Reviews

Hellspark by Janet Kagan

saraiphim's review

adventurous inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

mary_soon_lee's review against another edition

4.0

This science fiction novel dates back to 1988, and I only became aware of it because Sharon Lee, an author I love, is on record that "Hellspark" is one of her favorite books (see, for instance, her blog post at http://sharonleewriter.com/2016/05/today-we-do-laundry/). I am grateful for her recommendation, because I found the book imaginative, engaging, and thought-provoking. The worldbuilding is excellent, and the story raises questions of language and sentience. Most importantly to me, it does so via memorable, sympathetic characters. I especially liked swift-Kalat, Maggy, Tocohl, Om im, and Sunchild. I am very sorry that there aren't more novels about them, but I'm glad to have found this one.

drone232's review against another edition

5.0

Wonderful light hearted tale about language, culture, and sapient birdfolk.

This is a delightful story high in good characterization, adventure, story, and low in violence and language. Read this if you wants comfortable and engaging read.

coris's review

challenging reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.25

jvilches's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

olgahz's review

adventurous hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

mschlat's review against another edition

4.0

I don't know of any other work of fiction that emphasizes so much the mediation of culture through language, especially body language. Our protagonist Tocohl Susumo (a Hellspark, or independent trader) is helping a planetary survey team solve a murder and determine if a local species is sentient, while at the same time trying to build a sense of community amongst the extremely different survey team members by using her familiarity with different cultures to facilitate effective communication.

It's very relationship-based science fiction (and I haven't even mentioned Tocohl's partnership with her inquisitive and ever-learning ship's computer, Maggy), and reminds me of more recent reads like [b:The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet|22733729|The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1)|Becky Chambers|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405532474l/22733729._SY75_.jpg|42270825] while still calling upon more classic sf tropes (like the investigation of sentience in [b:Little Fuzzy|1440148|Little Fuzzy (Fuzzy Sapiens, #1)|H. Beam Piper|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348972417l/1440148._SY75_.jpg|1876891]).

Kagan's writing confused me at times (there is a LOT to keep track of) and frustrated me at others (the plotting tends a bit towards the facile), but the whole book shines with goodwill, eagerness, and interest in culture. Recommended if you are interested in the more sociological side of science fiction.

jerseygrrrl's review against another edition

5.0

Just reread this marvelous book. It does something I've never seen a sci fi book do so well: deal with cross-cultural language, culture, and understanding. Fascinating and well worth reading.

paintedgiraffe's review against another edition

3.0

Mm, it was good, but not fantastic. Not nearly descriptive enough for me. I like knowing how things look, sound, feel--but this was almost entirely dialogue. I never felt like I was *there* in the story. Some of the humor went over my head as well. Using the word "tape" to mean record was pretty jarring. And the answer to "who dun it" got no emotional response from me. Things I enjoyed: the emphasis on body language and proxemics, which I hadn't really thought about before, the question of what sentience really is, and I liked the characters Maggie and Buntec.

francesp's review against another edition

5.0

Origninal and insightful. One of my all time favorites, and possibly the only s/f I've read that deals so totally with cultural differences and communication. Okay, mainly I just love the spider sidekick.
;-)