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trakkor's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
4.5
midici's review against another edition
3.0
I liked many things about this novel, but I despised the main character Will Dulac. He was arrogant, classist, stubborn in the worst way, and all around miserable to read about.
Will is the first contact a group of advanced aliens have with mankind on Earth. In summary, the aliens are part of an alliance called the Weave, that are fighting a separate group of aliens controlled by the Amplitur. There were a lot of things to like about this plot, like the aliens' confusion with multiple land masses, and the variety of language and culture on our planet. Also the unique way different characters reacted to other species, those they had known for long and those they had just met.
But dealing with Will's point of view was the worst. He is told the aliens are looking for allies and immediately tries to convince them that his species is far too peace loving for such a thing. This is written as though Will actually believes what he is saying, but honestly I think even a pacifist would disagree - not that people aren't capable of peace, but war is something that has been continuous for the entirety of humanity and to pretend it hasn't just makes Will come across as extremely idiotic.
Nothing was more irritating than Will deciding that the 'drunks, idiots, and poor people' he recruited for the aliens at first were doomed to fail at fighting, and then afterwards that the only reason they were good at it was because they weren't good at anything else; and that educated, civilised people would react differently. At several points he (and the aliens!) seem to think that poor people fighting for money is just so abhorent, as though trying to keep yourself and your family fed and financially secure is the worst possible reason to join an army.
Despite ripping on it, I did like the storyline, I just wish it could be rewritten with a main character who isn't an obnoxious troll.
Will is the first contact a group of advanced aliens have with mankind on Earth. In summary, the aliens are part of an alliance called the Weave, that are fighting a separate group of aliens controlled by the Amplitur. There were a lot of things to like about this plot, like the aliens' confusion with multiple land masses, and the variety of language and culture on our planet. Also the unique way different characters reacted to other species, those they had known for long and those they had just met.
But dealing with Will's point of view was the worst. He is told the aliens are looking for allies and immediately tries to convince them that his species is far too peace loving for such a thing. This is written as though Will actually believes what he is saying, but honestly I think even a pacifist would disagree - not that people aren't capable of peace, but war is something that has been continuous for the entirety of humanity and to pretend it hasn't just makes Will come across as extremely idiotic.
Nothing was more irritating than Will deciding that the 'drunks, idiots, and poor people' he recruited for the aliens at first were doomed to fail at fighting, and then afterwards that the only reason they were good at it was because they weren't good at anything else; and that educated, civilised people would react differently. At several points he (and the aliens!) seem to think that poor people fighting for money is just so abhorent, as though trying to keep yourself and your family fed and financially secure is the worst possible reason to join an army.
Despite ripping on it, I did like the storyline, I just wish it could be rewritten with a main character who isn't an obnoxious troll.
being_b's review against another edition
3.0
The baddies are bad, the goodies are good, the writing is repetitive, and everybody except for humans live on Planets of Hats. Eh.
ravengrimsbane's review against another edition
A favorite from my younger days, and while some of the references to tech are a bit dated, it holds up pretty well. Alan Dean Foster raises some interesting questions regarding how civilized humanity truly is, and he does have some points.
anotherpath's review against another edition
2.0
When I was a kid reading Artemis Fowl I had an insight that a character in a book is only as smart as the author, so any portrayal of genius would be limited to the genius of the author and their resources.
This book is like that. Everyone's only as smart as Alan Dean Foster. I wanted to forgive him for the publication date, as personal computers were rare in 1990, but Asimov, Lewis, Adams, Burroughs, and Herbert had all written their space faring adventures before this. Sagan and Dawkins were widely known and read already on the non-fiction side, which should have informed him to some of the absurdities of the races within the Weave.
Burroughs wrote the central conceit over a hundred years previously, "What if man was the biggest beast in the galaxy?" And did it with more fun.
So Foster doesn't really have an excuse for how dumb this novel is. He didn't read a single book on biology or evolution before making it the centre piece of his fantasy.
And that's what this is fantasy. Not sci-fi. And it's not even engrossing fantasy. The main character is empty, and only sets back the events of the book with his Philosophy 101 morals, which are clearly shared by Foster.
This book is like that. Everyone's only as smart as Alan Dean Foster. I wanted to forgive him for the publication date, as personal computers were rare in 1990, but Asimov, Lewis, Adams, Burroughs, and Herbert had all written their space faring adventures before this. Sagan and Dawkins were widely known and read already on the non-fiction side, which should have informed him to some of the absurdities of the races within the Weave.
Burroughs wrote the central conceit over a hundred years previously, "What if man was the biggest beast in the galaxy?" And did it with more fun.
So Foster doesn't really have an excuse for how dumb this novel is. He didn't read a single book on biology or evolution before making it the centre piece of his fantasy.
And that's what this is fantasy. Not sci-fi. And it's not even engrossing fantasy. The main character is empty, and only sets back the events of the book with his Philosophy 101 morals, which are clearly shared by Foster.
canadajanes's review against another edition
3.0
I always enjoy Alan Dean Foster, even if the books aren't the greatest.
namulith's review against another edition
3.0
Re-read this book as part of a planned readthrough of the full Damned series. But I got stuck again after this one.
shlowee's review against another edition
2.0
Well, this was underwhelming. [MILD SPOILERS AHEAD]
The premise was super interesting. Aliens! A Big War! Humans as the weirdos who somehow managed to form a civilization despite their weird planet!
It started off boring, but picked up in pace when the aliens finally met up with the humans. I was hooked for a solid 20 pages, completely fascinated by the alien perception of humanity (alien captain being all like "but why would we trick you?" was great). And then, I started to get annoyed.
The main human character is unlikable. The alien characters are boring and one-dimensional. The dialogue, especially when involving human character who don't speak American English, is cringe. The main character's whole "wow I can't believe MIDDLE CLASS people are signing up to join I thought war was only for POOR people" was ridiculously annoying.
The premise was super interesting. Aliens! A Big War! Humans as the weirdos who somehow managed to form a civilization despite their weird planet!
It started off boring, but picked up in pace when the aliens finally met up with the humans. I was hooked for a solid 20 pages, completely fascinated by the alien perception of humanity (alien captain being all like "but why would we trick you?" was great). And then, I started to get annoyed.
The main human character is unlikable. The alien characters are boring and one-dimensional. The dialogue, especially when involving human character who don't speak American English, is cringe. The main character's whole "wow I can't believe MIDDLE CLASS people are signing up to join I thought war was only for POOR people" was ridiculously annoying.
vailynst's review against another edition
3.0
Notes:
Good Narration, Great Characters, Simple Plot
The reason why it's a 3 vs 4 is due to the fact that I didn't feel like I'm reading about aliens + humans. They all come across as some form of human. Otherwise, a cool SF story.
Good Narration, Great Characters, Simple Plot
The reason why it's a 3 vs 4 is due to the fact that I didn't feel like I'm reading about aliens + humans. They all come across as some form of human. Otherwise, a cool SF story.
marcmywords's review against another edition
3.0
The middle really drags, but I really like the overall premise.