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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
This book made me feel like Captain Marvel and the Martian made me feel at the same time. You can tell it was carefully researched and written in all aspects of the story.
adventurous
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:
Complicated
I started to read this book when the Palisades and altadena fires were starting in Los Angeles and it felt like the world was ending. So I had to go back to it and I'm so glad I did.
A great story with lots of growth and thought provoking moments applying the events of the book to today's climate crisis
A great story with lots of growth and thought provoking moments applying the events of the book to today's climate crisis
adventurous
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Recommended by a friend. A friend who I will second guess in the future when recommending books.
The catalyst for the entire story it almost immediately discarded. Almost every major US politician is dead and... nobody seems to care. The Soviets were mentioned once or twice, then completely ignored. Instead of a cold war era space race from a different angle we are given no indication what Russia is doing. Some other countries join the USA in their space program, but all we hear about that is a few astronauts or scientists being involved in ways that bear no consequences.
Instead the story focuses mostly on the internal struggles of the main character and standard 50s sexism. Which makes me want to ask the author -- why start the story with some cataclysmic event only to spend the entire novel inside the main character's head? There are a million avenues to explore after a meteor destroys the US capital, but we get none of it. Which makes the whole thing feel kind of deflated and lifeless.
But it isn't *bad* per se. Rockets and space flight are always a safe way to entertain me, so I found at least some entertainment hidden in the creases of the story. But there was so much meat left on the bone that I can't help but feel disappointed.
The catalyst for the entire story it almost immediately discarded. Almost every major US politician is dead and... nobody seems to care. The Soviets were mentioned once or twice, then completely ignored. Instead of a cold war era space race from a different angle we are given no indication what Russia is doing. Some other countries join the USA in their space program, but all we hear about that is a few astronauts or scientists being involved in ways that bear no consequences.
Instead the story focuses mostly on the internal struggles of the main character and standard 50s sexism. Which makes me want to ask the author -- why start the story with some cataclysmic event only to spend the entire novel inside the main character's head? There are a million avenues to explore after a meteor destroys the US capital, but we get none of it. Which makes the whole thing feel kind of deflated and lifeless.
But it isn't *bad* per se. Rockets and space flight are always a safe way to entertain me, so I found at least some entertainment hidden in the creases of the story. But there was so much meat left on the bone that I can't help but feel disappointed.
Kowal does some interesting stuff in this novel.
DIALOGUE TAGS
Kowal almost eschews dialogue tags totally, with the word "said" appearing a mere 134 times in a 400-page novel—that's about one "said" every three pages! Also, many or even most of the "saids" are indirect dialogue.
I think this is weird, or at least it's something I noticed. To be fair, I was on the lookout for it because I'd recently read Kowal's GHOST TALKERS, in which she employs a similar strategy to less positive effect. In GT, I often wondered who was talking and felt the cutting was stilted. In TCS, however, I almost never noticed Kowal's strategy, probably because it was handled more deftly. When I did notice, it was because I was noticing it wasn't working in that particular spot.
This strategy means that, essentially, Kowal is always giving a character an action that appends a line of dialogue, such as "Nathaniel scrubbed his face and straightened. 'Let's see who's out there?'" Because the reader is already seeing Nathaniel, the reader assumes the speaker is Nathaniel. But in order for this to work, a character who is speaking (almost) always needs to be shown to be doing something, and that something may not always be relevant or interesting. Also, I think this strategy might have added some unnecessary length to the book, because "So-and-so did such-and-such" is longer than "So-and-so said."
I'm really impressed with how Kowal seemed to make improvements in this strategy from her earlier work to this work. When I read the next book(s) in this series, I'll be on alert to see if she's doing even better with this strategy. It's a strategy that I knew existed, but Kowal has taken it to a whole, new level, where "said" is almost unused.
Have I just been overlooking this strategy and other authors are using it as extensively? I don't think so. I'm wondering if Kowal has talked about this strategy somewhere, such as on her podcast Writing Excuses. (Speaking of Writing Excuses, did you catch how she used her cohosts' surnames for a few of her side-characters? How funny.)
So . . . Kowal has made some interesting choices for presenting her dialogue, which almost always worked for me. Thanks, Kowal!
CURTAILED SCENES
There are quite a few scenes in this book that end just as they seem to be beginning, leaving the reader to imagine how the rest of the scene went. I'll provide a fake but analogous example. The protagonist has an almost debilitating fear of open spaces but it asked to give a speech at the fairgrounds, a speech on a subject about which she cares deeply. She spends most of the scene sweating and wondering how she can possibly give the speech but finally gives the speech. The reader is allowed to listen to the first few confident and engaging sentences the protagonist speaks, and then the scene ends.
Some form of this curtailed-scene strategy happens a lot. (I wish now that I'd kept track.) Some of the positive effects of this strategy are that is keeps the book from being overly long (the scenes are usually of the in-late, out-early type) and that it allows the reader to participate more in the creation and conclusion of these curtailed scenes. The negative effect, for me, was that some of what I thought might be my favorite scenes were curtailed, making me want/expect more. There were times when I felt cheated.
