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tobinlopes's review against another edition
3.0
I read this based on Kirkus reviews and while the build was slow, the imagination and structure of characters telling their stories was engrossing and kept me reading.
Recommended for science fiction fans all around. I'll definitely look into Gunn's other books.
I gave it 7/10 on my personal scale.
-tpl
Recommended for science fiction fans all around. I'll definitely look into Gunn's other books.
I gave it 7/10 on my personal scale.
-tpl
furicle's review against another edition
3.0
I think I'll be an outlier on this book.
The backdrop was interesting, the characters varied and extreme, the plot interesting, and yet it didn't hang together for me at all.
The intro drew me in, then the book just stumbled along for many many pages, and when it finally got interesting, it ended.
The backdrop was interesting, the characters varied and extreme, the plot interesting, and yet it didn't hang together for me at all.
The intro drew me in, then the book just stumbled along for many many pages, and when it finally got interesting, it ended.
made_in_dna's review against another edition
5.0
Old-school, high-concept space opera. Really dug it, but as a lot of people remark, the stories of the aliens get a little redundant after a while. I wonder if the time spent on telling their tales couldn't have been better spent on exploration of the planet and its deadly inhabitants in the latter half of the book. Looking forward to the second and third books, but not without slight trepidation that they might not live up to expectation (as this book did not for some).
chukg's review against another edition
3.0
Kind of reminds me of _Hyperion_, but more like old school space opera.
danlewisfw's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked the ending of this book. I am looking forward to the sequel for that reason the most but also because it was a interesting story.
It reminded me of Hyperion in that they were on a trip somewhere and many of the Aliens give their story as they are going. It reveals more and more through that exposition by those characters.
It reminded me of Hyperion in that they were on a trip somewhere and many of the Aliens give their story as they are going. It reveals more and more through that exposition by those characters.
whoaexedge's review against another edition
4.0
I'm transcended
Loved this book... excellent story. My first James Gunn book . Asha is awesome and in really liked the aliens! Really cool universe
Loved this book... excellent story. My first James Gunn book . Asha is awesome and in really liked the aliens! Really cool universe
tome15's review against another edition
4.0
Gunn, James E. Transcendental. Transcendental Trilogy No. 1. Tor, 2013.
James Gunn, a science fiction Grand Master, has held just about every important position in science fiction publishing. For example, he founded the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas. Now 96, Gunn published the first volume of this trilogy the month after he turned 90. Very loosely based on The Canterbury Tales and, perhaps, on The Ship of Fools and Murder on the Orient Express, the novel describes a group of aliens and humans making a dangerous pilgrimage across the void between galactic arms. Their quest is for something called the transcendental machine that they are convinced will give their species the power to dominate the galaxy. Each of the aliens tells their story, which may or may not be true, but it is not long before the bodies start piling up, and our human protagonist struggles to solve the various crimes. The third volume is already out, so maybe we will find out who is pulling all the strings.
James Gunn, a science fiction Grand Master, has held just about every important position in science fiction publishing. For example, he founded the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas. Now 96, Gunn published the first volume of this trilogy the month after he turned 90. Very loosely based on The Canterbury Tales and, perhaps, on The Ship of Fools and Murder on the Orient Express, the novel describes a group of aliens and humans making a dangerous pilgrimage across the void between galactic arms. Their quest is for something called the transcendental machine that they are convinced will give their species the power to dominate the galaxy. Each of the aliens tells their story, which may or may not be true, but it is not long before the bodies start piling up, and our human protagonist struggles to solve the various crimes. The third volume is already out, so maybe we will find out who is pulling all the strings.
aquamantis's review against another edition
3.0
Ultimately, this book was a disappointment. However, I think this take is more about how excited I was about the premise of the book (Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, re-imagined in a complex and diverse space age!?!) and thus how crushing it was when it failed to deliver on that potential than about the book being actually Bad.
Don't get me wrong, the book has its flaws. The plot is predictable and slow moving, the dialogue reads like a poorly written script, and the ending of the book doesn't resolve anything, positively or negatively. Worst of all, to me, the romance reads like a thousand other male-authored heterosexual romances, where the love interest is an idealized (literally, in this case, but without coming off as a lampshading of the trope) and personality-agnostic body with breasts. Even though the male narrator takes care to state that she is *not* conventionally beautiful and although he is super turned on by her, he might be the only person who feels that attraction (how kind of him), Gunn isn't fooling anybody: Like many male authors, he wrote his ideal Action Girl, the grown-up scifi version of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, told us that his hero fell in love with her, and just expected us to do the same because of how clearly perfect she is. I was more attracted to the bulbous, pachydermic alien bureaucrat Tordor. At least he has personality.
