"Planetfall" First Impressions *No Spoilers*

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Welcome to Women's Month and our Woman Scifi Author Not Already On the Shelf! This book has been on the outskirts of the bookshelf since it came out! What do you think of the opening?

Please leave anything about your overall thoughts on the book or any specifics for the full spoiler discussion opening on the 7th!

[Kari]

I think I'm about 10% in and am finding myself almost frustrated by wanting to find out more about the planet, their circumstances for ending up there--but I think it's a good frustration, because I'm so intrigued. I really like the protagonist; she feels like a unique, flawed, consistent character already.

[Dawn F]

I’ve already read it so I won’t say anything spoilery, but I completely agree with you, Sheri.

[Sheri]

This is my first “read” with this group. Since it’s Women’s Month I was really hoping for a strong female protagonist but I’m being sorely disappointed. Ren, our narrative character, is a bundle of whinging insecurities wringing out her soul on a daily basis over her life choices. Not my favourite type of character. There are plenty of puzzles to sort out yet, and maybe Ren will do something redemptive so I will continue reading.

[Gabi]

It's time for a positive voice :D. I read it some time ago and my first impression was "wow", cause I could feel with the protagonist like seldom before in a book.

[Anna]

Gabi wrote: "It's time for a positive voice :D. I read it some time ago and my first impression was "wow", cause it I could feel with the protagonist like seldom before in a book."

Yes! <3

[Kari]

Gabi wrote: "It's time for a positive voice :D. I read it some time ago and my first impression was "wow", cause I could feel with the protagonist like seldom before in a book."

I'm all for strong female characters, but I do like a character with flaws too. Even frustrating ones. They just make the people seem more real to me. I'm only 10% in so can't comment a lot but I do enjoy Ren. She just seems like a very anxious introvert and I definitely relate. :)

[Sarah, The Unsettled]

Yes I agree. People aren’t perfect. I think that’s what makes Ren an interesting protagonist to follow.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

For me, strong means "able to exist without need to be propped up by writing tricks or other character's actions." The strong women I know aren't always the ones with their lives in order, they're the ones who have every reason to give up and don't. I love figuring out what Ren's deal is. And, as someone whose head sometimes works like Ren's, holy cow did I relate!

[Edwin]

50% done. I love the building wonderment of WTF is going on, which includes Ren, who seems to get steadily more complicated. I am very interested to see where this is all headed.

[Dan]

My first impression: ah, this is one of those stories structured like "some important/traumatic event happened, but none of the characters ever want to talk about it, and your job as the reader is to reverse-engineer what happened."

I don't know if I'm always a fan of these, although I recently read Six Wakes and it's a really quite similar. (And I really liked Six Wakes.) But too often I miss That One Super Important Thing and spend most of the book confused.

So far I'm liking this, though.

[Cheryl]

I agree, Ren is a person. Not a kick-ass or spunky female character.

[Dawn F]

All that would be great if it was well written but alas I don’t think the novel is.

[Christopher]

I feel like anything I want to say about this might be a potential spoiler, so I'll just wait until the 7th!

[Oleksandr]

I started it yesterday and I like it very much (so far at least). I fully agree that Ren is a person. Moreover, IMHO we need more interesting person characters, independent of their gender, race, political or sexual orientation.

[Kim]

I am 100+ pages in & am intrigued. I like Ren’s voice, am interested in what happened to the other crew members, am deeply suspicious of the new guy, and feel like “shark music” is slowly building under the pages. Not as overtly bad as the opening of Six Wakes (which I loved & raced through & gave to my husband & adult kids who are all doing the same) but there is an ominous quality to the guilty way in which people respond, avoiding discussing the past. Ren & Mack seem to be in the only ones who know what is really going on in their settlement which seems to include a lot of secrets. I am going back and forth at bedtime between this book & a book about the Salem witch trials, there seems to be a similar claustrophobia in the settlements...adherence to a religious model, limited social interactions, intense scrutiny from the neighbors, gossip spreading like wildfire. With or without technology, human social behavior is remarkably similar.

[Karin]

My first impression is that I like the cover--I just brought it home from the library and am dropping in her as an incentive to start it this evening. I have been busy reading What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions and an Anne Bronte novel.

Planetfall is moving up my evening's reading list. I just have to read some before I get to What If?.. because it's rather funny and hard to put down even if I do plan to read only a few pages.

