the society reminded me of the fantasy of Richard Adams. I wondered if the sexism was not necessarily meant to address gender issues specifically, although surely it does that, but to represent the dysfunction of any highly polarized society. The men's country and the women's country are unable to accept each other's world view. They are divided by every aspect of culture, and their continually fighting about it makes them unable to work together to solve their real common enemy: their food crisis.
June 13, 2018
Reviewed by Skyler Boudreau for Reader Views (6/18)
“River’s Child” by Mark Daniel Seiler follows Mavin Cedarstrom after he is rescued from an underground seed vault by a mysterious group of women where he has been trapped in stasis for thousands of years. Upon his revival, Mavin finds that the world has completely changed, both geographically and culturally.
In this dystopian world, famine runs rampant. Domesticated grains rarely live to be harvested, as they are constantly under attack by mold and disease. Seiler succeeds in building a complicated environment, where this famine leaks into everyday life, including social customs and politics. The nuance he builds between government officials, their decisions, and the issues they face provides an eerily realistic administration. It’s easy to imagine present day countries debating similar issues.
Seiler also provides an interesting take on the evolution vs. religion debate. Though his character Mavin is from the past, most of his futuristic companions have built their entire society on the concept of goddesses shaping the world for them. The different views conflict throughout the novel, and both Mavin and the reader are surprised to find some cross over between the two. The future’s mythological explanations line up with the past’s scientific ones in unexpected parallels.
“River’s Child” spans several years following a long, twisting story with many different narrators. The story never drags, and the audience remains invested throughout. My sole criticism is that the time jumps often happen without warning, leaving the reader feeling displaced in the narrative for a time; other than that, the plot and the pacing are both strong.
One of the things I loved about this novel is the way Seiler can explain concepts without turning the story itself into a lecture. The reader gets to learn about the consequences of domesticating plants as well as the societal impact of enforcing extreme gender roles.
The ending ties the book together nicely. Though it leaves room for a sequel, I don’t think one is necessary. The reader is allowed to assume what they want. Overall, I enjoyed “River’s Child” by Mark Daniel Seiler. It’s different from a lot of other science fiction out there and definitely worth picking up.
“River’s Child” by Mark Daniel Seiler follows Mavin Cedarstrom after he is rescued from an underground seed vault by a mysterious group of women where he has been trapped in stasis for thousands of years. Upon his revival, Mavin finds that the world has completely changed, both geographically and culturally.
In this dystopian world, famine runs rampant. Domesticated grains rarely live to be harvested, as they are constantly under attack by mold and disease. Seiler succeeds in building a complicated environment, where this famine leaks into everyday life, including social customs and politics. The nuance he builds between government officials, their decisions, and the issues they face provides an eerily realistic administration. It’s easy to imagine present day countries debating similar issues.
Seiler also provides an interesting take on the evolution vs. religion debate. Though his character Mavin is from the past, most of his futuristic companions have built their entire society on the concept of goddesses shaping the world for them. The different views conflict throughout the novel, and both Mavin and the reader are surprised to find some cross over between the two. The future’s mythological explanations line up with the past’s scientific ones in unexpected parallels.
“River’s Child” spans several years following a long, twisting story with many different narrators. The story never drags, and the audience remains invested throughout. My sole criticism is that the time jumps often happen without warning, leaving the reader feeling displaced in the narrative for a time; other than that, the plot and the pacing are both strong.
One of the things I loved about this novel is the way Seiler can explain concepts without turning the story itself into a lecture. The reader gets to learn about the consequences of domesticating plants as well as the societal impact of enforcing extreme gender roles.
The ending ties the book together nicely. Though it leaves room for a sequel, I don’t think one is necessary. The reader is allowed to assume what they want. Overall, I enjoyed “River’s Child” by Mark Daniel Seiler. It’s different from a lot of other science fiction out there and definitely worth picking up.
