Ami is the only surviving member of her space-faring crew. Alone and running out of options, Ami sends out a signal in a desperate attempt to find help. She’s a little more than surprised when an alien ship responds to the call. Ami boards the mysterious ship and meets an alien named Dorian, who promises to keep her safe. But the longer Ami stays on the ship, the more her mind plays tricks on her. Hallways loop endlessly, she experiences blackouts, and Dorian is only ever a hair’s breadth away. Can Ami hold on to her sanity long enough to fix her ship and get back home?
The first issue I had with Thrum is that I was never able to buy into Ami’s reason and purpose for being on the exploration ship in the first place. Every single one of her crewmates had an established role—medic, pilot, engineer—and these facts are constantly reinforced as Ami laments that she can’t do anything on her own without the teammate who was trained for it. When she makes contact with an alien life form, she tries to hype herself up for the meeting and to stay on task, but we never understand what that task actually is. It makes Ami’s purpose in this story vague and bewildering. Why is she even on this mission? Her backstory and role are so muddled that she came across as helpless and without much purpose, which made her interactions with Dorian feel pointless and devoid of motivation.
Thrum has horror elements, but I didn’t find any of the scenes particularly terrifying or interesting. Problem number one is that I didn’t find Ami to be an enticing protagonist, particularly because her character lacked internal consistency, so her experiences washed over me without much fanfare. Much of the horror in the story stems from Ami’s experiences with lost time episodes and the way the alien ship traps her in never-ending loops to prevent exploration. The end of the book tries to throw some gory scenes at the reader, but they didn’t really elicit the disturbing fear that it was trying to convey. The most horrifying thing is the reveal itself, which overshadowed any of the previous attempts to get my skin crawling.
Another element that is on the light side is the romance. Not only is it barely there, but when it does appear, it feels forced and out of sync with the plot. What is even more jarring is that the romance tries to be spicy, too, which only came off as weird because it didn’t really fit the tone of the story. Ami’s every moment on the ship is confusing, but it was so strange to go from her unravelling mind to weird dinner scenes where Dorian is trying to hit on her.
Thrum certainly has a little bit of everything, but the mixture didn’t sit right with me. It’s a short read and ends on an interesting note, so you may decide to see if the short page count is worth the strange ride.
Rating: Thrum – 5.0/10
-Brandee