[Sheri]

Dawn, I agree with you. The story is? could be? fascinating but the writing most definitely doesn’t do the plot or the characters justice. There’s very little description of the planet and the area in which the group finds themselves. But we get pages and pages about the inner working of the city and even more pages of Ren’s maudlin thoughts.

I’m trying not to give away any spoilers, but honestly, I just want to grab the woman and give her a good shake. Will her self doubt and loathing ever end?

[Oleksandr]

I finished it and liked it. Cannot wait for spoilers thread :)

[Anna]

There are some posts here I feel should not be in a first impressions thread, but since they don't have clear spoilers, I won't delete them. Please stick to first impressions in this thread. Something that won't change how a person will read the book, if they read these before they've even started. Thank you!

[Paul]

Intriguing is the right word for my first impressions of this book roughly 30% in. I'm hoping more will be revealed soon so that doesn't turn to frustration.

[Bonnie]

Why present tense! Tiring to read.
I am intrigued though and will keep going.

[Andy]

I've finished it, and I won't spoil. But I think an important key to understanding Ren comes before the story even starts.

In the acknowledgements, Emma Newman writes:

"To anyone who, like me, suffers from an anxiety disorder, I want to say this: It is hard. You are brilliant. Be kind to yourself."

I started the book with that in mind, and it shaped the way I understood Ren. Anxiety affects everyone differently, but from the first pages, Newman's depiction of Ren's anxiety disorder felt very credible. Sometimes cringingly so. Even when I was frustrated with her, I really related to her.

That also shaped how I thought about whether Ren was a strong character. Bravery's not a lack of fear, but getting things done despite fear. So Ren, with a life circumscribed by fear, has lots of opportunities for bravery—even if, sometimes, it wouldn't look anything like bravery to others.

[Oleksandr]

Andy wrote: "That also shaped how I thought about whether Ren was a strong character. Bravery's not a lack of fear, but getting things done despite fear. So Ren, with a life circumscribed by fear, has lots of opportunities for bravery—even if, sometimes, it wouldn't look anything like bravery to others. "

Agreed. For me a strong character doesn't mean the one that goes on frontal assault of any obstacle, far from that

[Anna]

Andy wrote: "In the acknowledgements, Emma Newman writes:

"To anyone who, like me, suffers from an anxiety disorder, I want to say this: It is hard. You are brilliant. Be kind to yourself.""

Yes, this is my favorite quote in the universe. I was going to post this myself once we released the spoiler thread.

It's open now btw, so please go discuss there if you've finished the book. Let's keep this thread nice and clean for those who are still starting.

[Karin]

I have read a couple of chapters and am just not "feeling" it. I'm worried that I am currently on a scifi reading slump.

[Toon]

I just read the first three chapters before I went to bed and I am looking forward to the next chapters already. The start of the book was light and well suited for an evening read, showed an interesting world and introduced a compelling set of characters. I think I will be glad to have picked this one up for my first buddy read with this group by the time we are finished. :)

[Kaa]

I'm at about 20%, so I just wanted to pause briefly to add my first thoughts here. I agree with those who found Ren's anxiety real and relatable. I like her a lot so far.

On the other hand, I am less certain about the story structure. I enjoyed being dropped straight into the story, but the "big reveal" thing that it seems like Newman is setting up here doesn't always work for me, so I'm a bit worried about that.

[Lowell]

i'm about 15% of the way in to the audio book now, and I'm not sure if it's the author's own voice that is making this tough or the writing.

I will say that I am personally over with the "traumatic event guilt complex that drives the main character" trope that is very, very present in the story thus far.

super-duper-extra-over-it-with-a-cherry-on-top.

however, the world as presented thus far is interesting, with shades of religion, messianic overtones and radical biotech. It's enough to keep me going.

[Cheryl]

Lowell, I'm not sure I'm familiar with that trope; I'm guessing we don't read the same books. Would you mind mentioning a few examples so I know that I understand what you mean?

[Lowell]

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...

I may be overly wordy when it comes to the current implementation, but it's a dark secret trope. Please consider the examples at that line a non-exhaustive list, but it's fairly common in genre lit.

