A Long, Long Sleep
By: Anna Sheehan
Audio by: Brilliance Audio
In a very loose interpretation of Sleeping Beauty, A Long, Long Sleep begins with Rosalinda Fitzroy awakening from a chemically induced hibernation of sorts called stasis after 62 years. Her family and friends are gone, and she arrives in a world with technology, culture, and issues that she does not understand. Along with that is the fact that she is the heir to a interplanetary empire, which she feels wholly underprepared to manage.
The audio for this book was only average. I wasn't wholly impressed with the reader, but at least the narrator did not detract from the rest of the story. One of the major problems I had with the reader was that she sounded just a little too old. And, honestly, I'm not wholly convinced that this book translated so well into audio. There was a lot of inner dialogue and repetitive phrases that perhaps would have been better having read on a page than hearing out loud.
Rosalinda Fitzroy is in the same class of heroines as Bella Swan for me. Though, to be fair, at least Rosalinda was dealing with some very serious trauma. But, I found her journey to growing a backbone to be exhausting. She is so incredibly passive and weak that I really couldn't stand her. I know that there are many readers that love a broken main character. I am not one of those people. And, given the back story on Rose, I do understand at least why she is weak initially. However, I did not feel a connection to Rose, and despite every other character's desire to protect her, I felt ambivalent.
The redeeming quality in this book for me was the world building. I liked the advanced technology, I thought the slang was not intrusive, and just subtle enough that it fit well within the story. However, one major glaring flaw in the world building really got this book off to a bad start for me. The whole premise behind the "dark times" is that genetically modified food caused infertility. I would have rather the author not gone into so much detail about the science behind the "dark times" that wiped out much of the population. Or, if she insisted on going into detail, at least make it close to accurate.
I know many other people that loved this book. If you're looking for a narrative on love that's a little quirky, this may be the book for you. However, for me, it just didn't pass muster.
Ohh I hated this book. It bored me so much unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteI usually love fairy tale retellings, but when you said the character was like Bella, I was like "BARF!" I will no even give this book a second glance.
ReplyDeleteI also read this book. I haven't listened to the audio yet, so I can't give an opinion there. Now then, did you finish the book? Possibly miss the fact that while Bella waited for rescue doing nothing, Rose killed her captor?
ReplyDeleteAs for the "whole premise" of the dark times being genitically modified foods, I seem to recall plague being a factor also. Check the history of the plagues. Scary stuff.
You could also do some other research. If you're lazy, the author did it for you:
https://www.facebook.com/#!/topic.php?uid=194709707210798&topic=498
I don't mind that you didn't like the book, but posting a bad review for a good book that you didn't understand is misleading.
Thom,
ReplyDeleteI did finish the book. I always finish the books that I review.
Obviously I didn't include every plot point in the book so as not to spoil it for the reader, as you have done in your comment. I personally felt that with the dark times, the author was trying to make a very specific political point that didn't fit with the rest of the story. And much of it just was not plausible.
Rose as a main character spent too much time being weak. By the time she actually got the backbone required to make something happen, I had not made a connection with her, and didn't have any vested interest in her fate.
I understand perfectly what the author was trying to do with this story. It didn't connect with me. Obviously it did with you, and that's fine. However, many people I've talked to have felt the same way that I do about this book, so to call my review misleading really is just a matter of opinion.
But, thanks for the comment.
Bummer that this one was a let down--I'd been eager to read it as the premise sounded awesome. But I'm definitely not a passive heroine fan (die, Bella, die), so it sounds like I might be more frustrated with this book than not.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the honest review.
Smiles!
Lori