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heliopteryx's review against another edition
3.0
This book has some good sci fi ideas, namely the way being in extended cryosleep would take you "out of time" and what you'd need to do to get back up to speed with society.
But the metaphor for racial discrimination was very inelegant. This is going to sound uncharitable, but I suspect the authors don't have a real understanding of what it is like to be on the receiving end of prejudice, only the giving end, so they can write the uncertainty, shame, and guilt of being on the giving end, but the way those on the receiving end behave seems wildly unrealistic to me.
But the metaphor for racial discrimination was very inelegant. This is going to sound uncharitable, but I suspect the authors don't have a real understanding of what it is like to be on the receiving end of prejudice, only the giving end, so they can write the uncertainty, shame, and guilt of being on the giving end, but the way those on the receiving end behave seems wildly unrealistic to me.
aveincobalt's review against another edition
1.0
One of this book's reoccurring themes is the MC's bigotry to heavyworlders. Heavyworlders are humans who have been genetically altered to withstand worlds with higher gravity and are seven (7) feet tall. The MC is constantly terrified of these beings that are described as giants, but they are only seven (7) feet tall. It is lubricious!
Combined with the fact that almost all of the books problems could be solved by consulting security camera footage, this book can not be taken seriously. You expect me to believe people are being murdered on a space ship and the suspected killers are let go because they alibied each other and there is no way to tell if they were lying or not? Supplies are being stolen and your only solution is to have two little kids run a checkout system while doing their homework?
The book ends in obvious attempt at sequel baiting, but it just feels like the character didn't actually progress at all during the course of the book.
Combined with the fact that almost all of the books problems could be solved by consulting security camera footage, this book can not be taken seriously. You expect me to believe people are being murdered on a space ship and the suspected killers are let go because they alibied each other and there is no way to tell if they were lying or not? Supplies are being stolen and your only solution is to have two little kids run a checkout system while doing their homework?
The book ends in obvious attempt at sequel baiting, but it just feels like the character didn't actually progress at all during the course of the book.
telerit's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-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? It's complicated
3.5
megana's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
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? No
4.0
I was right, Goodreads does have these listed out of order for some reason. It doesn’t matter much…books “1” and “2” mostly follow separate characters. Later parts of Sassinak would have made more sense if I’d read it second, but not a huge deal.
I enjoyed seeing how Lunzie coped each time she had to start her whole life over. Another character who reminds me a bit of Killashandra, and since Killa is one of my faves that’s not a bad thing.
I enjoyed seeing how Lunzie coped each time she had to start her whole life over. Another character who reminds me a bit of Killashandra, and since Killa is one of my faves that’s not a bad thing.
una_10bananas's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Better than Dinosaur Planet but that's not saying much, not McCaffrey's best work.
naiyabladesinger's review against another edition
5.0
I have this book in text and audiobook. This whole series is a delight. It is one I gladly read time and time again. Dealing with the loss of family, being "out of time", seeing a medical character take the Hippocratic oath seriously but be a practitioner of the martial arts to both improve her practice and to defend/disarm without killing. Watching a character grow and overcome her own fears and prejudices all couched within a "cute" little sci-fi political thriller never gets old to me
mal_eficent's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
While I enjoyed Lunzie as a character, this felt like lot a lot of repetition – across the series and in the actual book.
The general gist of Lunzie's life is already described in Sassinak, which ruined any suspense and made it feel like I was waiting forever to get to the actual meat of the story; the ending is essentially a shorter perspective of Dinosaur Planet, to the point it almost felt like we were getting a diarised version of events in the last few pages; and poor Lunzie goes through the same catastrophe too many times for it to be dramatic.
My favourite parts were the moments that we hadn't already read in previous books – seeing what life was like on the lower decks of an exploration spaceship, and military-corporate espionage – but these made up so little of the latter part of the book I don't think I'd recommend this if you've read any of the earlier books in this world.
I will give props to Jody Lynn Nye, whose writing fit in with the previous book very well. Though her characterisation is slightly different to Moon's Lunzie it's not enough to make me doubt they could be the same character.
The general gist of Lunzie's life is already described in Sassinak, which ruined any suspense and made it feel like I was waiting forever to get to the actual meat of the story; the ending is essentially a shorter perspective of Dinosaur Planet, to the point it almost felt like we were getting a diarised version of events in the last few pages; and poor Lunzie goes through the same catastrophe too many times for it to be dramatic.
My favourite parts were the moments that we hadn't already read in previous books – seeing what life was like on the lower decks of an exploration spaceship, and military-corporate espionage – but these made up so little of the latter part of the book I don't think I'd recommend this if you've read any of the earlier books in this world.
I will give props to Jody Lynn Nye, whose writing fit in with the previous book very well. Though her characterisation is slightly different to Moon's Lunzie it's not enough to make me doubt they could be the same character.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia
Moderate: Violence and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Trafficking
jacalata's review against another edition
3.0
This is probably only worth reading as part of the sassinak universe. I suspect I mostly like it because it fits pretty perfectly into the genre "human drama space adventure stories", it's not great literature really.
dmbarnham's review against another edition
2.0
Well that was a painful read. The writing style flowed well, as all McCaffrey novels do, but the story itself was terrible. A shame as I loved Sassinak.
