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adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
If you’re super into NASA and history this may be more for you, but personally I found the storyline monotonous.
adventurous
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The characters aren't that deep, the mystery's not that dramatic, and the writing isn't anything special, but there's a level of detail and specificity to everything that I found incredibly compelling. Every description of the experience or process of space-flight is riveting and, despite all the Cold War murder, they make up a heartfelt ode to human ingenuity. I really enjoyed this.
The plot was decent overall. Fun Cold War space thriller, decent action I suppose, interesting historical fiction.
But man was the writing all over the place. The first act or so was really rough with a lot of ham-fisted exposition of what I can only imagine were Christ Hadfield's favourite space facts, with one of the worst being NASA astronauts awkwardly explaining moon phases to other astronauts. There were a lot of really awkward moments when, for no good reason, the book went into entirely too much detail about completely mundane things (like specifying how a button push energized a circuit, which activated a radio, which sent a message, which was decoded, which made a machine wake up... just bizarre). The dialogue was often a bit clunky, with a lot of the characters being relatively unrealistic.
But man was the writing all over the place. The first act or so was really rough with a lot of ham-fisted exposition of what I can only imagine were Christ Hadfield's favourite space facts, with one of the worst being NASA astronauts awkwardly explaining moon phases to other astronauts. There were a lot of really awkward moments when, for no good reason, the book went into entirely too much detail about completely mundane things (like specifying how a button push energized a circuit, which activated a radio, which sent a message, which was decoded, which made a machine wake up... just bizarre). The dialogue was often a bit clunky, with a lot of the characters being relatively unrealistic.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Me ha gustado mucho, no se si tendrá que ver que se parezca a la primera temporada de "For All Mankind": carrera espacial USA vs URSS, espías, gran detalle técnico... si te gustó The Martian no te puede no gustar este.
Si que es verdad que me hubiese gustado un epílogo más extenso, ya que a lo largo de la segunda mitad se va generando una tensión que aunque se resuelve, daban ganas de más. Y quizás por la forma en que ocurre se pierde un poco el hilo de quien es el protagonista del libro.
Si que es verdad que me hubiese gustado un epílogo más extenso, ya que a lo largo de la segunda mitad se va generando una tensión que aunque se resuelve, daban ganas de más. Y quizás por la forma en que ocurre se pierde un poco el hilo de quien es el protagonista del libro.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Slow to start, but once lift off happens this book really gets going.
Fantastic mix of fact and fiction and interesting details of space flight and life as an astronaut.
Hope this is just the start of the author’s foray into fiction, as I’ll happily read more.
Fantastic mix of fact and fiction and interesting details of space flight and life as an astronaut.
Hope this is just the start of the author’s foray into fiction, as I’ll happily read more.
Fantastic!! Great plot, space, and written by an astronaut. Biggest glaring anachronism was the Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon. So egregious it must have been intentionally put in as a readers test vs accidental? Great fun
adventurous