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ginkgo's review against another edition
4.0
It was a part of the challenge, " Space opera with social awareness ", and that's exactly the case. I liked Tyree the most.
I wonder just HOW they didn't immediately know she was a woman - like the whole plot? "Too clever" to pop their bubble, huh. How unFatherly.
I wonder just HOW they didn't immediately know she was a woman - like the whole plot? "Too clever" to pop their bubble, huh. How unFatherly.
radiator_phillip's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Although Up the Walls of the World’s plot, prose and world-building at times becomes vague to a point of tediousness, this can still be a great and rewarding read for the right reader. I enjoyed it.
The novel is also softly very progressive and positive regarding exploration of gender, sexuality and being, if that is your jam!
The novel is also softly very progressive and positive regarding exploration of gender, sexuality and being, if that is your jam!
grid's review against another edition
3.0
I set this down in the middle, and put it back on my to-read shelf, not quite having the heart to abandon it completely. Picked it up a few times in the ensuing FOUR years, and when I finally decided to just plow through, it turned out I only had a couple of dozen pages remaining.
There were some good ideas here, and toward the end it turns into a fascinating depiction of consciousness without physicality. I feel I've read that sort of thing before, at least a few times, but in recent memory, this is the one I enjoyed the most.
I did really enjoy some of it, but can't really give it full marks, as neither the characters nor plot spoke to me in any real way.
There were some good ideas here, and toward the end it turns into a fascinating depiction of consciousness without physicality. I feel I've read that sort of thing before, at least a few times, but in recent memory, this is the one I enjoyed the most.
I did really enjoy some of it, but can't really give it full marks, as neither the characters nor plot spoke to me in any real way.
anice's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
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? Yes
4.5
Extremely bizarre and wonderful sci fi from Tiptree. a great work of feminist sci fi with a plethora of challenges worth considering over 40 years later
gianaf's review against another edition
2.0
I'll admit, I read this for class off of pages that were photocopied and uploaded to onto the school site (for legal reasons, I had nothing to do with this, don't come after me) so all of those factors may have influenced my dislike for this book. Between the obvious tokenization and quite literal dehumanization of the only character of color and the jarring shifts in point of view, I just left this story with a bad taste in my mouth. I also really had very little idea what was going on. I understand that the themes of this book challenged gender norms, the the concept of gender entirely, and that was quite refreshing to read, but I just found it difficult to follow the plot. The rising action moved at a snail's pace and then suddenly everything was happening, but then it ended as soon as it began. The collision of the worlds was clunky and awkward and I felt like it could've been explored way better. I would've been more interested in reading a story where the Tyranee and the humans lived in each other's shoes and got a sense for the others' world, but that was such a small part of the book and the shattering of gender norms was a mere afterthought in the characters' minds. All in all, disappointed
testpattern's review against another edition
5.0
This is one of those books that make me say, yes that's what science fiction should be. Meditations upon gender and species, the nature and scale of existence, all culminating in a glorious affirmation of the place that love occupies in a scientific universe.
This is one of those books where a plot summary just doesn't do much justice, but here goes. There are three narrative threads that become more and more entwined as the novel climaxes: on our planet, a group of extremely damaged individuals are the subjects of a military study attempting to harness psychic communication. On the planet Tyree, a race of superpsychic airborne manta-rays come to realize that their planet is endangered. The menace they face is an inconceivably vast, somewhat deranged interstellar entity that destroys suns without really thinking, and warps localized time in space the way that you or I might pluck a blade of grass, all the while trying to understand what the hell it's supposed to be doing. Along the way, the real events of the book unfold: sacrifice and forgiveness, acceptance, the fluidity of gender roles and self-definition, and our capacity to heal and support one another. And ultimately, our desire to transcend, to go up the titular walls of the world.
I know that's all fairly vague, but I really can't be any more specific. This is one of those books that sort of washes over you, that you just have to let happen. I encourage you to give it a try.