July 5, 2018
What a unique read. This book was somehow 1/3 The Stand (with an almost-extinction level event), 1/3 Clan of the Cave Bear, and 1/3 Into the Badlands from AMC, all centering around the survival of seeds that will help remedy Earth-wide famine.
Mavin, Hester, and Simone were likable characters, and their interactions were well-written.
The criticism for me centers on the abrupt changes in time and setting for the narrative, as well as world-building. Seiler has a perpetual habit of moving forward with seemingly arbitrary units of time in the narrative. Six months here, 6 years there, 2 years here. Without much explanation at all of developments in the meantime.
Also, there are fairly severely underdeveloped ideas and world-building pieces left out to dry. Humans spontaneously develop the ability to channel "Ki" a la Jedi, but how they arrived there is just a "given." Thus, it was hard at times to suspend disbelief.
But, by golly, this darn thing, this amalgam, was unique. I have to give it that.
Mavin, Hester, and Simone were likable characters, and their interactions were well-written.
The criticism for me centers on the abrupt changes in time and setting for the narrative, as well as world-building. Seiler has a perpetual habit of moving forward with seemingly arbitrary units of time in the narrative. Six months here, 6 years there, 2 years here. Without much explanation at all of developments in the meantime.
Also, there are fairly severely underdeveloped ideas and world-building pieces left out to dry. Humans spontaneously develop the ability to channel "Ki" a la Jedi, but how they arrived there is just a "given." Thus, it was hard at times to suspend disbelief.
But, by golly, this darn thing, this amalgam, was unique. I have to give it that.
April 8, 2018
I really enjoyed this book! I’m a fan of dystopian futures and I especially appreciate how this one used science to chart a potentially very possible future for this planet. Even though the setting was far from familiar, I found myself caring about the characters from the beginning and relating to their familiar emotional states. The book kept me thinking about culture and how myered our understanding of others can be by our own experiences.
There were allusions to multiple religious and cultural histories woven into the story that I now want to read more about.
My only complaint was that I wanted more details! There were jumps in time that left me wanting to know more, but ultimately these moments moved the story along (enough that I found myself slipping in short reading intervals when I was supposed to be doing other things). I highly recommend this book.
Disclosure: I received a free copy of River's Child in exchange for an unbiased review.
There were allusions to multiple religious and cultural histories woven into the story that I now want to read more about.
My only complaint was that I wanted more details! There were jumps in time that left me wanting to know more, but ultimately these moments moved the story along (enough that I found myself slipping in short reading intervals when I was supposed to be doing other things). I highly recommend this book.
Disclosure: I received a free copy of River's Child in exchange for an unbiased review.
March 22, 2018
This author was unknown to me, as was the publisher. My understanding is that he initially self-published this book and then it was published later because it won a publisher's competition. So, kudos for his tenacity, as well as for the publisher designing and producing such a handsome book. It feels good to hold and the paper is high quality. This matters to me.
The story seems like a fairly straightforward dystopian thriller. However, it's not really a thriller, and the story is pretty creative. There are a lot of mystical and somewhat magical elements alongside musings on the possibilities and problems of hard science. These two themes are embodied in the two main characters and there are a number of lines in the book that compare and contrast these two approaches to truth and life. I don't know the author's faith or non-faith background but there were a number of lines that I underlined to ponder later than housed a mix of Christian and Buddhist insights.
The plot is organized around the viability of seeds that had been stored in the end-of-the-world Svalbard Seed Vault (a real thing) and are now crucial to the survivability of a world that has suffered an unknown apocalypse. Much of the story takes place in transit, as the characters get to know one another and the reader gets more and more clues as to the organization of society and what went wrong. I liked how the author didn't spell it all out and even when there were "a-ha" moments about the timeline there was still some bit of mystery.