[Cheryl]

ty, I'll take a look
...
Ok, I seldom watch movies, never tv, and the only book on that list that I've read is a non-SF modern classic... I can't think of any examples even though now I'm more confident I know what you mean... so, yeah, I've not seen it enough to be tired of it.... ;)

[Lowell]

Cheryl wrote: "so, yeah, I've not seen it enough to be tired of it.... ;) "

Good! as a narrative mechanic it can be used to very effectively drive a plot and character forward - and my being tired of it should not have any relevance to your enjoyment of the book ;)

[Leah]

I am currently on chapter 6 and really starting to become hooked at this point. As a fellow anxious person I resonate with Ren and feel like the building suspense and mystery are quite fascinating. I want to find out what happens next.

Now, I generally don't read a lot of Sci-Fi...primarily high epic fantasy so this feels fresh and new to me rather than overdone. I particularly like the technology and overall world building.

It's a quick read and I expect to finish in a day or two which is always nice. I've been reading some 800-1500+ paged monsters lately so it's a nice break to have a fun fast adventure.

[Kim]

I read The Calculating Stars in which the main character, (not to mention the entire nation) suffered from an existential PTSD/anxiety disorder, & Ren felt very much like the protagonist in that book. Brilliant, responsible, feeling the weight of responsibility on her shoulders.

[Melani]

I'm about halfway through the book and I really like it so far. I've read a couple of Newman's books, and I think this might be my favorite of hers. She's better at developing character, and writing about character, then she is with plot and since this book is more of a character study then a plot heavy book it works really well. Also, and this hasn't happened in a long, long time, the book worked its way into my dreams last night. So that should tell you how much it's working into my subconscious.

[Anthony]

Necroposting, a year late to this one. Having read the first three chapter so far, I am finding myself intrigued, but confused as to why a first-person narrator would be so willfully obtuse in discussing a very important secret. It makes it feel like more of a construct of the author than being organic to the character, if that makes sense...

[Jemppu]

Anthony wrote: "...why a first-person narrator would be so willfully obtuse in discussing a very important secret..."

That's a very good observation to make! One, which will hopefully make more sense later on.

[Dawn F]

@Anthony YES TO THIS. The author is reeeeeaaally trying to build up a mystery here. I’m curious to see if it works for you or not.

[Cheryl]

Huh. In principle, that's kinda the point of a first-person narrator. I mean, irl we don't go around thinking in complete sentences, explaining to ourselves what we already know.

Now if a story is told from the pov of an omniscient narrator who isn't saying all that they know, I feel a disconnect, and that's when I wonder what the author is up to.

[Anthony]

@Cheryl but it’s one of those things about first-person narrators: to whom are they telling their story, and why? And how and why do they decide to parcel out information in the manner in which they do? There is of course a grand tradition of unreliable first-person narrators. And there’s something to be said for authors trusting their audience enough not to hand-hold. In this case I’m just not certain it rings entirely true, but I’m also not sure it’s really a problem either...I’m about a third of the way through now.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Yeah, I think there's a bit of "new author" in the crafting of the story. I'll be curious to hear your thoughts later on :)

[Anna]

Allison wrote: "Yeah, I think there's a bit of "new author" in the crafting of the story."

I strongly disagree, it's just her style. I understand that it doesn't work for everyone, but I'm pretty sure this was a conscious choice.

[Cheryl]

Ah, see, when I read this, I didn't think of her as telling her story to anyone... it was more like she was thinking about things and we were eavesdropping somehow. Just how I remember, myself. :shrug:

[Cheryl]

posting at the same time as Anna, agreeing w/ her...

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

I haven't read more by her, so I defer to you all!

I just mean that the amount of time she spends hinting at things is something I see more of in newer authors, not that she does the hinting. I agree, I think this is more or less stream of consciousness, which handles a lot of it.

[Anthony]

It’s fun to see that necroposting can yield so much discussion! Thanks for joining in, everyone!

[Gabi]

Anna wrote: "Allison wrote: "Yeah, I think there's a bit of "new author" in the crafting of the story."

I strongly disagree, it's just her style. I understand that it doesn't work for everyone, but I'm pretty sure this was a conscious choice."

I absolutely agree, Anna! And her books definitely don't work for everybody.

[Jemppu]

Is it the author / their style, or is it indeed the character? I'd like to think a certain self-deception to rather fit the character, which any 'secretiveness' (even to oneself) could be a manifestation of.

(My recollection of the narration isn't probably as good as others here, though).

[Anna]

Let's not discuss the character more in the non-spoiler thread, but I'd say it's Newman's style in the Planetfall books.