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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Whelp. That was really something. Oldest child told me it would be, seeing as how this is his favorite author. I took me over five years to prioritize reading this book.
This is quite the space opera. So detailed. I can’t even imagine how an author can create this level of complexity. However, the story was surprisingly interesting, despite the degree of technological complexity. The characters kept my attention, Horza was both sympathetic and occasionally frustrating. I enjoyed the periodic interludes from other characters.
This is quite the space opera. So detailed. I can’t even imagine how an author can create this level of complexity. However, the story was surprisingly interesting, despite the degree of technological complexity. The characters kept my attention, Horza was both sympathetic and occasionally frustrating. I enjoyed the periodic interludes from other characters.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Very well, this one is also off to the shelf.
I'm not in love with this book, not by a long stretch. It's high-concept sci-fi at its worst, with a lot of incredibily interesting world building covered by the hole-ridded umbrella of a lurid, haphazard spy adventure story that constantly fails to rivet.
Main character is supposed to be unlikeable, and manages it pretty well. He is certainly the most fleshed-out in the book. Most of the others he meets are straight-up *told*, and it's pretty impossible to care about them in any way.
Most of the book is a romp in bizarre fringe cultures and very strange happenings that appear to be shoe-horned in the narrative just to keep the main character busy while he rides this mechanical bull of a sublot about becoming a pirate captain and leading his motley crew in an espionage mission -- this all ends up being like a forced, unhappy marriage between Jack Vance and Jack London, all told in a dry voice that robs even the most perilous of setups of any riveting quality. The main thing here is that this lack of attractiveness stems utterly from the self-defeating way everything is planned out. Everything our main man does, Horza by name, is being laughingstock for his own author, whose clever, edgy point is that from the perspective of the individual, every single effort in the Galaxy is just another name for aimless wandering and any endeavor is plain kafkesque.
It's such a disjointed book you really feel it's been welded between sections. The next-to-final part about exploring a dead planet's subterranean railway is really cool, but it's completely spoiled by a finale that is literally the moving picture of the speeding train made by the Lumiere brothers: it appears like it's going to smash into you, but never delivers on the promise, and also like Sir Lancelot in the Holy Grail movie, charges endlessly and repetitively towards you in a really dragged-out sequence that defies any attempt at rhythm.
For added wickedness, Banks then tells us about the general circumstances surrounding the book, and never surprises by revealing that everything happening in this book is worthless, and everybody involved was, is and will be of no importance whatsoever.
Gee, thanks Iain M.; You told us that around page 50, tops.
I'm not in love with this book, not by a long stretch. It's high-concept sci-fi at its worst, with a lot of incredibily interesting world building covered by the hole-ridded umbrella of a lurid, haphazard spy adventure story that constantly fails to rivet.
Main character is supposed to be unlikeable, and manages it pretty well. He is certainly the most fleshed-out in the book. Most of the others he meets are straight-up *told*, and it's pretty impossible to care about them in any way.
Most of the book is a romp in bizarre fringe cultures and very strange happenings that appear to be shoe-horned in the narrative just to keep the main character busy while he rides this mechanical bull of a sublot about becoming a pirate captain and leading his motley crew in an espionage mission -- this all ends up being like a forced, unhappy marriage between Jack Vance and Jack London, all told in a dry voice that robs even the most perilous of setups of any riveting quality. The main thing here is that this lack of attractiveness stems utterly from the self-defeating way everything is planned out. Everything our main man does, Horza by name, is being laughingstock for his own author, whose clever, edgy point is that from the perspective of the individual, every single effort in the Galaxy is just another name for aimless wandering and any endeavor is plain kafkesque.
It's such a disjointed book you really feel it's been welded between sections. The next-to-final part about exploring a dead planet's subterranean railway is really cool, but it's completely spoiled by a finale that is literally the moving picture of the speeding train made by the Lumiere brothers: it appears like it's going to smash into you, but never delivers on the promise, and also like Sir Lancelot in the Holy Grail movie, charges endlessly and repetitively towards you in a really dragged-out sequence that defies any attempt at rhythm.
For added wickedness, Banks then tells us about the general circumstances surrounding the book, and never surprises by revealing that everything happening in this book is worthless, and everybody involved was, is and will be of no importance whatsoever.
Gee, thanks Iain M.; You told us that around page 50, tops.
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-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:
Yes
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-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
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
80% action 20% sci-fi.
Oscillates in tone between goofy and grim in a way enjoyed.
It's quite violent. I wanted to learn more about the Idirans and the Culture and was a bit disappointed by how much of this novel is just adventure as opposed to sci-fi but I'm intrigued enough to investigate other titles in the series.
Oscillates in tone between goofy and grim in a way enjoyed.
It's quite violent. I wanted to learn more about the Idirans and the Culture and was a bit disappointed by how much of this novel is just adventure as opposed to sci-fi but I'm intrigued enough to investigate other titles in the series.
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous