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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Really cool premise, but the author's love of run on sentences made it hard for me to get into.
Very clever and funny. Lot's to like here but a little too much at times for me.
The most common thing you will see said about this book is the elevator pitch - it's Douglas Adams does Eurovision. And that's true, as far as it goes. But the book is so much more than that.
In Adams' classic Hitchiker's series, Earth is destroyed and humanity's remnants bounce around an incomprehensible galaxy where technology and cool have outstripped common sense. The humor comes from watching staid, ordinary, Englishblokeman Arthur Dent discover that nothing the staid, ordinary English Bloke valued and took for granted mattered in the galaxy, and that the from-his-perspective vacuous confusion of late 1970's/early 1980's California was the galactic norm. When Arthur eventually learns the heartening truth that humanity was not completely insignificant it is undercut again and again by realizations of what humanity actually was. There is a deep cynicism behind the humor.
Valente's _Space Opera_ is superficially similar in that while humanity makes contact with the vast incomprehensible galactic society it's destruction isn't in the past tense, but a possible outcome. It is built around hope. Humanity has a chance. And while the reader's first contact with the method by which humanity has a chance marks it as completely absurd, Valente carefully builds out a world in which having to compete in an intergalactic music competition to prove we are sentient starts to make more and more sense under its own terms. Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeroes aren't wandering around in perpetual shock and bemoaning the inability to get a good cup of tea, they are engaging and striving. They have hope.
It is superficially similar in that _Space Opera_ keeps forcing the reader to see where humanity has failed and is failing, just as Adams displayed our absurdity and the galaxy's indifference to us repeatedly, but it does so not with coolly distanced irony but with heartfelt compassion. Valente shows us where we are monsters, and with passion begs us to be better than that. This is not a book with an emotional distance. It is not something you can love ironically. You have to love it wholeheartedly, as it quietly sets up and then delivers secrets and truths that leave the reader sobbing between the laughter and the cheering.
It is superficially similar in the use of Adams (and Pratchett) style throwaway observations on galactic history, technology, sex, culture and anything else that might get a laugh or a bemused sense of wonder. But be careful, because more than one of those throwaway bits will come back to surprise you later. The text is so light and breezy that it seems to be encouraging you to skim, but that's just to get your guard down before striking hard at your sense of humor and your heart as you realize that there is no other way the ending could have played out.
So yes, while everyone can (and, to lure in readers, should) make the comparisons to _Hitchhiker's_, that is a book that lurks by the bar, nursing a pint and making wry observations to its mates about the people on the dance floor. _Space Opera_ is the person on the dance floor, dressed to the nines in their own iconoclastic style, singing and dancing their damn fool heart out to the mix of Bowie and Queen cover songs.
This is not the age for ironic detachment. Let _Space Opera_ drag you onto the dance floor, and scream and laugh and weep your damn fool heart out.
In Adams' classic Hitchiker's series, Earth is destroyed and humanity's remnants bounce around an incomprehensible galaxy where technology and cool have outstripped common sense. The humor comes from watching staid, ordinary, Englishblokeman Arthur Dent discover that nothing the staid, ordinary English Bloke valued and took for granted mattered in the galaxy, and that the from-his-perspective vacuous confusion of late 1970's/early 1980's California was the galactic norm. When Arthur eventually learns the heartening truth that humanity was not completely insignificant it is undercut again and again by realizations of what humanity actually was. There is a deep cynicism behind the humor.
Valente's _Space Opera_ is superficially similar in that while humanity makes contact with the vast incomprehensible galactic society it's destruction isn't in the past tense, but a possible outcome. It is built around hope. Humanity has a chance. And while the reader's first contact with the method by which humanity has a chance marks it as completely absurd, Valente carefully builds out a world in which having to compete in an intergalactic music competition to prove we are sentient starts to make more and more sense under its own terms. Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeroes aren't wandering around in perpetual shock and bemoaning the inability to get a good cup of tea, they are engaging and striving. They have hope.
