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suzemo's review against another edition
3.0
Eldrinson is SO tedious.
But I'm still ok with the reread of the series.
But I'm still ok with the reread of the series.
kortirion's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this book, but only when I gave up trying to figure out what most of the proper names referred to. Most of the planet, empire, city, race, and family names were a vast puzzle to me until at least 200 pages into the book. That's a long time to be left in the dark when reading a book that deals at least partly with politics. I was told this was a good place to start reading in Catherine Asaro's Skolian Empire books, but I'm just going to stick with my method of reading series books in the order they were published, regardless of which book comes first chronologically.
I had some problems with how the main character. Namely, who it was. I still don't know. I'm guessing it was Soz, but for all the times the book said she'd gained demerits and was a whirlwind personality who spoke her mind, we didn't really see any of it. When she did exhibit personality, someone always called her on it. A personality like that should be more abrasive and intimidating. People shouldn't react with "Are you always this frank?"
Also, I skimmed the physics stuff. I respect that Asaro has a PhD in physics, but a discussion of quantum mechanics and whatever doesn't belong in a battle sequence.
This review makes it sound like I hated the book. Sigh. I AM planning to read the next book, though.
I had some problems with how the main character. Namely, who it was. I still don't know. I'm guessing it was Soz, but for all the times the book said she'd gained demerits and was a whirlwind personality who spoke her mind, we didn't really see any of it. When she did exhibit personality, someone always called her on it. A personality like that should be more abrasive and intimidating. People shouldn't react with "Are you always this frank?"
Also, I skimmed the physics stuff. I respect that Asaro has a PhD in physics, but a discussion of quantum mechanics and whatever doesn't belong in a battle sequence.
This review makes it sound like I hated the book. Sigh. I AM planning to read the next book, though.
kdf_333's review
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
agenc's review against another edition
3.0
Decent. Skimmed Eldrinson's story because I got enough of him in Skyfall. Enjoyed Soz's story.
divadiane's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoyed this book. I would give it 3 1/2 stars if that were an option. But I'm trying to stick with GR's descriptions for the stars and reserving 5 stars only for the truly amazing books.
This one is very entertaining and a good introduction to Asaro's world, even if you haven't read the previous 9 books. This is the first in a trilogy, although I feel like this one and the 2nd one are really 2 parts of one long book.
Asaro is a physicist and an dancer/singer and I think that those two aspects of her person really come through beautifully.
This one is very entertaining and a good introduction to Asaro's world, even if you haven't read the previous 9 books. This is the first in a trilogy, although I feel like this one and the 2nd one are really 2 parts of one long book.
Asaro is a physicist and an dancer/singer and I think that those two aspects of her person really come through beautifully.
steveab's review against another edition
3.0
Schism jumps you into the middle of a long series of books by Catherine Asaro. Multi-talented Asaro brings to her writing hard science (Harvard PhD in Chemical Physics), serious music (she's a jazz vocalist and dancer), and inclination toward space opera and soft romance of a young adult type, at least in this series. Intrigued? Schism seems a good place to start.
Schism comes toward the end of the series yet takes place in more of a prequel zone. I don't suspect you will suffer if you decide to read the rest. Though this book starts a trilogy of its own, it seems far removed from the main events that follow long after. In general, we have a Star Wars-esque far future empire, fewer aliens yet more varieties of human, and post-human species. One strand of human notably have hands that fold down the middle instead of an opposable thumb. I found the descriptions hard to imagine, though it seemed equally useful to the characters with that adaptation.
Some jaunts into "world-building" human colonies work better than others. Asaro takes care with the details, if you like that sort of thing. I focused on the story. The story definitely has a military theme to it. I don't usually go for that, yet it seems a rising trend again, including among women science fiction writers, and it makes sense to see what its all about.
The most interesting science focuses on how humans get trained and adapted (in-plants and all) to merge with their fighter craft to do some fairly spectacular maneuvering. Speculative fiction has classically focused on machines-we-hope-we-can-trust to take care of business (think HAL in 2001). Given the pace of computer technology, this has seemed like the like reach. Some other writers have explored the human mind/machine merge, and Asaro handles it as realistically as you would expect from a serious science person. I suspect we will see more thought go in this direction: Google's new glasses seem just the beginning, and as usual, science fiction will continue to show the way speculatively. If you work with computer software all day and wonder if tablet touch interface (or even the kind of stuff in Minority Report) really improves that much on keyboard and mouse, well, read some of this and realize things will likely unfold in more dramatic ways in a generation or two.
I admit that I found it hard to keep track of the vast royal family. I don't really follow British royalty or most such things and have struggled with Game of Thrones. You probably need to train harder than I do to stay on top of dynastic sagas. If you are more like me, start drawing that family tree from page 1. As mentioned, the book does have safe-for-teens romance in it. It works OK, though I suspect Asaro does more with it in other of her writing.
Overall, worth a read, and though I didn't feel compelled to immediately read on, I will probably come back to Asaro's universe and science at some point.
Schism comes toward the end of the series yet takes place in more of a prequel zone. I don't suspect you will suffer if you decide to read the rest. Though this book starts a trilogy of its own, it seems far removed from the main events that follow long after. In general, we have a Star Wars-esque far future empire, fewer aliens yet more varieties of human, and post-human species. One strand of human notably have hands that fold down the middle instead of an opposable thumb. I found the descriptions hard to imagine, though it seemed equally useful to the characters with that adaptation.
Some jaunts into "world-building" human colonies work better than others. Asaro takes care with the details, if you like that sort of thing. I focused on the story. The story definitely has a military theme to it. I don't usually go for that, yet it seems a rising trend again, including among women science fiction writers, and it makes sense to see what its all about.
The most interesting science focuses on how humans get trained and adapted (in-plants and all) to merge with their fighter craft to do some fairly spectacular maneuvering. Speculative fiction has classically focused on machines-we-hope-we-can-trust to take care of business (think HAL in 2001). Given the pace of computer technology, this has seemed like the like reach. Some other writers have explored the human mind/machine merge, and Asaro handles it as realistically as you would expect from a serious science person. I suspect we will see more thought go in this direction: Google's new glasses seem just the beginning, and as usual, science fiction will continue to show the way speculatively. If you work with computer software all day and wonder if tablet touch interface (or even the kind of stuff in Minority Report) really improves that much on keyboard and mouse, well, read some of this and realize things will likely unfold in more dramatic ways in a generation or two.
I admit that I found it hard to keep track of the vast royal family. I don't really follow British royalty or most such things and have struggled with Game of Thrones. You probably need to train harder than I do to stay on top of dynastic sagas. If you are more like me, start drawing that family tree from page 1. As mentioned, the book does have safe-for-teens romance in it. It works OK, though I suspect Asaro does more with it in other of her writing.
Overall, worth a read, and though I didn't feel compelled to immediately read on, I will probably come back to Asaro's universe and science at some point.
cindywho's review against another edition
2.0
A continuation of Skyfall, the story is about Roca's children, primarily Soz. Less romance, more battles. (May 26, 2005)
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