"The Best of All Possible Worlds" First Impressions - *No Spoilers*

[SFFBC, Ancillary Mod]

Come share your first impressions here! Please leave all details of the book and your feelings about the end for the full spoiler thread, open shortly.

Content warnings for those who want them: (view spoiler)[ mental coercion, including sexual coercion, slavery, misogyny. (hide spoiler)]

Spoiler thread here: Final thoughts

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

It's a bit more episodic feeling than I anticipated, and quite quirky!

[Anna]

Yes, I was surprised by the episodic/travelogue feel when I first read it.

[Anna]

Yep, I've read it three times now, and plan to read yet again :D

[Beth]

I've listened to the first couple of chapters of the audio version, read by Robin Miles. (Side note: love her voice!) I'm enjoying how there are large scale things going on--i.e. what happened to the Sadiri at the very beginning of the book--but they're in the background, and small interactions between a couple of people are in the foreground.

Also I would have no clue how to spell "Dllenahkh" without copy and pasting it from a review... as I just did.

[Meredith]

I'm enjoying this so far, a couple chapters in. I like the main character's voice, very zippy feeling.

[Anna]

I have to say again that I love how Meredith has dressed for the occasion! ^_^

(Hi readers from the future, I'm talking about her Unikitty profile pic.)

[Meredith]

I bought the lego set just to get the Unikitty.

[Anna]

(view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)] <- gif

[Meredith]

I should clarify, I already owned the lego set because Unikitty is my secret alter ego. That's (at least partly) why I was so enamored of Unikitty in the guesssing challenge. I may have to remain Unikitty now that I have revealed myself.

[Anna]

:o

[Anna]

Amanda, do you have the US or the UK cover? They have such different vibes! And of course there's the Spanish cover, too, which adds yet another dimension :D

[Anna]

I guess they tried to make her look alien? In my mind she looks nothing like that, and I prefer the UK cover.

[Eva]

You got me wondering about the German cover: is this any better? Or even worse?

[Anna]

Nope, she still looks wrong!

[Beth]

Though I don't think she has been described as of where I am so far, maybe because the author is a PoC I picture the MC as a black woman.

[Anna]

I don't think it's a spoiler to confirm that's the case :)

[Amanda at Bookish Brews]

These all seem to be such intriguing first impressions! I'm so interested because of all of you. :)

[Nicol]

I just started the audio book tonight, it's hard to go wrong when Robin Miles is narrating! I had to remind myself how Anna described Unikitty - so if anyone needs a reminder:

Unikitty = (view spoiler)
I'm a Super Cool, hopeful, and reflective Alien from Cloud Cuckoo Land, who needs a Makey Makeover.

I get the first part so far but can't wait for the other parts to reveal itself!

[Brittany]

I am also really enjoying this book. It’s very different from the usual sci fi I read which is more...action/horror than romance? I read a couple reviews prior to starting and was worried i would find it cheesy but I think Karen Lord does a great job at writing dialogue and the two main characters are very likable and their exchanges realistic and funny. Im eager to see what the “ancient mysteries and far reaching ramifications” will be!

[Samantha]

This is my first group read. I'm about 10% in and I'm already hooked on the world building and the dialogue. Someone above said it was meditative, and I agree. I am curious to find out what happens next.

[Michael]

Great, enticing prologue. I love the writing so far: she conveys information with minimal words, and the scene building in the prologue was quite beautiful. Really readable so far, with funny moments and intriguing moments. Curious where this will be going.

[Michael]

Beth wrote: "... Also I would have no clue how to spell "Dllenahkh" without copy and pasting it from a review... as I just did."

I love that the author gave us hints for pronunciation (Zulu "dl" and Scottish "ch") surreptitiously through the main character's own mnemonic. However, I had to look up the Zulu "dl" (youtube tutorial) and I still haven't perfected the sound. Seems like maybe start with the "gh" from "ghee" and then vibrate it? And I don't know whether the second "l" is pronounced.

Looks like you are listening to the audio book, am I even close to how it sounds??

[Michael]

Meredith wrote: "I like the main character's voice, very zippy feeling."

Totally agree. She immediately hooked me with her irreverant style, e.g. "that 'impassive Sadiri' stereotype is a load of crap".

[Michael]

Beth wrote: "Though I don't think she has been described as of where I am so far, maybe because the author is a PoC I picture the MC as a black woman."

Both Sadiri and Cygnians are described as "somewhere on the spectrum of brown", so definitely not a match to my (racist?) cover and back cover!

(Note to self: move to the spoiler thread ... (view spoiler)[
This is from the start of chapter two (if you consider the prologue "Before" as chapter one):

(The Sadiri) looked almost Cygnian - eyes, hair, and skin all somewhere on the spectrum of brown...

So both groups seem to have brown skin. In particular, the narrator (from end of chapter two):

"Dark you are, and golden-eyed"

"My eyes are brown."

