The Fleet has fallen, but humans and fabricants have rebuilt. Their society has been altered in their attempts at survival, but the more comfortable people get, the more Cora notices that things may be starting to get bad again, the same mechanisms of exploitation rearing their ugly heads. When an investigative job leads her back to the farm, she left 20 years ago after suffering a psychotic break, she manages to fight the negative voice in her head warning her long enough to return to Annalise and Sarah as well as their now adult daughter Minerva. Desperate to redeem herself, she agrees to take Minerva on a caving expedition to explore one of the fallen ships. What is supposed to be a bonding experience, a way to make up for lost time, soon turns into something much more dangerous, when Cora finds herself not just reminded of her past, but instead actually living through it.
Unlike the previous books we are now in Cora’s head, learning a lot more about how her mind functions and what drives her, which was incredibly interesting (and heartbreaking). While there had been hints in the previous book that her time working under Fleet-rules had been anything but rosy (CORA-units are described as neurotic and due to the nature of their work forced to be isolated from other fabricants since they are used as spies), actually experiencing this isolation (as well as a few more upsetting aspects) of Cora’s past was heartbreaking to read. She struggles with psychosis in the form of a consistently negative voice in her head letting her know about all the things she messed up or that could go wrong and she’s not always able to differentiate that voice from reality. I don’t want to spoiler too much, but Cora was an incredibly interesting POV-character for this story and I loved the way the narrative returned to exploring (un)reality like it did in the first book, but diving into the horrors of it even deeper, as well as exploring what to do if one of your biggest obstacles is yourself?
Slight spoilers here: In general, I really, really adored the way this story explored trauma and maladaptive coping mechanism to said trauma with a lot of understanding and care. The negative aspects that Cora’s actions have are not downplayed or ignored, but neither are they totally blamed on her and depicted as inherent to her character, which is something I wish more media did when presenting traumatized characters who mess up.
Sarah and Annalise still have a role to play in this book, but what I really enjoyed in this book was the examination of their relationship with Cora and how Cora’s trauma warped the way she viewed them. As already explored in the previous books Cora has a tendency to run away and this abandonment and her guilt about it don’t make it easier for her to connect with them on an equal level. It was also really interesting to see Cora’s view on Sarah, which due to events of the first two books is quite complicated and tense, despite also caring for each other deeply. I also really enjoyed the exploration of how Cora’s gender (and some events in her past related to it, which she has been repressing) influenced her relationship with the two other women and increased her anxieties about talking about her past.
I also really enjoyed Minerva’s character, serving as an outside perspective from someone, who didn’t grow up in the Fleet, as well as her investment in her mothers’ pasts, desperate to get to know them better. While it is implied that they are good parents and did their best raising her despite adverse conditions, it is clear that their past is not something they enjoy talking about, which leaves her feeling somewhat excluded and isolated as well. She was a fun addition to the cast and I liked her interactions with Cora very much.
And finally, my favorite part of the story, was the deep dive into psychological horror presented here. Cora deals with a lot in this book: isolation, trauma, internalized victim blaming, mental illness, psychosis, domestic abuse and transmisogyny, all while being a lot more vulnerable than Sarah was presented to be due to her position in the fleet. While the vulnerability of certain Fabricants, such as the UHAN units was something that Sarah was certainly aware of and even the fact that Cora was so much smaller and weaker was mentioned in the previous books as well, experiencing that through Cora’s eyes was a lot more impactful to me.
All in all, this was a really, really great finale to a very well written sci-fi trilogy with heavy psychological horror aspects and I loved reading it. If you like characters Going Through It and facing the horrors, then you need to check these books out so they can break (but also heal) your heart like they did mine.
my girl Cora's back and this time she's in the hot seat, and hoo buddy is the seat cookin' this time around. we always knew she's a mess, and not only do we get more of that, we also learn why she's the way she is, which is to say she's perfect.
to say that I was just as emotional at the end of this book as I was in the end of Outer Wilds is an understatement.
