I knew this was going to be good when Ellis described her series as "extremely niche trash". It is niche. It isn't as marketable as much of booktok. But it is better written, better plotted, better paced. Ellis spends more time, care, and attention to detail reconstructing the America of the late 2000s than most authors spend on their sprawling fantasy universes with multiple kingdoms, religions, languages and cultures. The book engages with one of my favourite concepts - the Other - in a truly clever, empathetic way. First Contact with an alien species, that acts and thinks so fundamentally different from humanity and by its very nature confronts humanity to think about itself, for once, as the Other, makes this book close to philosophical. The fast pacing helps the story not get bogged down in its more introspective passages. It's an easy, engaging read, that does a lot with its premise. It is not going to be for everyone, but no really good book ever is. Any book that does something interesting is doomed to be divisive. You're probably not going to be able to tell based on mine or anyone else's review whether you'll enjoy this book. You'll probably have to try for yourself. Ordered the sequels immediately after finishing. It is extremely niche trash. It's MY extremely niche trash.

Spoilers within. Why is Nils and Coras relationship not more of a focus, when it is the only thing that could make Coras actions and abilities believable? What we have here is a John Connor story. Child raised by fringe radical becomes estranged from them and comes to believe they are crazy, only to find out they were right all along and the skills they taught them are actually essential. A paragraph at the start of this book establishing that Nils had spent time teaching Cora about the FBI and CIA structures and his theories about aliens. A couple of mentions here and there when Cora is about to do something a Bella would never do- like steal a van with an alien corpse in the back. Suddenly her character is interesting, her story more believable. And then her complex feelings about her father would have a lot more depth and stakes as she struggles to re evaluate his actions knowing what she knows now. Why is this aspect of the book so under developed when it is the only thing that makes the book make sense? So, I’m a big fan of Lindsay Ellis as a critic and analyst. But my familiarity with her in depth criticism makes me more frustrated with the gaps in this novel. She understands the importance of an emotional narrative arc. So why is it so absent in this book? I see people saying Cora is unlikeable, and I disagree. Cora is a Bella. We are told what she does but given so little understanding as to why that she remains a flat character while doing completely insane things that only someone much more interesting would do. And it’s so frustrating! I can head canon my way into believing her actions make sense but this is an introductory novel- I needed to be given that info by the author! I know this novel went through a lot of rewrites and I’m not sure Ellis editor has done her many favours here. I’m pretty sure that some very important character development ended up on the cutting room floor. Somebody has sacrificed character development for pacing and action... but this is a novel, not a film. That sacrifice doesn’t make any sense. Love Lindsay, will continue to read her work but for now, think she contributes more as a critic than a writer. However, this is a first novel- I’m hopeful that will change.

This was pitched as being similar to The Arrival, however a lot of it felt closer to a Marvel movie than a story by Ted Chiang. It was mostly fast paced, which isn't my preference, and, honestly, the plot contains so many elements that aren't for me, like government agencies and a contemporary setting. I think this is as much as you can make me care for these things. What made the story work for me were Cora's relationships, which was her strongest motivations, felt so genuine and were just nice to witness. Family bonds especially deserve so much more page time in general. My favourite thing however was the middle part of the book, since the story slowed down to focus very much on how these aliens function, which was absolutely fascinating. I also really enjoyed the writing: it had some funny bits and a subtle amount of pop culture references, being pretty much what you would expect from the author knowing her videos, but, more importantly, worked well in making you feel and understand Cora. She is pretty much a YA protagonist, which is weird to explain because she isn't a teen, but her emotional maturity, her reactions and motivations made it obvious that she still has to grow. While it was intentional and well handled, this isn't my favorite type of person to read about. There was so much about this that I liked, but the actual plot didn't grip me, while it just wasn't designed for me, it also felt so pale in comparison to the emotional and informative bits.