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Bit mixed about this one. There were some very interesting ideas and elements in this (mainly around language) and some intensely boring bits for me - details of space ship battles and wrestling. Yawn. But that's me personally and I'm sure there's plenty of folk who enjoy a good old spaceship punch up. There's also an atmosphere in it which means all the characters wouldn't look out of place in a He-man cartoon. Many muscles, few clothes, wrestling in the nip. And wierd cosmetic surgery (I mean wierd) which is apparently ok because it's important to feel in control of your body. Anyone getting the vibe that I didn't love this? I didn't but it was an interesting one-off read.
So, the main character is Rhydra Wong who is just brilliant at everything. She's multi lingual, a captain and a worlds famous poet. She's just been enlisted to translate a very odd language, Babel-17, which has been associated with a number of terrorist attacks. Well, all the army folk think its a code, but she's the first to point out that it's actually a language. And as she starts to get her head around it, she travels to the next terrorist target, gets rescued by some kind of space pirate and... yeah, all that spaceman jazz.
The language elements are the most interesting. How Babel-17 is so utterley complex that a noun can explain how the thing works, or thoughts can explain what is coming next. She meets a beefcake man, The Butcher, who comes from a linguistic place that has no comprehension of 'you' and 'I'. So she has fun trying to explain those concepts to him. And it's about how language affects how you think (which to be fair, is very true. If you want to really get to know a culture, you have to learn the language) and how it can be used to program people. Interesting ideas but ultimately the story wasn't my bag.
So, the main character is Rhydra Wong who is just brilliant at everything. She's multi lingual, a captain and a worlds famous poet. She's just been enlisted to translate a very odd language, Babel-17, which has been associated with a number of terrorist attacks. Well, all the army folk think its a code, but she's the first to point out that it's actually a language. And as she starts to get her head around it, she travels to the next terrorist target, gets rescued by some kind of space pirate and... yeah, all that spaceman jazz.
The language elements are the most interesting. How Babel-17 is so utterley complex that a noun can explain how the thing works, or thoughts can explain what is coming next. She meets a beefcake man, The Butcher, who comes from a linguistic place that has no comprehension of 'you' and 'I'. So she has fun trying to explain those concepts to him. And it's about how language affects how you think (which to be fair, is very true. If you want to really get to know a culture, you have to learn the language) and how it can be used to program people. Interesting ideas but ultimately the story wasn't my bag.