Reviews

Triton by Samuel R. Delany

apocalyptus's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

11corvus11's review against another edition

4.0

What an odd and clever story that basically showcases the ability of some people to be self centered even within a utopian culture. Interesting gender and sexuality politics. The second half is much easier to stay engaged with than the first half.

thistledownhair's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

dee9401's review against another edition

2.0

A hard slog, with a dislikable main character and prose that seemed unnecessarily dense, but I still worked through, though on major skim mode after the first ⅓ of the novel. Some intriguing ideas were presented but could have been explored better. Overall, I preferred his novel Babel-17.

aleffert's review against another edition

3.0

The best part of this book is Delany's amazing beard in the author photo at the end of the edition I read. Delany is one of my favorite authors. [b:Dhalgren|85867|Dhalgren|Samuel R. Delany|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320531180s/85867.jpg|873021] is one of the most amazing things ever written and [b:Babel-17|1199688|Babel-17|Samuel R. Delany|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1257546421s/1199688.jpg|13612561] and [b:Nova|85863|Nova|Samuel R. Delany|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320491578s/85863.jpg|953787] are brilliant and also a helluva good time.

So when I didn't like this book, I suspect this is as much a reflection on me as it is on the quality of the book itself. Delany, in addition to deconstructing a whole bunch of ideas about sociology, politics, and gender, is trying to flip a bunch of Science Fiction tropes on their head. There's a major war going on, but it's just background. The protagonist wants to be a traditional hero but the world is not set up for that kind of nonsense. The info-dumps lectures are about non-sensical logical theories, instead of the details of the society, which are instead snuck into the narrative. What this results in a sometimes tedious, semi-plotless book that is deliberately about an asshole.

Delany wants you to contrast it with [b:The Dispossessed|13651|The Dispossessed (Hainish Cycle, #5)|Ursula K. Le Guin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1353467455s/13651.jpg|2684122] which he has a wonderful essay about, taking apart its embedded assumptions about gender and sex. But coming away, all I could think of was, The Dispossessed was a much better read. I kind of feel like I shouldn't be evaluating things just on how enjoyable they are, but also about the ideas, and the structure, but it's hard to look deeper a book you didn't enjoy reading.

Of course it's a Delany book so the prose often crackles and there's more going on in his bad books than in most people's good ones. If you've read something else by him, it's definitely worth a look, but otherwise try Babel-17 or Nova.

girlnouns's review against another edition

Confusing, boring, didn't care about the world or the main character. 

avalin1's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

peeled_grape's review against another edition

challenging funny slow-paced

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

I liked this one a lot better the second time around. I’m wondering why Delaney has such an invested interest in us being and remaining confused—it’s a major part of the novel, down to the style of consistently interrupted sentences. I’m also curious about how to read the war, which happens nearly entirely in the background of the novel, and is no real concern to Bron. It’s funny in its absurdity, and its total commitment to the bit. The lack of self awareness Bron has is stunning. Lots to unpack here lolll

bamboobones_rory's review against another edition

The POV main character was very difficult to stay engaged with, they were a rather average and sometimes annoying person, with misogyny issues. I saw the book introducing interesting themes in the futuristic society- such as close to full gender autonomy, but under a capitalist dystopia, and were religion and identity have degraded from meaning into fads. The difference in male/female sex work being embraced or banned by planet depending on gender was interesting. I wanted to like this because Delany has much better books. I can appreciate the big picture concepts he is trying to explore, but the boring main character and extremely slow pace didn't do it for me. I can't finish this right now. 

booksmellers's review against another edition

challenging funny reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

King/Queen of unlikable protagonists.