She disagrees with the eye description so apparently agrees to the "dark" description for her general appearance. Which does not match my (racist?) book cover art! And is the person on the back supposed to be a Sadiri?? Same whitewashed coloring... (hide spoiler)]

[Infosifter]

This author is new to me, and so far I'm really enjoying the book. Yea for group reads; I probably never would've discovered this otherwise! :-)

[Anna]

You can hear the pronunciation of Dllenahkh in the audio sample. It's around the 3.5 minute mark, with about 2 minutes of the sample left.

I'd say it sounds like Dlenach, but I don't know if that helps :)

[Joon]

I actually wasn't going to read this at all but I just now decided why not. It's not that long, and I've got a bit of momentum. I'll start it tomorrow.

[Bonnie]

Less than two chapters in; understanding and liking this so for. I like the setup and am interested to see what transpires with the different cultures on Cygnus, and how the biotechnian handles things.

I began The Galaxy Game by this author a few years ago. It seemed like something I would like: aliens, anthropology, implants, telepathy, gender stuff. But I couldn't figure out what was going on and gave up. I noticed on the GR page for The Best of All Possible Worlds a review says Galaxy Game is the sequel - if so no wonder I couldn't get into it.

[Anna]

I’d say it’s a companion, not a sequel, but reading this first would help to figure out the world in GG!

[Bonnie]

Thanks for the info. It sounds as if you really like these - you have read three times?!

Finished second chapter - am having deja vu. Either there are fragments from The Galaxy Game in my brain ...(view spoiler)[Cygnus / Sediri / Ain/ genocide / reproduction / matriarchy (hide spoiler)]... or I've read a short story in this world. Maybe something about an ice owl?

{goes to check 'Karen Lord' in the iSFDB}

No, The Ice Owl was Carolyn Ives Gilman. An excerpt from this in a Lightspeed, but not the anthology I read. Must be floating from the GG book.

[Anna]

Yes, GG takes place after the events of this book, so there are references, but they’re not really explained, you’re sort of expected to know what happened.

[DivaDiane]

I finally just started this today (on audio). I also got the ebook, so I might reread Chapter 2, because there's some cook history and I have been interrupted several times listening to chapter 2!

[Joon]

I've finally started, a ways into chapter 2.

I also just now realized I don't have the slightest idea what this book is even about. Which will be a neat way of reading it.

I like the breezy narrative voice.

Pretty stoked about the audiobook narrator too. The bits and pieces I've heard of Robin Miles suggest she's very good.

[Anna]

This isn't even Miles at her best, so if this is your first sample, prepare to be awed in the future! :)

[Joon]

Yeah it looks like she's done several NK Jemisin books, who will feature heavily on my 2022 list if I don't burn down my alphabet list early this year.

[Mareike]

Listened to the first three chapters so far and am definitely intrigued.

[Jeanette]

I'm having difficulty sorting out the characters. It's so incredibly different...

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

it's very different! i also took some time to remember who everyone was. it starts to sort out though!

[DivaDiane]

I like Robin Miles’ voice and her cadence, but I always find it annoying when a narrator mispronounces words and I’ve heard a few already. One I had to check though, but her pronunciation of “primer” (an elementary text book) is definitely wrong. It should be “prime”-er not “prim”-er. Sigh.

[Anna]

I’ve always thought that’s a US vs UK thing? Like with so many other words.

[DivaDiane]

Nope. That’s why I looked it up. In my English pronouncing Dictionary it does include “prim”-er but as an infrequent variant and not a British vs. American difference. Only if it pertains to a type of printing is it pronounced that way. And both of us being American I would expect us to pronounce it the same. A well, I guess I’ll give her that one, it just clanged a bell for me. There were 2 other words that did the same, but I can’t remember anymore what they were. I didn’t look them up.

[Anna]

I moved my reply to the language thread.

[Laurie]

DivaDiane wrote: "I like Robin Miles’ voice and her cadence, but I always find it annoying when a narrator mispronounces words and I’ve heard a few already. One I had to check though, but her pronunciation of “prime..."

Had to respond. Both versions are acceptable, and we have ongoing arguments in my publishing company about which is correct. Has she mispronounced anything else?

[Anna]

Laurie, there’s a lengthy discussion behind the link above! :)

[DivaDiane]

Laurie, yes, I found another truly mispronounced word (and not just an infrequent variant) in The Best of All Possible Worlds. I’ll go into it in the language thread. I heard 2 other words mispronounced (in my opinion), but I didn’t make note of them and now I can’t remember what they were, so I also can’t insist that they were in fact mispronounced.

[Jeanette]

I had to start the book over again in order to understand what was going on. Now I'm actually getting into the narrative and understanding the behaviors of the Sadiri. It's a good story so far!

[Jeanette]

I am 20% into the book. I find the story bringing me close to tears at times - empathizing with the Sadiri. Their efforts to adjust both emotionally, mentally and socially to such a loss... I am especially enjoying the growing friendship between Grace and Dllenahkh.

[Beth]

I stalled out around ch. 4 the first time I tried to read this back in January. I was having trouble getting into the writing style, the emphasis on romance (and breeding, specifically) put me off, and ch. 4 introduced a bunch of characters all at once and it was hard (for me) to follow in audio. So I took notes on who was who this time, and it's been much easier. I'm enjoying it, and am now looking forward to seeing where this little crew goes next.