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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
mysterious
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
I liked it a lot, especially in the beginning and after the protagonist meets the mystery man, but as a proud failure when it comes to linguistics, some of it was lost on me. And I call myself a writer. I really enjoyed how Delaney combined multiculturalism with entertaining space opera.
So many awesome ideas, especially (obviously) about language. The pacing and tone are pretty inconsistent, though, and some of the headier passages collapse under their own weight. I want to give it 4 stars but honestly it was a real slog in parts.
It's hard to believe it was written 60 years ago. This was my first Delany and I have a feeling he got even better with age - will 100% be reading more.
It's hard to believe it was written 60 years ago. This was my first Delany and I have a feeling he got even better with age - will 100% be reading more.
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was disappointing.
There are great ideas in the book and some forward thinking throughout. The concepts are really impressive and the concentration on linguistics and the way language affects people is great.
This is no 1984 though; for me the prose was rushed, unnecessarily convoluted in places, unhelpfully obtuse with the grammar and generally a bit needlessly confrontational in its style for telling the story.
There are great ideas in the book and some forward thinking throughout. The concepts are really impressive and the concentration on linguistics and the way language affects people is great.
This is no 1984 though; for me the prose was rushed, unnecessarily convoluted in places, unhelpfully obtuse with the grammar and generally a bit needlessly confrontational in its style for telling the story.
I liked some aspects of this book, particularly the character-based sections, but I have to admit that the parts about the language confused me a little bit. Some fun things happen and I enjoyed the normalcy of polyamory, but, in the nicest way I can say it, I think I was a little too dumb to understand this book properly. Not an easy read, but still a good one.
challenging
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No