I just realized I forgot to mention in my initial commet, but the chess scene? chef's kiss, no notes, I was hootin' and hollerin', it's everything I love doing and seeing as a writer in microcosm
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The Fleet has fallen, but humans and fabricants have rebuilt. Their society has been altered in their attempts at survival, but the more comfortable people get, the more Cora notices that things may be starting to get bad again, the same mechanisms of exploitation rearing their ugly heads. When an investigative job leads her back to the farm, she left 20 years ago after suffering a psychotic break, she manages to fight the negative voice in her head warning her long enough to return to Annalise and Sarah as well as their now adult daughter Minerva. Desperate to redeem herself, she agrees to take Minerva on a caving expedition to explore one of the fallen ships. What is supposed to be a bonding experience, a way to make up for lost time, soon turns into something much more dangerous, when Cora finds herself not just reminded of her past, but instead actually living through it.
Unlike the previous books we are now in Cora’s head, learning a lot more about how her mind functions and what drives her, which was incredibly interesting (and heartbreaking). While there had been hints in the previous book that her time working under Fleet-rules had been anything but rosy (CORA-units are described as neurotic and due to the nature of their work forced to be isolated from other fabricants since they are used as spies), actually experiencing this isolation (as well as a few more upsetting aspects) of Cora’s past was heartbreaking to read. She struggles with psychosis in the form of a consistently negative voice in her head letting her know about all the things she messed up or that could go wrong and she’s not always able to differentiate that voice from reality. I don’t want to spoiler too much, but Cora was an incredibly interesting POV-character for this story and I loved the way the narrative returned to exploring (un)reality like it did in the first book, but diving into the horrors of it even deeper, as well as exploring what to do if one of your biggest obstacles is yourself?
Slight spoilers here: In general, I really, really adored the way this story explored trauma and maladaptive coping mechanism to said trauma with a lot of understanding and care. The negative aspects that Cora’s actions have are not downplayed or ignored, but neither are they totally blamed on her and depicted as inherent to her character, which is something I wish more media did when presenting traumatized characters who mess up.
Sarah and Annalise still have a role to play in this book, but what I really enjoyed in this book was the examination of their relationship with Cora and how Cora’s trauma warped the way she viewed them. As already explored in the previous books Cora has a tendency to run away and this abandonment and her guilt about it don’t make it easier for her to connect with them on an equal level. It was also really interesting to see Cora’s view on Sarah, which due to events of the first two books is quite complicated and tense, despite also caring for each other deeply. I also really enjoyed the exploration of how Cora’s gender (and some events in her past related to it, which she has been repressing) influenced her relationship with the two other women and increased her anxieties about talking about her past.
I also really enjoyed Minerva’s character, serving as an outside perspective from someone, who didn’t grow up in the Fleet, as well as her investment in her mothers’ pasts, desperate to get to know them better. While it is implied that they are good parents and did their best raising her despite adverse conditions, it is clear that their past is not something they enjoy talking about, which leaves her feeling somewhat excluded and isolated as well. She was a fun addition to the cast and I liked her interactions with Cora very much.
And finally, my favorite part of the story, was the deep dive into psychological horror presented here. Cora deals with a lot in this book: isolation, trauma, internalized victim blaming, mental illness, psychosis, domestic abuse and transmisogyny, all while being a lot more vulnerable than Sarah was presented to be due to her position in the fleet. While the vulnerability of certain Fabricants, such as the UHAN units was something that Sarah was certainly aware of and even the fact that Cora was so much smaller and weaker was mentioned in the previous books as well, experiencing that through Cora’s eyes was a lot more impactful to me.
All in all, this was a really, really great finale to a very well written sci-fi trilogy with heavy psychological horror aspects and I loved reading it. If you like characters Going Through It and facing the horrors, then you need to check these books out so they can break (but also heal) your heart like they did mine.
my girl Cora's back and this time she's in the hot seat, and hoo buddy is the seat cookin' this time around. we always knew she's a mess, and not only do we get more of that, we also learn why she's the way she is, which is to say she's perfect.
to say that I was just as emotional at the end of this book as I was in the end of Outer Wilds is an understatement.
A comparison to Outer Wilds is high praise :p
I'm glad you enjoyed the series so much!
I just realized I forgot to mention in my initial commet, but the chess scene? chef's kiss, no notes, I was hootin' and hollerin', it's everything I love doing and seeing as a writer in microcosm
I love that scene too! Some of my best work is in this book I think.
Its very good; very dark. But I enjoyed it!