I think Kowal is doing something smart here, and it probably contributed to making this book as strong as it is.
LOVING COUPLE
The protagonist and her husband have a supportive, loving, admirable relationship. Kowal doesn't go for the easy conflict of having this couple fight or unnecessarily misunderstand each other. It's a relief to see a healthy marriage represented—the protagonist has enough challenges already!
YEARNING
The protagonist's yearning to become an astronaut is not strong or well-developed. There's a point quite late in the book where she's asked to explain why she wants to be an astronaut and has trouble doing so. In reading that short passage, I realized how weakly built-up her yearning was. Interestingly, it did not make me want to stop reading, though I do wonder how the novel might have been different if her yearning had been more evident.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
This novel feels so real and timely and important. The story covers several years, and Kowal expertly chooses short scenes to move us through these years. There's a bit of fat here, mainly in characters who didn't need to populate this world and took up valuable page-space (I feel the novel could have been about 50 pages shorter). Also, there's a dark sentence about the protagonist's past that never really gets explored further, which felt like a loose end—maybe this is delved into in the next book?
All in all, an awesome and enlightening read, one that might mark a steep ascent for Kowal's future career. I hope so!
DIALOGUE TAGS
Kowal almost eschews dialogue tags totally, with the word "said" appearing a mere 134 times in a 400-page novel—that's about one "said" every three pages! Also, many or even most of the "saids" are indirect dialogue.
I think this is weird, or at least it's something I noticed. To be fair, I was on the lookout for it because I'd recently read Kowal's GHOST TALKERS, in which she employs a similar strategy to less positive effect. In GT, I often wondered who was talking and felt the cutting was stilted. In TCS, however, I almost never noticed Kowal's strategy, probably because it was handled more deftly. When I did notice, it was because I was noticing it wasn't working in that particular spot.
This strategy means that, essentially, Kowal is always giving a character an action that appends a line of dialogue, such as "Nathaniel scrubbed his face and straightened. 'Let's see who's out there?'" Because the reader is already seeing Nathaniel, the reader assumes the speaker is Nathaniel. But in order for this to work, a character who is speaking (almost) always needs to be shown to be doing something, and that something may not always be relevant or interesting. Also, I think this strategy might have added some unnecessary length to the book, because "So-and-so did such-and-such" is longer than "So-and-so said."
I'm really impressed with how Kowal seemed to make improvements in this strategy from her earlier work to this work. When I read the next book(s) in this series, I'll be on alert to see if she's doing even better with this strategy. It's a strategy that I knew existed, but Kowal has taken it to a whole, new level, where "said" is almost unused.
Have I just been overlooking this strategy and other authors are using it as extensively? I don't think so. I'm wondering if Kowal has talked about this strategy somewhere, such as on her podcast Writing Excuses. (Speaking of Writing Excuses, did you catch how she used her cohosts' surnames for a few of her side-characters? How funny.)
So . . . Kowal has made some interesting choices for presenting her dialogue, which almost always worked for me. Thanks, Kowal!
CURTAILED SCENES
There are quite a few scenes in this book that end just as they seem to be beginning, leaving the reader to imagine how the rest of the scene went. I'll provide a fake but analogous example. The protagonist has an almost debilitating fear of open spaces but it asked to give a speech at the fairgrounds, a speech on a subject about which she cares deeply. She spends most of the scene sweating and wondering how she can possibly give the speech but finally gives the speech. The reader is allowed to listen to the first few confident and engaging sentences the protagonist speaks, and then the scene ends.
Some form of this curtailed-scene strategy happens a lot. (I wish now that I'd kept track.) Some of the positive effects of this strategy are that is keeps the book from being overly long (the scenes are usually of the in-late, out-early type) and that it allows the reader to participate more in the creation and conclusion of these curtailed scenes. The negative effect, for me, was that some of what I thought might be my favorite scenes were curtailed, making me want/expect more. There were times when I felt cheated.
I think Kowal is doing something smart here, and it probably contributed to making this book as strong as it is.
LOVING COUPLE
The protagonist and her husband have a supportive, loving, admirable relationship. Kowal doesn't go for the easy conflict of having this couple fight or unnecessarily misunderstand each other. It's a relief to see a healthy marriage represented—the protagonist has enough challenges already!
YEARNING
The protagonist's yearning to become an astronaut is not strong or well-developed. There's a point quite late in the book where she's asked to explain why she wants to be an astronaut and has trouble doing so. In reading that short passage, I realized how weakly built-up her yearning was. Interestingly, it did not make me want to stop reading, though I do wonder how the novel might have been different if her yearning had been more evident.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
This novel feels so real and timely and important. The story covers several years, and Kowal expertly chooses short scenes to move us through these years. There's a bit of fat here, mainly in characters who didn't need to populate this world and took up valuable page-space (I feel the novel could have been about 50 pages shorter). Also, there's a dark sentence about the protagonist's past that never really gets explored further, which felt like a loose end—maybe this is delved into in the next book?
All in all, an awesome and enlightening read, one that might mark a steep ascent for Kowal's future career. I hope so!
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
hopeful
inspiring
tense
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