It is superficially similar in that _Space Opera_ keeps forcing the reader to see where humanity has failed and is failing, just as Adams displayed our absurdity and the galaxy's indifference to us repeatedly, but it does so not with coolly distanced irony but with heartfelt compassion. Valente shows us where we are monsters, and with passion begs us to be better than that. This is not a book with an emotional distance. It is not something you can love ironically. You have to love it wholeheartedly, as it quietly sets up and then delivers secrets and truths that leave the reader sobbing between the laughter and the cheering.
It is superficially similar in the use of Adams (and Pratchett) style throwaway observations on galactic history, technology, sex, culture and anything else that might get a laugh or a bemused sense of wonder. But be careful, because more than one of those throwaway bits will come back to surprise you later. The text is so light and breezy that it seems to be encouraging you to skim, but that's just to get your guard down before striking hard at your sense of humor and your heart as you realize that there is no other way the ending could have played out.
So yes, while everyone can (and, to lure in readers, should) make the comparisons to _Hitchhiker's_, that is a book that lurks by the bar, nursing a pint and making wry observations to its mates about the people on the dance floor. _Space Opera_ is the person on the dance floor, dressed to the nines in their own iconoclastic style, singing and dancing their damn fool heart out to the mix of Bowie and Queen cover songs.
This is not the age for ironic detachment. Let _Space Opera_ drag you onto the dance floor, and scream and laugh and weep your damn fool heart out.
This was a book I preordered and was very much looking forward too. I'm have read other works by the author and enjoyed some of them. Also, the pre-availbility reviews were very positive and I was anticipating an enjoyable read.
But, I did not even finish the book as it is not witty or funny at all, the cliches and stereotypes were unpleasant and there was lots of irrelevant filler and a number of sections where the authors intent seemed to be to appear clever and impress the reader.
I do appreciate this is my own experience, however, as I was deciding whether to review or not I did note the average rating had dropped significantly from before it was released. I do wish the reality of the opinions about the book we're available before the purchase date as I would like to have purchased something else.
But, I did not even finish the book as it is not witty or funny at all, the cliches and stereotypes were unpleasant and there was lots of irrelevant filler and a number of sections where the authors intent seemed to be to appear clever and impress the reader.
I do appreciate this is my own experience, however, as I was deciding whether to review or not I did note the average rating had dropped significantly from before it was released. I do wish the reality of the opinions about the book we're available before the purchase date as I would like to have purchased something else.
Meh. Clearly a Hitchhiker's Guide wannabe, while simultaneously seemingly trying to be more serious/dramatic, with more flowery/poetic language. It had its fun parts, but overall it didn't really work for me.
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
Douglas Adams meets Eurovision song contest.
I enjoyed this a lot but some of the convoluted joke sentences got a bit confusing which detracted a bit from what was actually happening. That said, I did find the ending generally moving.
Life is beautiful
Life is stupid
I enjoyed this a lot but some of the convoluted joke sentences got a bit confusing which detracted a bit from what was actually happening. That said, I did find the ending generally moving.
Life is beautiful
Life is stupid
To be fair, I didn't get far; it's not my cup of tea. That said, Valente's language and storytelling skill are superb. She polishes each sentence or phrase until it shines, or until it has left a paper thin stiletto blade across your skin that's bleeding. The feel of this was anger, as if she was writing it in a caffeine-driven rage, pounding out the words as fast or faster than she could write. Furthermore, the premise is hysterical and the way the story came to be written is what I love about this modern world. Don't be put off by my ambivalence toward sci-fi.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A delightful, glam-rock-soaked sci-fi confection that left me wanting more. I irritated my family by reading sections out loud, particularly the deceptively casual descriptions of some of the alien people and their worlds. A zombie planet? A goth planet? An Easter Island rock-people planet? Of course, my reductions don't do the actual book justice. You've gotta read them yourself. And what's not to love about a washed-up, glam-to-the-bone, David Bowie wanna-be who is chosen to represent (and rescue) the human race? Blast your Bowie, Gary Glitter, Roxy Music, & Mott the Hoople and take time to dig into this multilayered, swirly glitter bomb.