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3.2 AVERAGE
3.2 AVERAGE
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The Lotus Eaters fanfic did this concept better. Only enjoyed the (brief) middle when she was stranded on the planet with Arcady. A slog from start to finish.
Funny how the reviews with 4 or 5 stars are just synopses or rants about other books being bad. This won't change it, because I didn't like this book all that much.
The book has five chapters, of which I quite liked the first two.
Chapter one introduced us to the world, the conflict, and the characters, chapter two thrusts us deep into the world, throwing interesting challenges at our protagonist.
Then, in all of chapter three and most of chapter four, we and the protagonist are wandering aimlessly in search of the plot, and clues to the Mystery, respectively.
Finally, the second half of chapter four reveals it all! In one large, uninspired infodump. It's almost a monologue by the Big Bad, in the worst of Hollywood traditions. Then we get a very short and hollow finale and chapter five is really just a two-page epilogue where the protagonist imagines how everything will turn out.
If the writing wasn't as good as it is and the first two chapters hadn't been very promising I probably would not have finished this book. It seems like the author lost his way halfway through and then decided to end it as quickly as possible.
It's not a bad book, but it could have been so much better.
The book has five chapters, of which I quite liked the first two.
Chapter one introduced us to the world, the conflict, and the characters, chapter two thrusts us deep into the world, throwing interesting challenges at our protagonist.
Then, in all of chapter three and most of chapter four, we and the protagonist are wandering aimlessly in search of the plot, and clues to the Mystery, respectively.
Finally, the second half of chapter four reveals it all! In one large, uninspired infodump. It's almost a monologue by the Big Bad, in the worst of Hollywood traditions. Then we get a very short and hollow finale and chapter five is really just a two-page epilogue where the protagonist imagines how everything will turn out.
If the writing wasn't as good as it is and the first two chapters hadn't been very promising I probably would not have finished this book. It seems like the author lost his way halfway through and then decided to end it as quickly as possible.
It's not a bad book, but it could have been so much better.
Synopsis: The story follows Dorthy Yoshida, who is drafted unwillingly into the navy because she needs to support a scientific mission on a foreign planet with her telepathic skills.
This planet might be inhabited by the aliens, hidden deeply in the vast wilderness, which the navy fights in different system. Dorthy is supposed to help locating the enemy or proof that they aren’t around. The only halfway intelligent life-form identified so far are the “herders”, leading around large amount of cattle.
The planet is very special, as it orbits a red dwarf star, and some advanced technology released it from its tidal lock some million years ago. Could it be that the herders are descendants of these aliens, sent back to a barbaric form?
Together with a scientific expedition, Dorthy follows the herders, trying to “read” their intentions. Of course, shit hits the fan shortly. Dorthy finds herself in survival mode.
Review: I’ve read several short stories by McAuley and also loved his novel Quiet War (review) four years ago. I thought to read the second novel in the Quiet War series, but somehow grabbed this novel. I don’t know how that happened, call it a Happy Accident (tm Bob Ross).
It’s the very first novel by the author, and it shows. There’s a serious drag in the middle part with a boilerplate “protagonist needs to survive the harsh wilderness”. I could have very well skipped that one without loosing much. Another really bad element was the unfolding of the riddle around those herders: a dozen pages of exposition right at the end of the book.
So, why did I still like the novel? First of all because of Dorthy (come on, can’t you name a Japanese lady differently?). She is grumpy and has fits. But with reasons – as a telepath she needs to have her own time just to survive. It’s been quite a long time since I read a SF book featuring a telepath outside of Marvel superheroes. This might be a dying breed of our beloved genre!
Also, McAuley throws a lot of ideas into this rather short novel: biological programming, millions of years of history, “terra”forming of planets by aliens (is there a different word for it?). Call it idea-driven, but it was great stuff.
Add to that several conflicts of Dorthy with the crew and political struggles, and you’ll get this fine example of a planetary romance.
It might not be the best of his works, but it won a Philip K Dick Award back in 1989. It has aged well enough and I liked it.