At times this preference for mystery on the author's part hid something that I thought vital, or at least helpful to understanding the narrative. If there is a complaint it would be that I would liked to have known a little more about the development of this society post-apocalypse. But, Cormac McCarthy doesn't tell us "what went wrong" in The Road either and I loved that book. Additionally, there were a few times that while I understood the overall movement of the narrative I didn't grasp exactly what was going on within the scene. This was true as the characters encountered "Sedna" on an ice flow and when they came upon a mysterious object from the past in the desert. I read these episodes a few times and couldn't quite put the incident together in my mind's eye. However, I do read a lot late at night in bed!
Overall, I really enjoyed the book, the characters were interesting, and the setup was gripping. I'm glad to have spent the time with these characters. (Disclosure: the author provided a free copy with no strings attached.)
The story seems like a fairly straightforward dystopian thriller. However, it's not really a thriller, and the story is pretty creative. There are a lot of mystical and somewhat magical elements alongside musings on the possibilities and problems of hard science. These two themes are embodied in the two main characters and there are a number of lines in the book that compare and contrast these two approaches to truth and life. I don't know the author's faith or non-faith background but there were a number of lines that I underlined to ponder later than housed a mix of Christian and Buddhist insights.
The plot is organized around the viability of seeds that had been stored in the end-of-the-world Svalbard Seed Vault (a real thing) and are now crucial to the survivability of a world that has suffered an unknown apocalypse. Much of the story takes place in transit, as the characters get to know one another and the reader gets more and more clues as to the organization of society and what went wrong. I liked how the author didn't spell it all out and even when there were "a-ha" moments about the timeline there was still some bit of mystery.
At times this preference for mystery on the author's part hid something that I thought vital, or at least helpful to understanding the narrative. If there is a complaint it would be that I would liked to have known a little more about the development of this society post-apocalypse. But, Cormac McCarthy doesn't tell us "what went wrong" in The Road either and I loved that book. Additionally, there were a few times that while I understood the overall movement of the narrative I didn't grasp exactly what was going on within the scene. This was true as the characters encountered "Sedna" on an ice flow and when they came upon a mysterious object from the past in the desert. I read these episodes a few times and couldn't quite put the incident together in my mind's eye. However, I do read a lot late at night in bed!
Overall, I really enjoyed the book, the characters were interesting, and the setup was gripping. I'm glad to have spent the time with these characters. (Disclosure: the author provided a free copy with no strings attached.)
February 12, 2019
Smooth and cohesive storytelling. Apocalyptic. Great character development. Really good world building.
November 7, 2018
I give it a 3.5.
While parts of the story were very compelling, it was a very abrupt book. Months and years could transpire between sentences and perspective changed from the current to a flashback almost instantly throwing me off considerably. Interesting storyline, but not my favorite mode of telling said story.
While parts of the story were very compelling, it was a very abrupt book. Months and years could transpire between sentences and perspective changed from the current to a flashback almost instantly throwing me off considerably. Interesting storyline, but not my favorite mode of telling said story.
September 5, 2019
Best story of the year!!! It didn’t disappoint! However, the author or editor may need to double check their spellings and more,...there were some mistakes. Printing error? I don’t know? Overall, the story gets 5 stars! I would re-read this story again!!!
August 9, 2018
Everything you want a sci-fi story to be; lots of action, not too much detail about how things work. [like page after page of looking at every detail of the equipment when you want to know what is going on.] The main character has you running beside him in this far future trying to keep up with the woman who rescues him. . .
August 29, 2018
What a wonderful book - an adventure through what it could be like in the far future, and a story line to really make you think about the patterns humanity continues to go through. Entertaining and intelligent - read it and you'll be glad you did. And then you'll probably want to read it again.
June 10, 2018
No spoilers of direct event, but one of a central theme. Will not ruin anything.
So, I’m not prone to write many book reviews, but this book bugged me a little. It had a really interesting premise and I even liked where the author took it...however, two thoughts.
- I think the reversed sexism is so over the top overt, that he really beats you over the head with. It felt like a sloppily done political statement.
- The writing is choppy and the editors failed to put good separation between “scenes.” It can get confusing in places and it didn’t feel intentional. This book is in desperate need of another draft where they smooth out the transitions.
