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songwind's review
5.0
My first Delaney, but not my last.
The plot itself is fairly straightforward. Lorq Von Ray, ship's captain, wants to get to a dying star before his rivals Prince and Ruby Red do. In order to do that, he hires six "cyborg studs," humans who plug themselves into the ship to run vital systems along with (and subordinate to) the captain.
One place this novel really shines is in the conception of and interaction between the characters. The history behind Van Ray and the Reds is complicated and strange. The interaction between college educated, indecisive Kinta and street-boy-made-good Mouse is fascinating in its back and forth. Two sets of siblings, one almost incestuously attached, and the other almost incapable of independent action.
The universe building is also fascinating. Draco is the established political entity which includes Earth. It's rich and powerful, and is identified strongly with the Reds. The Pleiades is the second region of habitation, and the home of the Von Rays. Finally, the Outer Colonies is the wild west of the human sphere, where the power source Illyrion stands in for the gold and land that drove people further west in the US.
The galaxy seems to be in the last stages of scarcity economics. There are the rich and the poor, but the playing field between most people seems pretty level, and there is never any mention of homelessness, starvation, and similar woes in established settlements.
The language itself is also quite beautiful.
The plot itself is fairly straightforward. Lorq Von Ray, ship's captain, wants to get to a dying star before his rivals Prince and Ruby Red do. In order to do that, he hires six "cyborg studs," humans who plug themselves into the ship to run vital systems along with (and subordinate to) the captain.
One place this novel really shines is in the conception of and interaction between the characters. The history behind Van Ray and the Reds is complicated and strange. The interaction between college educated, indecisive Kinta and street-boy-made-good Mouse is fascinating in its back and forth. Two sets of siblings, one almost incestuously attached, and the other almost incapable of independent action.
The universe building is also fascinating. Draco is the established political entity which includes Earth. It's rich and powerful, and is identified strongly with the Reds. The Pleiades is the second region of habitation, and the home of the Von Rays. Finally, the Outer Colonies is the wild west of the human sphere, where the power source Illyrion stands in for the gold and land that drove people further west in the US.
The galaxy seems to be in the last stages of scarcity economics. There are the rich and the poor, but the playing field between most people seems pretty level, and there is never any mention of homelessness, starvation, and similar woes in established settlements.
The language itself is also quite beautiful.
papelgren's review
4.0
Total imagination run amok! Fast paced, world building exemplar, philosophy and art criticism, with a strong emphasis on tarot. Its a super original book that foretells a career of super original thought and storytelling.
ztaylor4's review
4.0
Nova was fun to read. The world and action felt rich and original. Only some issues with the narrative have kept me from giving this book a higher rating, but to explain those requires spoilers.
While I appreciate that Katin was a useful mouthpiece for future-philosophy, his wishy-washiness over whether or not he would write a novel grated on me about as much as it must have grated on the characters he interacted with, although they were polite enough not show it.
In the end, the imagery and world-building of Nova will stick with me--I just wish they had been wrapped around a more gripping narrative.
Spoiler
Prince could have been an amazing villain, but despite a lot of build-up, he wasn't really a threat. Similarly the romantic story with Ruby wasn't developed enough for me to get invested in it, and even Lorq seemed somewhat bland--especially for an space-adventuring industrialist/pirate! It never seemed that Lorq wouldn't meet his goal, so that storyline lacked even the tension that even Lorq's childhood backstory had.While I appreciate that Katin was a useful mouthpiece for future-philosophy, his wishy-washiness over whether or not he would write a novel grated on me about as much as it must have grated on the characters he interacted with, although they were polite enough not show it.
In the end, the imagery and world-building of Nova will stick with me--I just wish they had been wrapped around a more gripping narrative.
connell98's review
4.0
Slow to start for at least 50 pages, at least for me, but it really picked up. Interesting set up and plot; makes me realize that I might actually like science fiction after all.
gabbyquail's review
5.0
A book almost too strange to exist -- but one iota less strange and you wouldn't be able to describe the nova.
jesma's review
adventurous
dark
funny
slow-paced
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
matt_christopherson's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
rosagigantea's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
It's not one that's gonna stick with me or that made me emotional, but it's a solid well done story.