This planet might be inhabited by the aliens, hidden deeply in the vast wilderness, which the navy fights in different system. Dorthy is supposed to help locating the enemy or proof that they aren’t around. The only halfway intelligent life-form identified so far are the “herders”, leading around large amount of cattle.
The planet is very special, as it orbits a red dwarf star, and some advanced technology released it from its tidal lock some million years ago. Could it be that the herders are descendants of these aliens, sent back to a barbaric form?
Together with a scientific expedition, Dorthy follows the herders, trying to “read” their intentions. Of course, shit hits the fan shortly. Dorthy finds herself in survival mode.
Review: I’ve read several short stories by McAuley and also loved his novel Quiet War (review) four years ago. I thought to read the second novel in the Quiet War series, but somehow grabbed this novel. I don’t know how that happened, call it a Happy Accident (tm Bob Ross).
It’s the very first novel by the author, and it shows. There’s a serious drag in the middle part with a boilerplate “protagonist needs to survive the harsh wilderness”. I could have very well skipped that one without loosing much. Another really bad element was the unfolding of the riddle around those herders: a dozen pages of exposition right at the end of the book.
So, why did I still like the novel? First of all because of Dorthy (come on, can’t you name a Japanese lady differently?). She is grumpy and has fits. But with reasons – as a telepath she needs to have her own time just to survive. It’s been quite a long time since I read a SF book featuring a telepath outside of Marvel superheroes. This might be a dying breed of our beloved genre!
Also, McAuley throws a lot of ideas into this rather short novel: biological programming, millions of years of history, “terra”forming of planets by aliens (is there a different word for it?). Call it idea-driven, but it was great stuff.
Add to that several conflicts of Dorthy with the crew and political struggles, and you’ll get this fine example of a planetary romance.
It might not be the best of his works, but it won a Philip K Dick Award back in 1989. It has aged well enough and I liked it.
Empathic heroine, insecure military, ancient aliens. Not a bad mix. I appreciate the recognition that not everyone in the future is anglo.
I found it hard to follow but am going to give it the benefit of the doubt that this may be because I don't read a lot of space-travel sci-fi. I liked that Dorthy was an introverted, capable but unfriendly protagonist. I was irritated by the overt sexism of Ramirez and the passive aggressive sexism of Arcady. I felt Ramirez's reaction was anachronistic for the world built in the novel (though it was a good foil for Andrews). It irritated me that Dorthy slept with Arcady and how that was presented as inevitable (also how that slotted in with the twins and with Angel's role in the novel). It's somewhat cliche to have a female character's super-power be empathy and the whole reluctance thing too.
That said there were some interesting twists that made me think, especially subsequent to the events at the keep which I initially thought was the denoument. The lack of ethics or even intelligence of the military complex was well portrayed. Dorthy being a better shot than the men (Arcady in particular) was a nice touch, the family backstory was tawdry and I am not convinced necessary. Arcady and Dorthy's casual violence toward the herder they captured was believable but horrible.
I am going to give it 4 stars because it's good that we are not told too much about Dorthy's body (apart from the fact that it can be wounded and that it menstruates). We are not told that she is sexy or has big breasts, in fact the feeling is that probably she isn't. She's Japanese and can speak Portugese is a scientist as well as an empath, strong and good with a rifle. She loves literature- in particular Shakespeare. McAuley reassuringly shows us that when men get their hand off it they CAN write women after all. It was odd that Arcady urinated a few times but it seemed that Dorthy never does but that was a minor quirk rather than a major flaw.
I'm not going to be specifically hunting for more like this but I am glad I didn't avoid it.
That said there were some interesting twists that made me think, especially subsequent to the events at the keep which I initially thought was the denoument. The lack of ethics or even intelligence of the military complex was well portrayed. Dorthy being a better shot than the men (Arcady in particular) was a nice touch, the family backstory was tawdry and I am not convinced necessary. Arcady and Dorthy's casual violence toward the herder they captured was believable but horrible.