I could say more, but no point in beating a dead horse. Ultimately, this book could have benefited from another draft or three, and it left me feeling unfulfilled as a result. Some books leave out just enough to let you fill in the gaps in a tantalizing way...some just feel lazy. This is definitely the later. I still give it three stars because I love the seed vault premise and I think that’s pretty cool.
So, I’m not prone to write many book reviews, but this book bugged me a little. It had a really interesting premise and I even liked where the author took it...however, two thoughts.
- I think the reversed sexism is so over the top overt, that he really beats you over the head with. It felt like a sloppily done political statement.
- The writing is choppy and the editors failed to put good separation between “scenes.” It can get confusing in places and it didn’t feel intentional. This book is in desperate need of another draft where they smooth out the transitions.
I could say more, but no point in beating a dead horse. Ultimately, this book could have benefited from another draft or three, and it left me feeling unfulfilled as a result. Some books leave out just enough to let you fill in the gaps in a tantalizing way...some just feel lazy. This is definitely the later. I still give it three stars because I love the seed vault premise and I think that’s pretty cool.
November 22, 2019
I'm giving this one star, only because I can't give it less. That's obviously a flaw with GoodReads functionality, since there are multiple levels below the rather innocuous "did not like it."
I was really charged up about this; it had a great review! The description sounded interesting! It's a unique idea! Existing GoodReads rating are very positive! To the 47 people (so far) who gave it a 3 or higher: do you people have no standards?
Where to begin? There are problems with the characters, the plot, obvious details, gender issues... and punctuation. I'll start there.
By page 13, I was already so over the author's inability to use a comma correctly that I made a special post about it. I hardly ever post page number updates, but I took the opportunity. That's how bad it was. He uses commas when he should use semicolons, except for the times when he uses a semicolon instead of appropriate comma. He adds commas where they don't belong and leaves them out when they are definitively needed. I'm not talking about a couple of times, or the kinds of mistakes that a reasonable regular person might overlook. Every other sentence. No exaggeration.
As for the rest:
The characters seem to act not according to any logic based on their personality. They don't seem to act based on their history, since we are given very little backstory on all but the main hero. Side characters seem to make decisions based on whims. There is political intrigue, but the society isn't given anything more than the barest sketching, so a conspiracy makes no sense and has no grounding.
The plot is messy, because it's baseless. We get no complete picture of the modern world, or any understanding of what turns out to be one culture in that world. The main heroine is a mysterious figure, so anything she does to advance the story is at the whim of the author. Later parts of the book are related to the actions of people in the religious institution, the government, and commerce, but the set-up and interaction of these three groups isn't explored in any way. A second, neighboring culture is introduced, but not grounded in any details. These two cultures didn't spring up out of the air. They must be grounded in something. The author just didn't bother to figure out-- or at least tell the reader-- what.
Conflicting and overlooked details pepper the book and remove any remaining hope at believability. The hero spends over a year travelling with his rescuer, but we're supposed to believe that neither talked to the other about themselves, their lives, or their families for the entire trip. The main character was asleep for at least a thousand years, but when he's revived from cryo, there is no communication barrier between him and his rescuers; they're able to communicate well enough to flee an immediate attack. (Try having a conversation with someone from only 5-600 years ago and see if you survive.) We're supposed to believe this lack of language barrier despite the fact that there have been obvious cultural influences: written communication is in Chinese-like script, and the heroine says that, although they speak English, English cannot be written. Yet it somehow persevered unchanged as the spoken language. These are only the most incredulous examples; there are more.
