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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
fast-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
Whoa, if Douglas Adams wrote on speed I think you’d get a sense of this madcap scifi space opera extravaganza. If the scifi world was built on a scifi base of crumpets you could picture the random rocky wavering towers that might be built from it. This is all that and more. Space Opera is a story of what a school Rock Eisteddfod concert smashed against Eurovision might become in book form. It’s a wild and colourful story with alien species galore (Icky and gross, gooey and violent depending on who you talk to).
Poor humans on Earth, finally put forward to prove our sentience and the way it is done is to sing for your life – quite literally. And naturally… what one species finds as brilliant another finds as abhorrent. Which is not surprising when the aliens you are completing against don’t have ears… or mouths… or bodies for that matter. How do you perform? How do you win?
And in this competition… to lose is to die – taking your entire planet’s population with you… well… except the cats. (Is that a surprise?)
Be prepared to concentrate or you might struggle with the bright color cacophony of sound and words that is this book. Conversely, you might skim through and absorb the story through your pores.
Poor humans on Earth, finally put forward to prove our sentience and the way it is done is to sing for your life – quite literally. And naturally… what one species finds as brilliant another finds as abhorrent. Which is not surprising when the aliens you are completing against don’t have ears… or mouths… or bodies for that matter. How do you perform? How do you win?
And in this competition… to lose is to die – taking your entire planet’s population with you… well… except the cats. (Is that a surprise?)
Be prepared to concentrate or you might struggle with the bright color cacophony of sound and words that is this book. Conversely, you might skim through and absorb the story through your pores.
DNF at 40%. Who am I kidding, I am never going to finish this.
I loved the last book I read by CMV, but this is something else that I struggle to properly describe. It has scattered moments of transcendent brilliance, but these are surrounded by thousands of unnecessary words. So much verbiage that does not relate to the story or really anything.
You might love it, you might hate it. You will feel strongly either way.
I loved the last book I read by CMV, but this is something else that I struggle to properly describe. It has scattered moments of transcendent brilliance, but these are surrounded by thousands of unnecessary words. So much verbiage that does not relate to the story or really anything.
You might love it, you might hate it. You will feel strongly either way.
Despite the less than stellar reviews I wanted to give this one a go as I loved several other Valente novels. Here, however, my love gave up. Did not finish about 1/3 of the way through, it was just too overwrought textually. Only so many half-a-page-long sentences you can read before it starts to leak out the ears!
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
Holy run on sentences, Batman!
Wanted to love this, but did not.
Wanted to love this, but did not.
It's difficult to sustain the author's attempted wit density without a good story, vignettes, or interesting characters. Plus, I've already seen the interplanetary survivalist Eurovision game on Rick and Morty's "Get Schwifty," and it wasn't that good even there.
This was kind of funny though:
“For his part, little Danesh inhaled a heady, unleavened diet of science fiction films, despite his grandmother’s insistence that they were neither halal nor anywhere near as good as Mr. Looney of the Tunes, as she called her favorite American programs.”
This was kind of funny though:
“For his part, little Danesh inhaled a heady, unleavened diet of science fiction films, despite his grandmother’s insistence that they were neither halal nor anywhere near as good as Mr. Looney of the Tunes, as she called her favorite American programs.”
Is it possible for a book to get you high, knock you up, and love every second of it? That's how it felt to read this. Exuberant, larger-than-life in the best possible way, filled with joyful callbacks and inescapable rhythm and the kind of unrepentant swagger that makes you wonder if someone cheated on their point-buy. If you're in love with every memory that music's ever given you, this story has got your beat, and it's danceable. Somebody get me my Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeroes shirt asap.
The major species of the galaxy are living in a period of relative peace after the sentience wars—a war fought over which space slugs, darkness colonies, and space travelling red pandas were sentient. After that brutal murderfest the collective species decided to implement a more sophisticated screening device. A talent show. Any newly discovered species on the edge of entering the galactic stage is forced to compete in the Intergalactic Grand Prix. If the new species places last, they're fire bombed from orbit. The newest questionable species? Humans. Valente takes us on an absurd ride through the galaxy where she creates interesting, complex, and dazzling life. Her imagination is boundless and it is wonderful.
The only thing I didn't absolutely love about the novel was the ending. It was trying to be absurd and ridiculous and it was, but it didn't seem to quite fit with the rest of the novel. Still, the entire ride was amazing and I definitely recommend this book.
The only thing I didn't absolutely love about the novel was the ending. It was trying to be absurd and ridiculous and it was, but it didn't seem to quite fit with the rest of the novel. Still, the entire ride was amazing and I definitely recommend this book.
