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a0ri's review
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Enjoyable, especially for it's length. The battle sequences can be a little hard to follow at times, but they are broken up enough that it feels like you get a break
eyesofheaven's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
beefmaster's review against another edition
4.0
Have you seen that tweet that goes "there's more flavour in one single Cool Ranch Dorito than a medieval peasant would know in their entire lifetime?" Couldn't stop thinking about that tweet as I read this. There's more cool science fiction shit in 137 pages than 24 hours of Marvel movies. Imagine if a Marvel movie fan who thinks Endgame was the best thing ever read even the first 40 pages of this novella? He shit his pants from the sheer breadth of imagination.
cwebb's review against another edition
3.0
Weird. In a good way. It is kinda short, and still feels slow sometimes, but those were the days back then...
metaphorosis's review against another edition
3.0
Despite being one of Vance's more celebrated stories, a re-read didn't really change my view. I'd say it's a 3.5 rather than a 3, but I round down because it could have been better.
Vance starts with an interesting idea and introduces it in an understated way. But the result lacks the usual Vance narrative charm, and emotionally, the story doesn't go very far. It feels more like a sketch than a full story. It's a shame, because as a novel, I think it could have achieved it's promise.
Certainly worth reading, but if I had to choose a story for which Vance should have won a Hugo, this wouldn't be it.
CVIE V
Vance starts with an interesting idea
Spoiler
- that two antagonistic races breed their prisoners of war into specialized soldiers -Certainly worth reading, but if I had to choose a story for which Vance should have won a Hugo, this wouldn't be it.
CVIE V
dsell's review
adventurous
fast-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
5.0
vaderbird's review against another edition
4.0
5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
leticiatoraci's review against another edition
3.0
I've read a portuguese edition with only the first novel of this book. This book's premise is very interesting, but the reason I give it only 3 stars it's because I felt it was poorly developed, suffocating the idea's great potential. Instead of a better world and background description the reader is given one battle scene after another. It was too much action. Too little exploration of everything the story's alien and human worl and the different alien and human species, which by the way sounded almost the same, would have to offer. Still worth a read though, even if to incite the reader's mind of what the story could have been if completely fleshed out.
par3's review against another edition
2.0
2 Stars. It was just barely okay. I didn’t care for the characters or story line much at all. The most interesting part was probably the sacerdotes. Hard to believe it won a Hugo Award.