This is one of those books where a plot summary just doesn't do much justice, but here goes. There are three narrative threads that become more and more entwined as the novel climaxes: on our planet, a group of extremely damaged individuals are the subjects of a military study attempting to harness psychic communication. On the planet Tyree, a race of superpsychic airborne manta-rays come to realize that their planet is endangered. The menace they face is an inconceivably vast, somewhat deranged interstellar entity that destroys suns without really thinking, and warps localized time in space the way that you or I might pluck a blade of grass, all the while trying to understand what the hell it's supposed to be doing. Along the way, the real events of the book unfold: sacrifice and forgiveness, acceptance, the fluidity of gender roles and self-definition, and our capacity to heal and support one another. And ultimately, our desire to transcend, to go up the titular walls of the world.
I know that's all fairly vague, but I really can't be any more specific. This is one of those books that sort of washes over you, that you just have to let happen. I encourage you to give it a try.
gianaf's review against another edition
2.0
I'll admit, I read this for class off of pages that were photocopied and uploaded to onto the school site (for legal reasons, I had nothing to do with this, don't come after me) so all of those factors may have influenced my dislike for this book. Between the obvious tokenization and quite literal dehumanization of the only character of color and the jarring shifts in point of view, I just left this story with a bad taste in my mouth. I also really had very little idea what was going on. I understand that the themes of this book challenged gender norms, the the concept of gender entirely, and that was quite refreshing to read, but I just found it difficult to follow the plot. The rising action moved at a snail's pace and then suddenly everything was happening, but then it ended as soon as it began. The collision of the worlds was clunky and awkward and I felt like it could've been explored way better. I would've been more interested in reading a story where the Tyranee and the humans lived in each other's shoes and got a sense for the others' world, but that was such a small part of the book and the shattering of gender norms was a mere afterthought in the characters' minds. All in all, disappointed
ijprest's review against another edition
2.0
1.5 stars, rounding up because I rather liked the writing style for the humans in the first few chapters.
Otherwise: no conflict; a couple of interesting places it could have gone, but didn't; mostly just boring.
Otherwise: no conflict; a couple of interesting places it could have gone, but didn't; mostly just boring.
oleksandr's review against another edition
4.0
This is a debut SF novel by [a:James Tiptree Jr.|9860453|James Tiptree Jr.|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1425083616p2/9860453.jpg]. I read is as a part of monthly reading for April 2020 at Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels group. The novel received enough nominations to appear on the final ballot of Hugo award in 1979, but the nomination was withdrawn by the author.
It is a galaxy-spanning marvelous work of the 70s New Wave SF, which attempted to move the genre fiction from ghetto to mainstream. In its grandiosity it comes close to by .
The story is a bit hard to get into: there are three plot-lines, two of which are by alien minds, so tjhey are intentionally full of content that cannot be easily digested. Don’t be discourages and barge on, you’ll be rewarded!
The lines are (in order of appearance):
A giant entity going through the deep space, later called by others the Destroyer, on its millenia-long mission
Tivonel, a manta ray-like female flyer on the gas giant planet of Tyree, a semi-nomadic civilization with gender roles reversed compared with what is common on Earth and with psi-like powers. These aliens are threatened by the arrival of the Destroyer, who they feel extinguished a lot of life in the galaxy
Doctor Daniel Dann, a male 1970s drug-addict with M.D., who works at a telepathy lab run by the US Navy. He is skeptical about all parapsychological mumbo-jumbo but this is just a place for him to hide in plain sight. However, both his clients and he himself start to experience strange things
A very nice book with great ideas and twists.
It is a galaxy-spanning marvelous work of the 70s New Wave SF, which attempted to move the genre fiction from ghetto to mainstream. In its grandiosity it comes close to by .
The story is a bit hard to get into: there are three plot-lines, two of which are by alien minds, so tjhey are intentionally full of content that cannot be easily digested. Don’t be discourages and barge on, you’ll be rewarded!
The lines are (in order of appearance):
A giant entity going through the deep space, later called by others the Destroyer, on its millenia-long mission
Tivonel, a manta ray-like female flyer on the gas giant planet of Tyree, a semi-nomadic civilization with gender roles reversed compared with what is common on Earth and with psi-like powers. These aliens are threatened by the arrival of the Destroyer, who they feel extinguished a lot of life in the galaxy
Doctor Daniel Dann, a male 1970s drug-addict with M.D., who works at a telepathy lab run by the US Navy. He is skeptical about all parapsychological mumbo-jumbo but this is just a place for him to hide in plain sight. However, both his clients and he himself start to experience strange things
A very nice book with great ideas and twists.