Gravity Lost by L.M. Sagas

This book was not good. I read it; I finished it. It was not good. Gravity Lost, like Cascade Failure, has some of the best cover art I’ve seen. The mix of warm and cool purples, the varying line weight, the funky font. But I should’ve known it would disappoint after seeing the back cover literally say “A badass crew of badasses”. A little cringe.

But nonetheless! My high hopes could not be grounded. I remember broadly liking Cascade Failure, but finding the writing kind of awkward. I found Sagas’ writing to be even more hard to get through in this sequel. I don’t think they’ve ever heard the sage wisdom “show don’t tell” because every time something is implied (by an action, reaction, etc), Sagas explains why they did, and then restates it again. A character never looks down nervously, they look down nervously because they were nervous because they hate confrontation and this is currently a confrontation. This book felt like it was written for the brain dead: the author treats us like we are dumb. Like we can’t get implications. It ruins the flow of the book for me, because you’re never in the moment: the moment is being described to you with post-script and explanations.

For example:

“They always were.” Fondness creased the corners of Torsten’s eyes. Nostalgia. Eoan had never really been prone to it before; always too buys looking forward, to the next big thing. The next taste of something new.

Why did we need to explicitly say nostalgia when two old friends are commiserating about the past? & explain why Eoan hadn’t been prone to it with 3 synonymous sentences? I know that this one instance isn’t so frustrating, but imagine that every line of dialogue is like this: the words, the action, and 4 sentences explaining the action. It is do clunky to read!

Recently I think I’ve been consuming a lot of media that feels immature - not in a ’too young for me’ way, but in an unripened way. It’s like friends playing DnD: a little clunky and awkward, some weird descriptions, cringey tropes, and cheesy lines. But this is a book. Not a book that is fully funny & light-hearted, though (like a Kimberly Lemming, suspend reality 100% vibe). It feels … meh.

I broadly liked the plot, but also felt really confused by the characters’ choices. Were they really just going to yeet Jal out of their lives at the beginning? Why were things so awkward between all of the characters? Why did Eoan do any of that stuff with Torsten? Weird & out of character. The only thing I really enjoyed was the addition of Raimes and Casale: two actually badass characters, who do the right thing despite the cost.

I really have nothing else to say. I had to force myself to get into this book: the writing style was just so grating. But hey, Sagas wrote a whole series and sold it. And got amazing cover art. And damn they know how to choose a title - “Gravity Lost” is so good. Now I still don’t really understand how at all it related to the content of the book. But still cool.

Also interesting that I remember not liking Cascade Failure when I read it. But somehow I gave it 4 stars in my review?? I think at the time I felt like I had had too high of expectations because of the sickass art and title. But I even mention that I didn’t like the writing in my review. Oh 24 year old me. Didn’t want to be mean.

PS: Sam & I were giggling - you know the book had to be… not amazing? If the cover quote is from the author of a Star Trek serial that we had never heard of.