Everything I'm thinking of as "gender issues" can be lumped under the heading "women are mysterious creatures; there's no way to understand them, so why bother?" It's mentioned that the culture their traveling to has few males, but it isn't explained if this is a fluke of birth, a medical intervention, outcasting, mystically-derived, or something else. Female characters, especially minor characters inside the main culture, are described for male readers-- their curves, their lips, their hair. I would imagine that a primarily-female society 1,000 years down the line would view, emphasize, celebrate, and market sexuality in a vastly different way than we do now, but character who are dressing to impress or seduce do it what many would consider a male-centric way-- baffling for a predominantly female society. Anti-male sexism is both described and displayed differently, inconsistently, throughout the book, emphasizing that the culture doesn't have rules or history; all actions are at the whim of the author. The neighboring culture seems to have no shortage of men, again for reasons unexplained; the men from this culture are boorish, brash, rude, and quick to take offense at any perceived anti-masculism from members of the female society. (The more I consolidate this book's "gender issues" into one place, the more my brain is whispering things like "anti-feminist," "incel," and other words. I'm not going to blame the author for anything other than lazy writing, but a case could be made for much stronger motivations.)
tl;dr: not only is this book so bad that I will never again pick up something by this author, it's so bad that I will likely never again pick up something by this *publisher*. The fact that they let this monstrosity walk out their door, with their name on it, tells me everything I need to know about the quality I can expect from them. If the book is so bad, why did I finish it? I was really excited to start it. Even after I (quickly) realized the punctuation would make me want to take my own skin with a potato peeler, I thought there might be a salvageable story: Svalbarg seed vault + hero(ine)ic rescuer + mysterious world catastrophe! By the time it became clear that we weren't going to get more information on the rescuer or the plan to save the world, I thought there still might be something worthwhile in exploring this new culture, pulled back together from the remnants of the destroyed world. Once it became apparent that we weren't going to get even that, I was motivated to finish it so that I could rip it good and proper without having my review dismissed as a "dnf."
I was really charged up about this; it had a great review! The description sounded interesting! It's a unique idea! Existing GoodReads rating are very positive! To the 47 people (so far) who gave it a 3 or higher: do you people have no standards?
Where to begin? There are problems with the characters, the plot, obvious details, gender issues... and punctuation. I'll start there.
By page 13, I was already so over the author's inability to use a comma correctly that I made a special post about it. I hardly ever post page number updates, but I took the opportunity. That's how bad it was. He uses commas when he should use semicolons, except for the times when he uses a semicolon instead of appropriate comma. He adds commas where they don't belong and leaves them out when they are definitively needed. I'm not talking about a couple of times, or the kinds of mistakes that a reasonable regular person might overlook. Every other sentence. No exaggeration.
As for the rest:
The characters seem to act not according to any logic based on their personality. They don't seem to act based on their history, since we are given very little backstory on all but the main hero. Side characters seem to make decisions based on whims. There is political intrigue, but the society isn't given anything more than the barest sketching, so a conspiracy makes no sense and has no grounding.
The plot is messy, because it's baseless. We get no complete picture of the modern world, or any understanding of what turns out to be one culture in that world. The main heroine is a mysterious figure, so anything she does to advance the story is at the whim of the author. Later parts of the book are related to the actions of people in the religious institution, the government, and commerce, but the set-up and interaction of these three groups isn't explored in any way. A second, neighboring culture is introduced, but not grounded in any details. These two cultures didn't spring up out of the air. They must be grounded in something. The author just didn't bother to figure out-- or at least tell the reader-- what.
Conflicting and overlooked details pepper the book and remove any remaining hope at believability. The hero spends over a year travelling with his rescuer, but we're supposed to believe that neither talked to the other about themselves, their lives, or their families for the entire trip. The main character was asleep for at least a thousand years, but when he's revived from cryo, there is no communication barrier between him and his rescuers; they're able to communicate well enough to flee an immediate attack. (Try having a conversation with someone from only 5-600 years ago and see if you survive.) We're supposed to believe this lack of language barrier despite the fact that there have been obvious cultural influences: written communication is in Chinese-like script, and the heroine says that, although they speak English, English cannot be written. Yet it somehow persevered unchanged as the spoken language. These are only the most incredulous examples; there are more.