Where the book shines is in its worldbuilding. Gunn has created a wide variety of alien races, and he (awkwardly, but no less fascinatingly) lets us into their inner worlds through the sharing of their stories. Each story reveals the history of the character's planet and the reasons why their culture developed the way it has through the explanation of why that particular character is seeking Transcendence. The alien characters have distinctive voices, and their cultures and physical characteristics span an ambitious range, from an intelligent plant that thinks as a species rather than individual, to a set of human-but-not-quite clones, to a jumpy underdog race that doesn't use any pronouns, to a sentient AI seeking to free its people from the curse of sentience.
In the end, however, the creative and well-executed diversity of alien cultures in this book did not make up for the rest of it. And the promise that made me pick it up in the first place--Canterbury Tales in space--fell flat. There is little here that thematically aligns with the Canterbury Tales, nor are any little details from Chaucer's work incorporated in the text (besides the narrator's onboard computer quoting it on the first page of the novel, a contribution the narrator brushes off as a glitchy AI). All that Gunn uses from the Canterbury Tales is the framework of pilgrims telling stories to each other. While he uses this tool to enable the most creative aspect of the book, it does not justify the billing of this novel as a "re-imagining" of the Canterbury Tales.
Don't get me wrong, the book has its flaws. The plot is predictable and slow moving, the dialogue reads like a poorly written script, and the ending of the book doesn't resolve anything, positively or negatively. Worst of all, to me, the romance reads like a thousand other male-authored heterosexual romances, where the love interest is an idealized (literally, in this case, but without coming off as a lampshading of the trope) and personality-agnostic body with breasts. Even though the male narrator takes care to state that she is *not* conventionally beautiful and although he is super turned on by her, he might be the only person who feels that attraction (how kind of him), Gunn isn't fooling anybody: Like many male authors, he wrote his ideal Action Girl, the grown-up scifi version of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, told us that his hero fell in love with her, and just expected us to do the same because of how clearly perfect she is. I was more attracted to the bulbous, pachydermic alien bureaucrat Tordor. At least he has personality.
Where the book shines is in its worldbuilding. Gunn has created a wide variety of alien races, and he (awkwardly, but no less fascinatingly) lets us into their inner worlds through the sharing of their stories. Each story reveals the history of the character's planet and the reasons why their culture developed the way it has through the explanation of why that particular character is seeking Transcendence. The alien characters have distinctive voices, and their cultures and physical characteristics span an ambitious range, from an intelligent plant that thinks as a species rather than individual, to a set of human-but-not-quite clones, to a jumpy underdog race that doesn't use any pronouns, to a sentient AI seeking to free its people from the curse of sentience.
In the end, however, the creative and well-executed diversity of alien cultures in this book did not make up for the rest of it. And the promise that made me pick it up in the first place--Canterbury Tales in space--fell flat. There is little here that thematically aligns with the Canterbury Tales, nor are any little details from Chaucer's work incorporated in the text (besides the narrator's onboard computer quoting it on the first page of the novel, a contribution the narrator brushes off as a glitchy AI). All that Gunn uses from the Canterbury Tales is the framework of pilgrims telling stories to each other. While he uses this tool to enable the most creative aspect of the book, it does not justify the billing of this novel as a "re-imagining" of the Canterbury Tales.
kueltzo's review against another edition
2.0
Rating: 2.5: Didn't like enough to recommend.
My feelings about this book are divided, so I'm going with a Pros and Cons List:
Pros:
1) Interesting Premise
2) Doesn't start with overt exposition
3) Interesting characters
4) Potentially vivid universe
Cons:
1-9) Not a single positive listed above was fleshed out.
10) Feels like an outline of a multi-novel arc
In short, this novel got be excited to start off, then left me feeling disappointed and unfulfilled. This is my first book from this author, and I may go back and read hs earlier works, which have garnered much praise. This novel, however, is hopefully not his best work.
My feelings about this book are divided, so I'm going with a Pros and Cons List:
Pros:
1) Interesting Premise
2) Doesn't start with overt exposition
3) Interesting characters
4) Potentially vivid universe
Cons:
1-9) Not a single positive listed above was fleshed out.
10) Feels like an outline of a multi-novel arc
In short, this novel got be excited to start off, then left me feeling disappointed and unfulfilled. This is my first book from this author, and I may go back and read hs earlier works, which have garnered much praise. This novel, however, is hopefully not his best work.
pussreboots's review against another edition
4.0
http://www.pussreboots.pair.com/blog/2015/comments_03/transcendental.html
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