In the end I can't help but wonder what was the point of the entire thing? The only benefit at the last page was that she was now part of an intelligence agency and they would spend more effort searching for her, and they are on this mysterious planet that seems to be created purely as an ancient Earth historic preservation area. Plus the mysterious ponderings of "the Others" the alien race nobody knows exists.
Authors always say that a protagonist must always have a goal. well this story managed to have a goal (or goals) but still remain completely pointless. First Lunzie had to go find her daughter. She doesn't find her, in-fact over half way through (And the entire first half of that story) she spent years searching, and when she finally did find her again she didn't chase her because she finally realised that (her now very old) daughter doesn't give a damn and has moved on.
The core focus of events passing was due to Lunzie being placed in Cold Sleep. Which was an interesting move except she than gets put into sleep again half way through and it serves no purpose except to miss a direct meeting with her now old daughter and to throw her in with a ship captain that she has a meaningless relationship with (after recently breaking up with her previous partner who had moved on due to her second stint of cold sleep, another pointless exploration) ... and what was all this for? For the final pages detected for her to return to deep sleep ... AGAIN ...
It is clear from the last final pages that there must be another book. But I felt like I wasted my time reading this heap of rubbish.
In the end I can't help but wonder what was the point of the entire thing? The only benefit at the last page was that she was now part of an intelligence agency and they would spend more effort searching for her, and they are on this mysterious planet that seems to be created purely as an ancient Earth historic preservation area. Plus the mysterious ponderings of "the Others" the alien race nobody knows exists.
Authors always say that a protagonist must always have a goal. well this story managed to have a goal (or goals) but still remain completely pointless. First Lunzie had to go find her daughter. She doesn't find her, in-fact over half way through (And the entire first half of that story) she spent years searching, and when she finally did find her again she didn't chase her because she finally realised that (her now very old) daughter doesn't give a damn and has moved on.
The core focus of events passing was due to Lunzie being placed in Cold Sleep. Which was an interesting move except she than gets put into sleep again half way through and it serves no purpose except to miss a direct meeting with her now old daughter and to throw her in with a ship captain that she has a meaningless relationship with (after recently breaking up with her previous partner who had moved on due to her second stint of cold sleep, another pointless exploration) ... and what was all this for? For the final pages detected for her to return to deep sleep ... AGAIN ...
It is clear from the last final pages that there must be another book. But I felt like I wasted my time reading this heap of rubbish.
absentminded_reader's review against another edition
2.0
It was an interesting book, with some fascinating premises about space travel and it's impact on family and relationships, but I never liked the main character, Lunzie. The first half of the book was spent searching for family which she ended up despising, then the second half of the book was about mutiny and space pirates where she went back into cold sleep again as a solution. Throwing Lunzie into situations that could only be escaped by sleeping made for a rather dull adventure. In the end, nothing was truly resolved.
One could argue that this was a middle book intended to be resolved in another book, but that doesn't make for a satisfying read.
I was also troubled by the mixed message on racism and prejudice. Lunzie hated heavyworlders, which earned her more than a few lectures, yet heavyworlders were the constant bad guys. They were often portrayed by the authors as ignorant, burly, excessively violent savages, so the reader was led to dislike them. Then the reader was chastised constantly for judging the heavyworlders everytime Lunzie was chastised. In fact, we were told to not be prejudiced against all the humanoids, and even intelligent triangles. However, it was perfectly fine to detest conservatives—Lunzie's "shallow", capitalistic descendants. That message was pounded in several times. It's also OK to despise scrawny, infirm people because they are secretly pirates.
Is prejudice wrong or not? Why lecture the reader about the issue if you fall back on the traditional method of describing bad guys as physically deformed and grotesque? Is the message: "Being prejudiced against people who are different from you is wrong, unless they are greedy, disgusting conservatives. Ptui! Ptui!" I remain baffled.
One could argue that this was a middle book intended to be resolved in another book, but that doesn't make for a satisfying read.
I was also troubled by the mixed message on racism and prejudice. Lunzie hated heavyworlders, which earned her more than a few lectures, yet heavyworlders were the constant bad guys. They were often portrayed by the authors as ignorant, burly, excessively violent savages, so the reader was led to dislike them. Then the reader was chastised constantly for judging the heavyworlders everytime Lunzie was chastised. In fact, we were told to not be prejudiced against all the humanoids, and even intelligent triangles. However, it was perfectly fine to detest conservatives—Lunzie's "shallow", capitalistic descendants. That message was pounded in several times. It's also OK to despise scrawny, infirm people because they are secretly pirates.
Is prejudice wrong or not? Why lecture the reader about the issue if you fall back on the traditional method of describing bad guys as physically deformed and grotesque? Is the message: "Being prejudiced against people who are different from you is wrong, unless they are greedy, disgusting conservatives. Ptui! Ptui!" I remain baffled.