Everything I'm thinking of as "gender issues" can be lumped under the heading "women are mysterious creatures; there's no way to understand them, so why bother?" It's mentioned that the culture their traveling to has few males, but it isn't explained if this is a fluke of birth, a medical intervention, outcasting, mystically-derived, or something else. Female characters, especially minor characters inside the main culture, are described for male readers-- their curves, their lips, their hair. I would imagine that a primarily-female society 1,000 years down the line would view, emphasize, celebrate, and market sexuality in a vastly different way than we do now, but character who are dressing to impress or seduce do it what many would consider a male-centric way-- baffling for a predominantly female society. Anti-male sexism is both described and displayed differently, inconsistently, throughout the book, emphasizing that the culture doesn't have rules or history; all actions are at the whim of the author. The neighboring culture seems to have no shortage of men, again for reasons unexplained; the men from this culture are boorish, brash, rude, and quick to take offense at any perceived anti-masculism from members of the female society. (The more I consolidate this book's "gender issues" into one place, the more my brain is whispering things like "anti-feminist," "incel," and other words. I'm not going to blame the author for anything other than lazy writing, but a case could be made for much stronger motivations.)
tl;dr: not only is this book so bad that I will never again pick up something by this author, it's so bad that I will likely never again pick up something by this *publisher*. The fact that they let this monstrosity walk out their door, with their name on it, tells me everything I need to know about the quality I can expect from them. If the book is so bad, why did I finish it? I was really excited to start it. Even after I (quickly) realized the punctuation would make me want to take my own skin with a potato peeler, I thought there might be a salvageable story: Svalbarg seed vault + hero(ine)ic rescuer + mysterious world catastrophe! By the time it became clear that we weren't going to get more information on the rescuer or the plan to save the world, I thought there still might be something worthwhile in exploring this new culture, pulled back together from the remnants of the destroyed world. Once it became apparent that we weren't going to get even that, I was motivated to finish it so that I could rip it good and proper without having my review dismissed as a "dnf."
September 28, 2018
Seiler begins by imagining the world as we know it has disappeared. And then he builds his own future, skillfully blending genres and genders, language and landscapes into something brand new. Only the human heart survives his transmutations. While this novel could be categorized as post-apocalyptic, it defies any easy label. As if Seiler has invented his own genre along with his own future world. Like all good books, I couldn't wait to finish it, but was disappointed when it was over.
April 30, 2018
An extremely problematic novel. Is it pro-feminist? or anti-feminist? Is it meant to be allegorical? Or just goofy storytelling? There could have been a lot here to enjoy, but somehow the writing was getting in its own way. I needed a book-palate-cleanser after this.
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June 22, 2018The instinctual urge to self-eradicate was as much a part a part of the human soul as the urge to wonder.
July 7, 2018
Very original story - loved it!
May 27, 2019
I wrote a review earlier. I enjoyed the book immensely!
September 21, 2018
It was odd, unsettling, adventurous... I didn't really like the pace, it was much to quick and jumpy, but I feel that was part of the theme maybe - reminiscent of a River?
The first 2/3 I just couldn't put down! The last 1/3 felt like the author wasn't sure where to go with it, or how to finish the development of the characters... And whatever happened to those seeds under the rock?
Overall I still enjoyed it. :)
The first 2/3 I just couldn't put down! The last 1/3 felt like the author wasn't sure where to go with it, or how to finish the development of the characters... And whatever happened to those seeds under the rock?
Overall I still enjoyed it. :)
April 9, 2020
Intriguing. But hard to follow and confusing at times. Kept me going, and ended well, but was a fog of myth and legend. Well-written, and interesting characters. Needed more clarity for me to love it.
November 16, 2022
I want to like this book more. It's not bad, it just has some issues that really break it for me.
The author’s writing style/ the editing style is strange. Significant and action-packed scenes happen and end within half a page, but seemingly meaningless conversations go on and on. The main characters do not feel fleshed out, the world does not feel fleshed out. Aspects of the book seem like they were written with no research into the topic even though others are obviously heavily researched. The main characters were alone together for years, but don’t know anything about each other and apparently don’t talk about how Mavin could adjust to the new world??? Hundreds of years have passed between Mavin and Simone’s times, yet there are no communication barriers.
