Scan barcode
erebus53's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
This is a story written by an old man with old ideas, but at least he has a lot of them. In an adventurous planetary exploration story, we see the weakling son of an obscenely ultra-rich capitalist scum-dog, rise to the challenge of going to Venus to collect his deceased Astronaut brother's remains from the planet surface.
It's a treacherous mission, so you don't expect to get through the whole story without losing some characters along the way, to the perils of ... space stuff. Some of the characters are women.. so the main character gets to eye everyone up... enjoy rubbing against boobs while moving through narrow spaceship corridors, and get away with kissing women who are pretty enough, without them even complaining much. It's all a bit ew.
It's important to know that the reason he doesn't find any of the scary, sneaky Asian women attractive, is not because they have a guttural barking language that he can't understand, and not because he's Racist, but because they just aren't that pretty. I would have had serious issues finishing this book if I had been reading it as a paperback, rather than an audiobook, because it's impossible to track text when you are eyerolling this hard.
The main character is utterly insecure, and there is almost some character growth as he steps up to take leadership roles.. but it certainly doesn't show in his relationships, or his attitudes toward others. During the story he learns some dark personal history that allows him to understand himself better, but even after his toil and epiphanies, he is still just a lame jerk.
The way that the Green Party (environmentalists) is depicted leaves me wondering what Bova thought the motivation of environmentally focused Parties is. These parties are not Trying to Destroy Business, but rather responding to the very real threat of total ecological collapse, and the end of human life on Earth. I'm not sure which readership or audience he is trying to appeal to here.
Maybe doing reading challenges where I read a book because it starts with a certain letter of the alphabet, are not a good way to choose good books.. or maybe I'm doing it wrong.
It's a treacherous mission, so you don't expect to get through the whole story without losing some characters along the way, to the perils of ... space stuff. Some of the characters are women.. so the main character gets to eye everyone up... enjoy rubbing against boobs while moving through narrow spaceship corridors, and get away with kissing women who are pretty enough, without them even complaining much. It's all a bit ew.
It's important to know that the reason he doesn't find any of the scary, sneaky Asian women attractive, is not because they have a guttural barking language that he can't understand, and not because he's Racist, but because they just aren't that pretty. I would have had serious issues finishing this book if I had been reading it as a paperback, rather than an audiobook, because it's impossible to track text when you are eyerolling this hard.
The main character is utterly insecure, and there is almost some character growth as he steps up to take leadership roles.. but it certainly doesn't show in his relationships, or his attitudes toward others. During the story he learns some dark personal history that allows him to understand himself better, but even after his toil and epiphanies, he is still just a lame jerk.
The way that the Green Party (environmentalists) is depicted leaves me wondering what Bova thought the motivation of environmentally focused Parties is. These parties are not Trying to Destroy Business, but rather responding to the very real threat of total ecological collapse, and the end of human life on Earth. I'm not sure which readership or audience he is trying to appeal to here.
Maybe doing reading challenges where I read a book because it starts with a certain letter of the alphabet, are not a good way to choose good books.. or maybe I'm doing it wrong.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Sexism, Death of parent, Drug use, Drug abuse, Racism, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Terminal illness
Minor: Grief
More...