Reviews

The Judas Rose by Suzette Haden Elgin

nicole_schmid's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

I enjoyed this book very much! It was a bit confusing because each chapter is set in a different time, which makes it hard or even impossible to say when exactly the chapter takes place. This, however, also creates intrigue and I very much liked it. In terms of the woman language, I felt as if its spread, the secrecy surrounding it, its effects were quite unrealistic, which I admit is an odd remark about a sci-fi book.
I liked that the aliens had more appearances in this book. The first one, for a sci-fi series focussed on alien languages, was curiously devoid of non-terrestrial life, but the reason for this is revealed in this book and the plot twist ending promises that the last book will be focussed on it even more. I, for my part, am looking forward to learning more!

dear_old_world's review

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challenging dark funny mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Not as gripping as Native Tongue and more slow moving but the ending has me very curious to finish the series with the third book!

spejamchr's review against another edition

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3.0

I enjoyed following the long-term plan of the women, and I enjoy the terrible setting, but there's a lot of exposition and it's hard to connect with any of the characters.

Still, I enjoy it well enough to want to finish the series.

valedeoro's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

toniherrero's review against another edition

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3.0

3,5/5

«The Judas Rose» està, sense cap mena de dubte, un graó per sota de «Llengua materna». La considero una mena de novel·la de transició, un interludi de 400 pàgines que ens prepara per al desenllaç d'«Earthsong».

Suzette Haden Elgin fa la mateixa aposta que al primer volum de la trilogia, però té pitjors cartes: l'as que suposa el personatge de la Nazareth encara hi és, és cert, però la resta de personatges que ens dóna a conèixer (en són molts i poc o gens relacionats amb els anteriors) no tenen ni de bon tros el desenvolupament i l'atractiu dels personatges de la primera part. L'autora obre massa flancs i en tenca molt pocs, de forma que la nostra atenció es dilueix a mesura que avança la novel·la. De fet trobo que hi ha capítols sencers que sobren (com el de la vida a les colònies o el del sopar al qual conviden uns lingüistes), ja que es podien haver resolt amb un parell de paràgrafs, o una pàgina a molt estirar, enmig d'un dels capítols.

Després de la meravellosa «Llengua materna», la meva sensació com a lector ha estat la de desencís: el làadan ja hi és en tota la seva esplendor, però l'autora no el deixa brillar. Fins a un punt culminant. Arribats aquí l'autora es treu de la màniga dos capítols superbs d'aquells que et fan explotar el cap i et fan exclamar WTF! Però ja és massa tard. Elgin no té temps per desenvolupar-ho i clarament (o això espero) se'ls reserva pel llibre que tanca la trilogia. La sensació és similar a la del primer volum, però en aquell l'autora havia trigat molt per poder construir un univers que ara és de sobra conegut, i l'element catàrtic quan apareixia la sororitat era 100% efectiu. Aquí, però, arriba tard i lleugerament esbravat. Més de 400 pàgines per unes trames que es podien haver resolt en menys de la meitat.

A més la novel·la no resulta ni molt menys atemporal. Massa elements la contextualitzen i l'ancoren a l'època en què va ser escrita, a finals dels 80 (personatges com Ronald Reagan, Bush pare, Ghandi, el papa Juan Pau II... i elements sociopolítics com la URSS), malgrat que la trama succeeix un parell de segles més endavant. No m'empasso que les dècades dels 80 i els 90 fossin tan importants com per deixar petja en la societat que descriu la novel·la. També hi apareix barrejada molta religió, si bé aquest és un element que acaba resultant cabdal en el transcurs de la novel·la i no acaba sobrant.

En definitiva. Novel·la fallida per la seva longitud, no tant pel seu contingut. Entreté (aquesta és la seva funció) però no sorprèn fins al final. I ens deixa a mitges. Caldrà recuperar «Earthsong» per treure'n l'entrellat.

meganpbell's review against another edition

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5.0

In a future America where women have no legal rights, aliens are major economic players, and linguists are in high demand, the women of the Lines (the 13 linguist families) infiltrate the Catholic Church to secretly spread the feminist language they’ve spent years laboring to create. I️ loved this sequel to Native Tongue and Elgin’s mix of linguistics and aliens and priests and evangelicals and government plots and madcap feminist conspiracies. Like Native Tongue, The Judas Rose is a product of the 1980s and its portrayal of gender and sexuality is a product of the 1980s. There may be some plot holes too. I️ don’t care, this series is fascinating and fun and unexpected, and I️ love that a linguist was dreaming it up in the 80s.

kellycavolo's review against another edition

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funny mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

ivellon's review against another edition

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4.0

Unfortunatly, this was not as good as the first part by far...
First I feared that all the new characters were just reincarnations of part 1 characters, but luckely this did not turn out to be true at least (Heykus is done magnificently!)
However, I think to many plot lines and characters were introduced. It's nice to have some chapters completly devoted to world building, but there were to many in this book for my taste.
Then I found the narrative style to be rather repitious, often events were re-retold by several characters.
In conclusion I had liked less but more elaborated characters and plot lines.

stateofgrace's review

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4.25

Not quite as good as Native Tongue but still a very delightful read. Nazareth provides the emotional core of the series, and her diminished presence in this novel thus diminished the quality of the novel.

mixter86's review

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dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5