[Mrs. Y Reviews] Deep Cosmos by Project Kyle

Add caption

Sometimes a book is more than a book. Sometimes what may be on appearance something interesting, while others may find it’s not nearly as appealing to read.  Occasionally we get a story that is on the surface and behind it a literal tale of fiction, but in this case, we have a book that is deeper than that. Hold onto your hats everyone, this isn’t going to get one of my normal cheesy intros. We are going to do a review for “Deep Cosmos” by Project Kyle

Opinion
I picked this book up entirely on my own, though I do follow Project Kyle on Twitter and he also follows back. I also want to make it abundantly clear that this is going to be my honest opinion in it, and like all of my reviews, my score is based on my scoring system which you can find here.

As a reminder as to why I do what I do, I use a math-based scoring system to consistently review everything I read and ensure that I’m not playing favorites. This is logic based. The author didn’t ask me to read it, though I did see it being discussed on Twitter one night and I wanted to find out what the fuss was about. There was a lot of debate going on in that thread as I recall, but after looking for the thread again I wasn’t able to find the original post so I am not sure why so much was going on.

I will say this, I have read a couple of the other reviews after writing most of this one, and after reading the book. I understand all sides of this debate over this novel. This just is going to be my opinion on it and mine alone as it is clear to me this book is going to be polarizing depending on the opinion of whoever reads and reviews it.  I realize this may be rambling on my part so please bear with me here, there is a reason I’m front-loading all of this, to begin with. I want you to look past some of the things on with critiques from myself and others, for the deeper meaning behind the story.

We have a story that is set in sci-fi. This story on the surface is about a hero who is out to stop monsters, very evil monsters who do nothing but feast on depravity in all of its facets. They strive to eliminate goodness in it’s deepest sense, and intimately in some cases ruin all traces of good. However, there is more to this book.  For every bit of sci-fi, “Deep Cosmos” is equally about how to deal with self-image, anxiety, acceptance, mental illness, parental upbringing, nurture vs. nature,  and problems with rage. It’s set in this world of science fiction, I believe because the author, Project Kyle, was trying to make such a very intense topic palatable, and easy to comprehend to everyone. For that, I think Project Kyle should be applauded. Mental Illness is not a subject that most of us would ever willingly dive into for a reading experience. In some cases, I’ve heard that reading is used to escape a person’s reality. This specific topic is not something that I would normally pick up ever, and I think that it’s an important topic.

More about this story, the protagonist and secondary protagonist are bound on a journey not only of friendship and stopping evil but of accepting themselves for the people they are. It’s a very moral story, and I feel for what was written, the art is in the subject falling so well in line with the tale. Yet, if one was going to nitpick this book, and go by the story itself and how the writing is done, they’d have a lot to reference.  I’m not here to argue. I think most of what was a criticism about the structure, pacing, and logic loops in sub-plots have been said by many reviewers before I showed up. For my part alone, the main one that I will point out, and the one that ultimately effects my scoring system, is that this book is not a complete beginning, middle, and end. The author states he did this on purpose so that he can answer those questions in later books. I’m one of those people who really dislike a story that doesn’t answer the questions that are brought up, but I do know why that happened here. There was a big explaining note at the end of the book, and an interview that gave me some reference to the overall theme and ideas behind the tale. I’m certain that the author felt this was going to be a much better use of the pages, than concluding the story in the pages that were there. In some ways, the warnings about mental health, and the availability to help someone through a crisis, I feel is a great use of the pages. But, as far as the story itself alone is concerned, I really would have preferred a conclusion to it that would have drawn me into future stories.

Here are my final thoughts on “Deep Cosmos”. I think honestly if you are someone with anxiety or self-image problems, this is a good read for you. I feel it will help you with having discussions with others about how you feel. But if you are not having those types of feelings or emotions, this book may not be where you want to focus a few hours of reading. Thus, this book is very polarizing as I mentioned above.



Score

As per my standard grading, I will score on the tale alone, not on the author's notes or the interview at the back of the book. I am entirely focused score wise on the story.  my score is going to be a 76/100 which is a 3-star review on Goodreads and Amazon.

Yes, I could have done away with my scoring system for this book, however, it would have betrayed the theme of the book. If anything “Deep Cosmos” emphasized I need to be true to myself. This score by no means is an indication of my emotional level on the feelings of the book, it’s an indication of the things I use to score. There was no complete story (beginning, middle, and ending), grammar wasn’t the tightest, and it had places where pacing and tension were confusing to the situation. Those structure issues with pacing and tension though, I believe reside where they are, due to the fact emphasis on those scenes was to reflect the anxiety or mental issue of the focus character.

I want to end this review with one last important thing. I had to really think about what I was going to say here because I do not want to discourage anyone from reading “Deep Cosmos” if they need a book like this in their lives. I think Project Kyle did a good job starting this conversation, and I hope that it just brings forth more great discussion on how to improve anxiety, depression, and self-image in all of the world going forward. I’m an amateur book reviewer, I’m not a great speaker nor am I a published author, and I highly suggest checking this book out for yourself on what you feel it’s about and how you feel on it. Don’t just trust my review and others, think for yourself. I do feel this will be my most polarizing review to date, and for that, I’m sorry my friends, because I do not mean to polarize anything, Especially not the topic of mental illness and focusing on the greater good in the world. I just am a book reviewer, a schlub at best, not someone who works for the New York Times nor am I as great as the greatest of reviewers. I am simply Mrs. Y and that is all I can be in this capacity.

Have a lovely day to each of you who read this far, and thank you for understanding my opinion!