An enjoyable read, although slightly forgettable. Definitely will read more by this author though! Overall worth it.

This falls somewhere between an early episode of the X-files and a knock off superhero movie but with subtitles and that keeps having random explosion scenes. I'm certain that fans of Sci-fi are going to eat it right up though! I've been astounded by the glowing reviews but then I realized that some reads are just not for me, to others they could be the best book they have ever read, the Holy Grail of science fiction books. I very much enjoyed the narrator and the author has an excellent writing style, although, I wasn't a huge fan of the story itself.

Seth Dickinson has outdone himself and crafted a modern sci-fi epic that will age like fine wine. I was absorbed every minute listening to this. I can only imagine that the physical reading experience was just as wonderful.

This book was very fast paced. To be honest, I love sci fi, but this book almost tried to do too many things.

Anna is a super neat character, and I loved when she met her alien counterpart for the first time. The first 20-30% was really good!

I even loved when they found the alien artifact in Kurdistan. I loved Anna’s relationship with the alien that I can’t even imagine in my mind. But then it just got weird.

Lots of war, human factions, it became more of a military feel book than anything else. The sci fi elements were sprinkled throughout, and I did enjoy the characters Chaya & Auxie.

However, the book was just not for me. The writing was exciting, but the characters started to wane & get confusing, the vocabulary was just too “alien jargon” for me and a lot of the political & philosophical aspects of alien culture just went over my head.

I really wanted to like this book, but I just didn’t think I was the right audience for it. However, I am a big lover of sci fi, so maybe one day, I’ll feel differently.

It just didn’t feel like the right fit. Thank you Netgalley & best of luck to everyone!

I loved Dickinson's Masquerade books, so I was very excited to see this standalone science fiction book was going to be released. The first chapter of Exordia had me hooked with its brash voice and its memorable first contact story set in the middle of New York City. What unfolds is a military science fiction-meets Venom story that spans decades and continents but centers mostly on Anna's grappling with her past as a victim of genocide. This book was intricate and full of fascinating ideas in math, science, and morality, and I loved its exploration of the military industrial complex, too.
However, I did feel that the info dump that happened in the second chapter should have warned me. There were many points throughout listening to this book when I felt lost or unengaged, and to be fair, I'm not sure if that's a fault in this being a book that I would have enjoyed reading rather than listening to, or because I wasn't quite prepared to think through the complicated mathematical and military issues at the center of the book. It was very much a "this feels like it's brilliant, but perhaps a bit too brilliant for me" scenario. So, although this was not my favorite read, and at moments was tough to power through, I do think that if this style of speculative fiction is your thing, you would love it.

This story had an incredible start! I was 100% invested but by the midway mark, I was confused and things felt quite muddled. I strongly suspect that this would be more enjoyable as a read rather than a listen. It’s a complex story that requires a reader’s undivided attention at all times.

I feel like I would enjoy this book way more as an actual book that I can read because the audio made it very difficult to follow this overly complicated story. The premise of the story is great and I definitely enjoyed the portions of the story that I was able to keep up with.

First off - What the F*ck!. Out girl reminds me of my brother. He is paranoid Schizophrenic and also can't work or keep a job or maintain relationships in any capacity.
He also sees aliens. So at first I was like "um I get enough of this at home" but I got into it.
This is twice as long as my usual audiobook so it took me a few days to listen too.
I loved this! I absolutely loved it. The narration is perfect!

I thought the opening of this one was absolutely amazing! I loved the humorous tone it struck. As the novel progressed though, the genre seemed to shift a lot more militaristic than I anticipated. As an audiobook, I found I needed to pay really close attention because there were so many new concepts being introduced. I did enjoy Sulin Hasso's narration. I think this book would be great fit for hardcore sci-fi readers.

This is a very complicated story to listen to. I suggest reading this. I think the author did a good job of representing ethnic conflict in an alien invasion.

I hate to do this because I have an ARC, but I can't listen to this right now. It's giving me several existential crises and just a baseline anxiety that is not fun. What I read of it was very good, though. Super smart. Maybe too smart! The first 7% was some of the best first contact stuff I've ever seen. But it's hitting too hard on some stuff that really freaks me out, and I think I actually need to be in a better mental space before I can try it again. (The audiobook narrator is also very good!) If I had to rate it right now based on the first 20% I would give it a 4.5 star rating.

What the hell did I just read?

That question pretty much sums up my thoughts at the end of this overly complicated trolley problem of a book.

Exordia by Seth Dickinson opens on a really interesting premise of Anna Sinjari a survivor of genocide and now an unhappy office worker making first contact with an eight headed alien that’s casually eating the turtles out of a pond in the middle of Central Park.

It only gets weirder from there as she gets pulled into an alien war for something referred Blackbird that has appeared on earth. Neither side of this war seems overly concerned over what happens to the planet and humans being humans have taken both sides and yet must work together to try and stop the inevitable destruction of earth.

