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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
adventurous
inspiring
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
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:
Yes
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Loved this! Felt like the author had several sci-fi short stories in mind, and then collected them into one narrative - but it works in a spy movie kind of way, spanning various locations and "set pieces".
The plot is relentless, pushing our protagonist Horza and his ragtag team of space pirates ("free company") from one trouble into the next: the book starts with him almost getting executed, and never stops putting him in ever more dangerous situations:stranded in space! combat to life and death! a megaship and an iceberg! cannibals! card game with the stakes of life and death! mad chase inside an impossibly huge spaceship! an unforgiving planet that is literary called the planet of the dead. Some of these were not strictly necessary for the plot and were particularly weird (cannibals) but overall it is definitely a page turner.
While the heightened action did feel at times almost ridiculous, many of the sci-fi elements also felt epic and impressive - for example, the scale of the orbitals, megaships and general systems vehicles is described in fine detail, and it is easy to imagine these collosal structures and be awestruck.
Horza is interestingly driven by ideology and distrust against AI to fulfill his mission for the Idirans, who seemed to him "more human than humans". I liked learning about the Culture from his musings and discussions with Balveda, and also experience some of the worse aspects of Idirans.
However, in the end, his actions were mostly about survival and getting on -and the ending was quite sad and futile. The end notes seem to imply that in his mission perhaps didn’t matter much to the war between the Culture and Idirans.
*
"Who are you? The question leapt out at him, into him.
The sensation was one of vertigo, a stunning dizziness, a vastly magnified equivalent of the disorientation which sometimes affects the eyes when they fasten on a simple and regular pattern, and the brain mistakes its distance from that pattern, the false focus seeming to pull at the eyes, muscles against nerves, reality against assumptions.
His head did not swim; it seemed to sink, foundering, struggling.
Who are you? (Who am I?) Who are you?
Slam, slam, slam: the sound of the barrage falling, the sound of doors closing; attack and incarceration, explosion and collapse together.
(..)
Feedback, a howl like pain, and something breaking...
A mind between mirrors. He was drowning in his own reflection (something breaking), falling through. One fading part of him — the part which didn't sleep? Yes? No? — screamed from down the deep, dark pit, as it fell: Changer... Changer... Change - ... (eee) ...
The sound faded, whisper-quieted, became the wind-moan of stale air through dead trees on a barren midnight solstice, the soul's midwinter in some calm, hard place."
The plot is relentless, pushing our protagonist Horza and his ragtag team of space pirates ("free company") from one trouble into the next: the book starts with him almost getting executed, and never stops putting him in ever more dangerous situations:
While the heightened action did feel at times almost ridiculous, many of the sci-fi elements also felt epic and impressive - for example, the scale of the orbitals, megaships and general systems vehicles is described in fine detail, and it is easy to imagine these collosal structures and be awestruck.
Horza is interestingly driven by ideology and distrust against AI to fulfill his mission for the Idirans, who seemed to him "more human than humans". I liked learning about the Culture from his musings and discussions with Balveda, and also experience some of the worse aspects of Idirans.
However, in the end, his actions were mostly about survival and getting on -
*
"Who are you? The question leapt out at him, into him.
The sensation was one of vertigo, a stunning dizziness, a vastly magnified equivalent of the disorientation which sometimes affects the eyes when they fasten on a simple and regular pattern, and the brain mistakes its distance from that pattern, the false focus seeming to pull at the eyes, muscles against nerves, reality against assumptions.
His head did not swim; it seemed to sink, foundering, struggling.
Who are you? (Who am I?) Who are you?
Slam, slam, slam: the sound of the barrage falling, the sound of doors closing; attack and incarceration, explosion and collapse together.
(..)
Feedback, a howl like pain, and something breaking...
A mind between mirrors. He was drowning in his own reflection (something breaking), falling through. One fading part of him — the part which didn't sleep? Yes? No? — screamed from down the deep, dark pit, as it fell: Changer... Changer... Change - ... (eee) ...
The sound faded, whisper-quieted, became the wind-moan of stale air through dead trees on a barren midnight solstice, the soul's midwinter in some calm, hard place."
adventurous
dark
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Nice sci-fi book, but I was expecting more.
Some interesting parts, but very slow and meandering, and the ending seemed like the author said "Well, I'm just done with this ... let's end it!"
I had read Player of Games a long time ago and enjoyed it, so I thought I should try book 1 in the series. Disappointing. I'm going to re-read Player of Games and see if I was just young and foolish.
I had read Player of Games a long time ago and enjoyed it, so I thought I should try book 1 in the series. Disappointing. I'm going to re-read Player of Games and see if I was just young and foolish.
I can't wait to read more books about "The Culture" and its interactions with other societies. Great space opera.
adventurous
fast-paced
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
adventurous
dark
medium-paced