The world building is too vast and different from current times (at least my culture) to not have the development it needs but lacks. Even being a female, the matriarchal society Seiler writes is almost comical and feels like a parody of patriarchal societies to be taken seriously.
The dialogue is sometimes dumb or unnatural. Choices are made on whims completely outside character. The pacing- omg the pacing- is all over the place. So much can happen in seconds of reading. Day, weeks, months, YEARS pass in between paragraph breaks or chapters. The story should have focused more on the journey back, than the political intrigue. In fact, the story could have included both and have been a two part series.
The characters are somewhat likeable- I did enjoy Simone’s character even though she could be annoying- but Mavin doesn’t feel like a fully established character, despite being the male lead and having significantly more backstory than Simone. Too many side characters are introduced, especially since so many have little significance to the plot and most die immediately after being introduced. I couldn’ tell you a single name of Simone’s team from the beginning. They do not impact the understanding of the story, nor are they developed and individualised enough to be cared about or remembered after they die. They’re just another word on the page.
The romance? If that's what you could call it? Mavin and Simone never gave me even a hint of romantic or sexual tension, but then suddenly they’re kissing and doing the dirty in the last 10 pages. Speaking of the last 10 pages, what?? The book just ended. There’s nothing to wrap it up, create a cliffhanger, or set up for a sequel. If Seiler does write another book, it'll be more of part 2 than a sequel. Blah.
Overall, the whole book felt like it was written and self-edited by an inexperienced teenage writer. I generally enjoyed it, but the book never caught my attention and I never felt emotionally invested in either the characters, the world, or the plot. I agree with other reviews that mentioned the story could have undergone a few more drafts or different editing styles.
The author’s writing style/ the editing style is strange. Significant and action-packed scenes happen and end within half a page, but seemingly meaningless conversations go on and on. The main characters do not feel fleshed out, the world does not feel fleshed out. Aspects of the book seem like they were written with no research into the topic even though others are obviously heavily researched. The main characters were alone together for years, but don’t know anything about each other and apparently don’t talk about how Mavin could adjust to the new world??? Hundreds of years have passed between Mavin and Simone’s times, yet there are no communication barriers.
The world building is too vast and different from current times (at least my culture) to not have the development it needs but lacks. Even being a female, the matriarchal society Seiler writes is almost comical and feels like a parody of patriarchal societies to be taken seriously.
The dialogue is sometimes dumb or unnatural. Choices are made on whims completely outside character. The pacing- omg the pacing- is all over the place. So much can happen in seconds of reading. Day, weeks, months, YEARS pass in between paragraph breaks or chapters. The story should have focused more on the journey back, than the political intrigue. In fact, the story could have included both and have been a two part series.
The characters are somewhat likeable- I did enjoy Simone’s character even though she could be annoying- but Mavin doesn’t feel like a fully established character, despite being the male lead and having significantly more backstory than Simone. Too many side characters are introduced, especially since so many have little significance to the plot and most die immediately after being introduced. I couldn’ tell you a single name of Simone’s team from the beginning. They do not impact the understanding of the story, nor are they developed and individualised enough to be cared about or remembered after they die. They’re just another word on the page.
The romance? If that's what you could call it? Mavin and Simone never gave me even a hint of romantic or sexual tension, but then suddenly they’re kissing and doing the dirty in the last 10 pages. Speaking of the last 10 pages, what?? The book just ended. There’s nothing to wrap it up, create a cliffhanger, or set up for a sequel. If Seiler does write another book, it'll be more of part 2 than a sequel. Blah.
Overall, the whole book felt like it was written and self-edited by an inexperienced teenage writer. I generally enjoyed it, but the book never caught my attention and I never felt emotionally invested in either the characters, the world, or the plot. I agree with other reviews that mentioned the story could have undergone a few more drafts or different editing styles.
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