The premise here is really strong but for me, the story lost its way a bit by shifting the focus to other characters, being really into the hard science of it, and using a lot of military jargon.

I listened to the audio which is just over 26 hours, and while Sulin Hasso does a great job narrating the story if they would’ve shaved some pages/hours off it I think it would’ve been a better story.

This book I think is trying to trigger a lot of introspection while keeping the action going but doesn’t really ever give the reader a chance to breathe and take in the implications before moving on.

I believe this book has a very specific audience that will truly appreciate it, but while I did like many elements of it I think ultimately I’m not going to be in that camp of loving it.

I do thank NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen to this book early. I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Super quirky beginning and an interesting premise. It then became super generic and like other books I've read. And not in a good way. Did not enjoy this as much as I thought I would.

Seth Dickinson did not disappoint! This was an incredible follow up to the Baru series and while genre-wise they could not be more different, thematically they are very consistent. Loved the exploration of guilt, grief, morality, and human suffering. Couldn’t recommend more highly!

Exordia is an extremely detailed and involved view of alien invasion by a far superior species that is so foreign to us in it's methods, weapons, etc. It follows two dueling aliens as they connect with humans and co-opt our race in their battles so we don't know which is protecting us and which is invading. As they bond with humans, factions get involved in selling their souls, losing their vision, and so many other difficult trades to adapt the the crazy situations like ordering all out nuclear attacks, flying spaceships, and risking the destruction of the human race.
Although very long, it's fascinating and moves fast once it gets going. The characters and their backstories are vivid and lead to opportune intersections and baggage getting in the way.
The novel does a good job trying to imagine how people would act in these intense situations, with lots of prayer, cutting to the chase, pregnant pauses, etc.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC of this book.

This book was crazy, but kind of in the best way possible. Dickinson creates an entire cast of interesting characters to follow throughout the book. They each have their own morals and problems and have to come together to stop the world from ending in an alien invasion. I thought this was a great science fiction book. It was long and there was lots of information packed into it, but it worked well and I felt like I was able to follow the story.

Thank you to Netgally and the publisher for a free ALC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

First things first, Sulin Hasso was spectacular as the narrator for this audiobook. Her voice was like honey, and she did a great job differentiating between all the different characters.

Having loved Baru Cormorant (which I wish Dickinson had finished the series before publishing this), I REALLY wanted to love this book as well. Especially considering that sci-fi is my favorite genre, I was so excited that he was writing a sci-fi book. However, this was disappointing to me.

As many other reviewers have stated, the beginning of this book is extremely different from the rest of the book. The first 25% where Anna and the serpent alien are holed up together in NYC, is confusing, but I found it more enjoyable than what the book devolves into, which is a standard military sci-fi/first contact with aliens, "let's nuke them", story. I did not enjoy reading about all of these American military men's guilt about killing people in the Middle East. I understand that Dickinson was trying to show how messed up the American military institution is and how we should definitely not be inserting ourselves into the rest of the world under the guise of "helping" people, which I wholeheartedly agree with. But sadly, the execution did not work for me.

Despite the book having intense, world-ending stakes, it felt incredibly slow to get through. I was also confused why a white man was mainly writing from the POV of a Kurdish woman.

While this book did not entirely work for me, it was very scientifically accurate, which I appreciated. I liked the serpent aliens. I thought it was a realistic look at how a first contact situation could go.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I want to state up front that I did DNF this book at 8% (beginning of Act 2) after realizing this was not the book for me.

I enjoy reading Fantasy and Sci-Fi. I read nearly all genres. The pacing in Act 1 and the character, SSrin, were captivating and actually kept me wondering if I should continue. Dickinson is clearly gifted as a writer. I simply struggled with some of the plot aspects that seemed randomly inserted. I also had trouble with the existential philosophy behind the Exordia and the Aresteia overshadowing the plot - too much too soon. It was like drinking from a firehose, making it difficult to digest. Much of the plot seemed to push a shock-and-awe factor without validation. These reasons, of course, are subjective preferences. I fully believe there is an audience to eat this book up!

This was my first Seth Dickinson book and I have heard his previous trilogy is masterwork.

Exordia's cover is what led me to pick up this book. The Artwork drew me in. The sci-fi premise is not out of my wheelhouse, so I gave it a go.

544 pages is a lot of book and a time commitment. The audio version was 23-ish hours and I made it about 8 hours in before I put it down.

If I'm going to commit that chunk of time to a book, it needs to pull me in and give me a reason to keep going. I didn't connect with the characters and by the 8-hour mark, I wasn't sure what was going on and had no desire to stick around and find out.

I'm sure that others out there may feel differently. I may not be the best person suited for this book. If it sounds good to you- give it a try.

DNF 44%

The beginning of this book was really interesting! And then it just fell off and kept making weird choices. I didn't like the audiobook at all