Scan barcode
stellarian's review
4.0
Dark Orbit is classic SF, questioning paradigms with the help of philosophy and ethics through a slow build. The point of view shifts between two people, one in third person and one in first (being her recorded diary). The first person we meet is Sara Callicot, an exoethnologist taking on a mission for her former mentor to keep an eye on Thora Lassiter, an emissary to a newly discovered planet named Iris. Iris has some strange phenomena on and around it, but seems uninhabited by sentient forms of life.
I would say Thora is the main character of this book. While Sara is fairly extroverted, used to getting her own way, always questioning authority, Thora is presented as introverted, always doubting herself. Before her mission to Iris, she was the focal point of an uprising on the planet Orem. She can’t remember much about it, but she knows she was sick, and has received treatment and medication for “hearing voices”. On their very first outing to the strange surface of Iris, Thora is separated from the others and finds herself in pitch darkness, alone. She is eventually found by locals and rescued.
While Thora spends time with the people of Iris, Sara and the rest of the people on the quest ship Escher orbiting above look for her. This process is not helped by complicated power struggles and intrigue going on between different groups of the crew. Eventually, a team expedition finds a young girl, Moth, with news of what is going on.
I feel like I shouldn’t talk more about the plot. A big part of reading this particular book was how it unfolded, and talking about what happens later in the book would ruin the way the characters think and talk about the concepts explored. I’ll say that I thought the beginning of the book was a little bit slow, but that it quickly became more interesting. The philosophical exploration of ideas about perception was the most interesting thing for me.
I would say Thora is the main character of this book. While Sara is fairly extroverted, used to getting her own way, always questioning authority, Thora is presented as introverted, always doubting herself. Before her mission to Iris, she was the focal point of an uprising on the planet Orem. She can’t remember much about it, but she knows she was sick, and has received treatment and medication for “hearing voices”. On their very first outing to the strange surface of Iris, Thora is separated from the others and finds herself in pitch darkness, alone. She is eventually found by locals and rescued.
While Thora spends time with the people of Iris, Sara and the rest of the people on the quest ship Escher orbiting above look for her. This process is not helped by complicated power struggles and intrigue going on between different groups of the crew. Eventually, a team expedition finds a young girl, Moth, with news of what is going on.
I feel like I shouldn’t talk more about the plot. A big part of reading this particular book was how it unfolded, and talking about what happens later in the book would ruin the way the characters think and talk about the concepts explored. I’ll say that I thought the beginning of the book was a little bit slow, but that it quickly became more interesting. The philosophical exploration of ideas about perception was the most interesting thing for me.
tricapra's review
4.0
It took me a while to get there but I ended up really enjoying this one. I've really enjoyed the other Gilman I've read, but this one took me a little longer to warm up to. Great exploration of the power of perception, as always Gilman is here to deconstruct cultural mores that are seen as a "given".
11corvus11's review
4.0
Very pomo. I liked it at the start, got bored in the middle, then liked it again in the end.
librarian_of_trantor's review
5.0
Using clones in a generation ship allows the author to explore a lot of nature vs nurture. She explores more of the "soft" sciences, sociology and psychology, than many books about interstellar travel. The tone of the end of the book reminded more a lot of Neal Stephenson's Anathem.
quietdomino's review
3.0
It makes a lot of sense that Ursula LeGuin blurbed this book enthusiastically, and also, now I understand what "speculative anthropology" means. It's not really the best plotted book, but it certainly succeeds in making you think about your power of sight in an entirely new way.
emnii's review
4.0
Right off the bat, there's a lot going on. The planet Iris is a mystery reminiscent of Solaris. Despite being firmly in the hard sci-fi genre, Gilman has a firm grasp on the human elements as well, such as how we perceive things is shaped by what we already know. For example, the scientists on the planetary expedition start to refer to thick areas of metallic "vegetation" as "forests" despite having absolutely no connection to any forest previously known. This idea of preconceived notions influencing exploration comes into play often as Sara and Thora individually try to come to grips with a society that operates in complete blindness. As far as the thought provoking parts of the science that goes into first contact and exploration of an alien world go, this book is top-notch.
However, the many-layered plot does come across as a bit under baked and wraps up extremely fast. With so much going on between Thora's visions and her attempts to return to her colleagues, Sara's first contact work, the plot against Thora, the corporate overlords of the mission, and the strange disturbances that surround Iris and confuse the science teams, they don't all really get enough attention. Early on, we're presented with the facts about how traveling to the questship involves lightspeed transmission and physical reconstruction that takes 58 years to accomplish, and it felt like there could've been more said about how Sara and the others on the ships' lives would change by taking a trip that would see them returning 116 years after they've left without aging. I wouldn't go so far as to say that they wrap up in an unsatisfying way, but it felt like Dark Orbit is the first part of a series. There's still a lot of ground to tread here, so I hope there will be a followup.
Regardless, Dark Orbit is rather good in what it does deliver: a multilayered story about exploration and first contact on an alien planet. It made me want more, and I will be disappointed if it ends here.
However, the many-layered plot does come across as a bit under baked and wraps up extremely fast. With so much going on between Thora's visions and her attempts to return to her colleagues, Sara's first contact work, the plot against Thora, the corporate overlords of the mission, and the strange disturbances that surround Iris and confuse the science teams, they don't all really get enough attention. Early on, we're presented with the facts about how traveling to the questship involves lightspeed transmission and physical reconstruction that takes 58 years to accomplish, and it felt like there could've been more said about how Sara and the others on the ships' lives would change by taking a trip that would see them returning 116 years after they've left without aging. I wouldn't go so far as to say that they wrap up in an unsatisfying way, but it felt like Dark Orbit is the first part of a series. There's still a lot of ground to tread here, so I hope there will be a followup.
Regardless, Dark Orbit is rather good in what it does deliver: a multilayered story about exploration and first contact on an alien planet. It made me want more, and I will be disappointed if it ends here.
readerpants's review
4.0
I picked it up again and *did* finish it!
Sara was an apppealing character, and I love the idea of her faith/culture being rooted in skepticism and questioning power.
I think it lagged for me in part because I was less than delighted about the speech and mannerisms of the people of Torobe, which felt precious and over the top. More enjoyable once I picked it up and tried again -- a much more appealing second half.
Sara was an apppealing character, and I love the idea of her faith/culture being rooted in skepticism and questioning power.
I think it lagged for me in part because I was less than delighted about the speech and mannerisms of the people of Torobe, which felt precious and over the top. More enjoyable once I picked it up and tried again -- a much more appealing second half.