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jadejade's review against another edition
3.0
This book sat on a sibling's shelf for many years, the blue big cat on the cover catching my attention. Now imagine waiting years to pick up a book, and finally getting around to it. The characters were lively, and the premise promised on the cover (front and back) was interesting.
But the problem was that I had been promised psychic alien cats. What I got was.
The cats are definitely there and are a key part of the story, I just thought. I can pin-point the moment that I went from being invested in this story, to deciding it had gone off the rails and was just pulp story. Page 100, the page just before chapter 7. I realise that this was setting up the reader for what comes in the second half of the novel but, honestly, at the time I read it, it felt like it came out of no where.
There were a few other things that made me pause:
F U N
* I note that the character of Mather does a boolean search on a green monochrome monitor that slowly reveals the text (rather than the computer using images, video or audio in the manner we expect today), and the character Wallis uses a print out that I imaged as dot matrix printer paper (rather than putting the information on a handheld device in the manner we expect today). This made me feel somewhat nostalgic.
U M
* suggests a direct blood transfusion be set up from , saying "We've exchanged blood before, so I know we're compatible." You don't think it would be wise to separate the blood? No reference to some sci-fi device to perform this function?
O H D E A R
* Although I appreciated the author's inclusion of a diverse cast, the description of Wing as "Slight and wiry in the manner of his Asian forbears" (page 13) made me think the author had not met many people from background different to the author's background.
* While trying to work out the mystery of what is happening on the ship, Wallis says "And psychotic individuals have been known to believe they were almost anything - and to act accordingly." I believe in modern times it is preferable to say that a person suffers from a condition, rather than describing the person as the condition.
Despite the problems above, the story sufficiently held my interest until the end, so it gets an extra star.
Read this if you want a quick, pulpy, late 80s sci-fi.
But the problem was that I had been promised psychic alien cats. What I got was
Spoiler
space vampiresThe cats are definitely there and are a key part of the story, I just thought
Spoiler
they would play a more active partThere were a few other things that made me pause:
F U N
* I note that the character of Mather does a boolean search on a green monochrome monitor that slowly reveals the text (rather than the computer using images, video or audio in the manner we expect today), and the character Wallis uses a print out that I imaged as dot matrix printer paper (rather than putting the information on a handheld device in the manner we expect today). This made me feel somewhat nostalgic.
U M
*
Spoiler
MatherSpoiler
Mather to WallisO H D E A R
* Although I appreciated the author's inclusion of a diverse cast, the description of Wing as "Slight and wiry in the manner of his Asian forbears" (page 13) made me think the author had not met many people from background different to the author's background.
* While trying to work out the mystery of what is happening on the ship, Wallis says "And psychotic individuals have been known to believe they were almost anything - and to act accordingly." I believe in modern times it is preferable to say that a person suffers from a condition, rather than describing the person as the condition.
Despite the problems above, the story sufficiently held my interest until the end, so it gets an extra star.
Read this if you want a quick, pulpy, late 80s sci-fi.
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