I am going to give it 4 stars because it's good that we are not told too much about Dorthy's body (apart from the fact that it can be wounded and that it menstruates). We are not told that she is sexy or has big breasts, in fact the feeling is that probably she isn't. She's Japanese and can speak Portugese is a scientist as well as an empath, strong and good with a rifle. She loves literature- in particular Shakespeare. McAuley reassuringly shows us that when men get their hand off it they CAN write women after all. It was odd that Arcady urinated a few times but it seemed that Dorthy never does but that was a minor quirk rather than a major flaw.
I'm not going to be specifically hunting for more like this but I am glad I didn't avoid it.
Originally published on my blog here in January 2001.
McAuley's auspicious debut, this novel, won awards, which were well deserved. It is an imaginative and original piece of science fiction.
Humankind is engaged in a war throughout the galaxy with mysterious, high tech aliens, who attacked an unmanned survey ship. No alien has ever been seen, because they always self-destruct their ships when in danger of capture. There is a small clue to their identity, as another survey has discovered a planet which was already planoformed in the past - set spinning when it must have at one time had one face perpetually turned to its sun, as the moon does to earth. The planet has a strange ecology, which includes animals which have been extinct for millions of years from a range of locations including Earth. But it is the unique animals which draw the attention of the human scientific community and military it is thought that they are possibly the degenerate descendants of a colony of the aliens they are fighting.
Astronomer Dorthy Yoshida is sent to the planet not because of the speciality that she has chosen to follow but because of one she has rejected. She has telepathic powers, able to sense something of what is in the mind of others. The idea is that she can try to find out the truth about the origins of the animals by searching for clues in their minds. However, as she descends from orbit to the surface of the planet, she has the momentary impression of contact with a vast intelligence. Finding that intelligence becomes the focus of her time on the planet.
The novels that Four Hundred Billion Stars most reminded me of are both among the best known in the genre: Orson Scott Card's [b:Speaker for the Dead|7967|Speaker for the Dead (Ender's Saga, #2)|Orson Scott Card|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1295660894s/7967.jpg|2327777] and Dan Simmons' [b:Hyperion|77566|Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, #1)|Dan Simmons|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1332885131s/77566.jpg|1383900]. While not as subtle as the former or as gritty as the latter, this gives an indication of the quality of the novel.
McAuley's auspicious debut, this novel, won awards, which were well deserved. It is an imaginative and original piece of science fiction.
Humankind is engaged in a war throughout the galaxy with mysterious, high tech aliens, who attacked an unmanned survey ship. No alien has ever been seen, because they always self-destruct their ships when in danger of capture. There is a small clue to their identity, as another survey has discovered a planet which was already planoformed in the past - set spinning when it must have at one time had one face perpetually turned to its sun, as the moon does to earth. The planet has a strange ecology, which includes animals which have been extinct for millions of years from a range of locations including Earth. But it is the unique animals which draw the attention of the human scientific community and military it is thought that they are possibly the degenerate descendants of a colony of the aliens they are fighting.
Astronomer Dorthy Yoshida is sent to the planet not because of the speciality that she has chosen to follow but because of one she has rejected. She has telepathic powers, able to sense something of what is in the mind of others. The idea is that she can try to find out the truth about the origins of the animals by searching for clues in their minds. However, as she descends from orbit to the surface of the planet, she has the momentary impression of contact with a vast intelligence. Finding that intelligence becomes the focus of her time on the planet.
The novels that Four Hundred Billion Stars most reminded me of are both among the best known in the genre: Orson Scott Card's [b:Speaker for the Dead|7967|Speaker for the Dead (Ender's Saga, #2)|Orson Scott Card|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1295660894s/7967.jpg|2327777] and Dan Simmons' [b:Hyperion|77566|Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, #1)|Dan Simmons|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1332885131s/77566.jpg|1383900]. While not as subtle as the former or as gritty as the latter, this gives an indication of the quality of the novel.