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jessica's Reviews > Sea of Tranquility
Sea of Tranquility
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nothing makes me feel more dumb than reading a time travel book. lol.
i have no idea what it is, but my brain just cant comprehend the concept enough to enjoy stories that use it as a plot device. which is such a shame because i really love ESJMs writing style - its just as lovely and lyrical in this as it is in her previous books. and i said before, when ESJM wrote about a ponzi scheme (one of the dullest topics on earth), that its not what her books say, but how they say it, that makes her stories captivating. but, unfortunately, even my love for her writing couldnt get me to get on board with time travel.
i think the individual POVs on their own are interesting. isolated, they tell nice stories that are full of heart and character. but when they become connected via time travel and the overall larger narrative becomes predominant, thats when the book lost me. but smarter readers who can grasp the logistics of the science should be able to appreciate this kind of storytelling!
so this is a pretty open-and-close case of “its not you, its me.”
↠ 3 stars
i have no idea what it is, but my brain just cant comprehend the concept enough to enjoy stories that use it as a plot device. which is such a shame because i really love ESJMs writing style - its just as lovely and lyrical in this as it is in her previous books. and i said before, when ESJM wrote about a ponzi scheme (one of the dullest topics on earth), that its not what her books say, but how they say it, that makes her stories captivating. but, unfortunately, even my love for her writing couldnt get me to get on board with time travel.
i think the individual POVs on their own are interesting. isolated, they tell nice stories that are full of heart and character. but when they become connected via time travel and the overall larger narrative becomes predominant, thats when the book lost me. but smarter readers who can grasp the logistics of the science should be able to appreciate this kind of storytelling!
so this is a pretty open-and-close case of “its not you, its me.”
↠ 3 stars
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
April 12, 2022
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April 12, 2022
– Shelved
April 12, 2022
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Sammi
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Apr 18, 2022 06:51PM
I couldn’t get into it. I thought I’d try again later but your review basically summed up how I was feeling.
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At least you tried and had a decent time. Hope your next one is amazing! Great review.
I was a bit lost too and what I decided since it’s an unofficial trilogy, is I’m going to reread Station Eleven, read the Glass Hotel and slowwwly reread the Sea of Tranquility and I think I’ll understand it more. But before that, I plan to read all her books in pub order so I requested her debut and waiting for that first! I love her writing, Station Eleven was my fave book of last year!
I had the same problem. You just put into words what I was trying to articulate. I love her writing style, but I don't get into Sci-fi, I really just struggle with it. Which is strange because I LOVED Station 11. I suppose I'll give this one another go. Great review!!!!
I had to re read some things to get it as well. It was a little tough
hah! time travel is the dumbest trope. almost no author can do it effectively and it mostly turns into 20/20 hindsight history. derivative and too easy.
Yes!! Just finished the book and that’s how I feel too.
Completely agree! Not sure if I didn’t like this because my brain can’t comprehend or if I just didn’t like it. I should have read reviews ahead of time, knowing I can’t do time travel books, I would have skipped this one.
I gave this book 3 stars but not sure if it deserved only 2 stars? The book Station Eleven was fantastic but this book was so confusing I felt that I was in a time warp myself! The last half of the book kept my attention but I would not recommend this book to anyone! It’s just a book of emptiness going nowhere! Kinda sad since I enjoyed Station Eleven so much! If the author writes another book I’ll read it though because she’s a good writer! I plan to eventually read Glass Hotel!
I also hate time travel books, they get too complicated, and I just tune out.
Girl, it's not you, it's the book. It's not even the time travel part, it's just a dumb book with all the inconsistencies that come with "time travel", which author admitedly tried to polish and tie together, but the result of all that is just mess that makes you exhausted and irked. It's the book sis
Ha! Jessica, I was feeling the same. I should have known. Even films that deal in this make me crazy because I have FOMO about them. I do like science fiction but struggle with it at the same time. Donny Darko comes to mind. But yes, like most comments here, SJM’s writing is smooth and comfortable to read but I still got a little lost even though there was much recapping throughout. I will check out her other books though because I’ve learned some of these characters like Vincent make appearances in those which is intriguing. Arg. I do wanted to like this more!
I felt the same with How To Lose The Time War. My brain just went 🫠
Great review. I agree the time-travel part was bare-minimum and not clearly thought out. However, I think the author was not going for "hard sci-fi" with focus on the technology and world consistency.I do enjoy "hard" time-travel stories like Dark on Netflix.
But for THIS book, I personally found the time-travel part "Just enough" - ie, enough to tie the narratives together and build up the theme, but not too much to distract from the characters and the overall messages which are the star of the show.
{Edit - huh, the goodreads web browser is not allowing edits to comments, so I had to delete and repost it.)
I feel like you have taken my thoughts and articulated them for me better than I ever could. Thank you!
