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jugglingpup's review against another edition
3.0
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I got an ARC of the sequel of this book. The author seemed cool and the idea behind the stories sounded like ones I could get into. So I grabbed this one from my library and I had planned on having both books read by now. Oops.
The biggest thing standing between me and reading both books are the books themselves. This book is DENSE. There is so much detail about everything. There is so much detail about the engines and gravity and other sci-fi stuff. This is the sort of book that a few years ago would have made me tear my hair out and claim all sci-fi sucked. There was just SO MUCH detail about the mechanics of things that it often over shadowed the story. I came here for a story, not a instruction booklet.
That being said, Bear was able to suck me back in each and every time I started to drift away from the story. There were so many details about the cultures and different societies. There were space pirates. There were cool things like afthands. The MC literally had her feet replaced with a second set of hands to be better equipped to be in low to no gravity situations. There were such cool details.
I am so torn on this book. I did read it, all almost 500 pages of it, but I still don’t know how I feel. I often got invested in characters, but then the sci-fi got in the way again. This book just might not be for me, but I also sorta enjoyed it. Most of my strong feelings are about Bear saying repeatedly that the other crew mate was not the MC’s type because he was a guy was annoying and about just how much hardcore sci-fi existed for a book I saw labeled as a space opera. I described this to one partner as imagine classic erotica, but the sci-fi version. There was a lot of SCI-FI, but then there would be long interludes of philosophy and weird bits I wasn’t expecting. It was a wild ride.
If you are curious or not a hardcore sci-fi fan, then parcel this one out. I read a few chapters a day and it took me almost two weeks. If I had tried to read this straight through I wouldn’t have finished it. It is a lot. I adored that not everyone was humanoid. There us a dolphin doctor at the end and I LOST IT. I was texting everyone. Her name was K’kk’jkooOOoo. How could I not love this.
I got an ARC of the sequel of this book. The author seemed cool and the idea behind the stories sounded like ones I could get into. So I grabbed this one from my library and I had planned on having both books read by now. Oops.
The biggest thing standing between me and reading both books are the books themselves. This book is DENSE. There is so much detail about everything. There is so much detail about the engines and gravity and other sci-fi stuff. This is the sort of book that a few years ago would have made me tear my hair out and claim all sci-fi sucked. There was just SO MUCH detail about the mechanics of things that it often over shadowed the story. I came here for a story, not a instruction booklet.
That being said, Bear was able to suck me back in each and every time I started to drift away from the story. There were so many details about the cultures and different societies. There were space pirates. There were cool things like afthands. The MC literally had her feet replaced with a second set of hands to be better equipped to be in low to no gravity situations. There were such cool details.
I am so torn on this book. I did read it, all almost 500 pages of it, but I still don’t know how I feel. I often got invested in characters, but then the sci-fi got in the way again. This book just might not be for me, but I also sorta enjoyed it. Most of my strong feelings are about Bear saying repeatedly that the other crew mate was not the MC’s type because he was a guy was annoying and about just how much hardcore sci-fi existed for a book I saw labeled as a space opera. I described this to one partner as imagine classic erotica, but the sci-fi version. There was a lot of SCI-FI, but then there would be long interludes of philosophy and weird bits I wasn’t expecting. It was a wild ride.
If you are curious or not a hardcore sci-fi fan, then parcel this one out. I read a few chapters a day and it took me almost two weeks. If I had tried to read this straight through I wouldn’t have finished it. It is a lot. I adored that not everyone was humanoid. There us a dolphin doctor at the end and I LOST IT. I was texting everyone. Her name was K’kk’jkooOOoo. How could I not love this.
futuregazer's review against another edition
4.0
Well, that was....odd. Good, but odd. I'll have to think about that. Glad to see a Utopic society examined for flaws in a way where the judgement is not: flaws are totally justifiable (Culture series - ridiculous), flaws completely outweigh the good of the utopia (basically all the fiction we label as dystopia), or flaws are not there (a few very bad books written by fanatical folks). Admitting they are there, and leaving the question about how to deal with them open after taking a good hard look at some of the damage they cause; that is far more realistic, even if less intrinsically satisfying.
qwends's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
davecapp's review against another edition
5.0
If you’re a fan of classic world building then this book is definitely worth your while. Better yet, Elizabeth Bear takes the idea of world building and pushes it to a whole new level. She creates complex personalities, very detailed background stories that blend together seamlessly, and weaves in enough tension to keep you turning pages well past bedtime. Oh, and this is accomplished while interjecting humor from the character (not arbitrarily thrown in by the author) that helps build and flesh out their personality.
And on top of all this, its a damned good story. Her vision of our evolution, and the cultural integration with alien cultures is fascinating, and she seamlessly brings in new technologies we’ve never considered.
This is a stand alone book - but I can easily see Ms. Bear expanding the fascinating universe shes created into many other story lines. One can only hope!
And on top of all this, its a damned good story. Her vision of our evolution, and the cultural integration with alien cultures is fascinating, and she seamlessly brings in new technologies we’ve never considered.
This is a stand alone book - but I can easily see Ms. Bear expanding the fascinating universe shes created into many other story lines. One can only hope!
justiceofkalr's review against another edition
4.0
This was so so so good, but parts of the ending bits were just kind of a mess.
robertgar's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
sonofatreus's review against another edition
3.0
(3.5/5)
Pretty fun and it bucks some sci-fi tropes in interesting ways. I always get hung up when sci-fi tries to introduce new language trends (this books offers “dia” for “day” and “an” for “year,” for example). I always find the choices are both insufficient, since they only reflect a handful of changes, and overly eager, since some of the changes are actually pretty big. Anyway, the story was enjoyable but I kept getting caught on these sorts of choices.
Pretty fun and it bucks some sci-fi tropes in interesting ways. I always get hung up when sci-fi tries to introduce new language trends (this books offers “dia” for “day” and “an” for “year,” for example). I always find the choices are both insufficient, since they only reflect a handful of changes, and overly eager, since some of the changes are actually pretty big. Anyway, the story was enjoyable but I kept getting caught on these sorts of choices.
ame_'s review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
ame_'s review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0