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A review by jmoses
The Human Division by John Scalzi
5.0
Well then, that was a thing.
So, the easy bits. This was typical Scalzi, and I say that in a good way. This was amusing, interesting and engrossing sci-fi in a universe that I already love, by and author I also already love. If you like Scalzi, you'll like this. If you don't, you won't.
There. Now that that's out of the way.
This was, as Scalzi has said in several places, somewhat of an experiment. The individual "episodes" (chapters) were released weekly, and the intention was for them to stand alone as stories, but also combine into a cohesive whole. I have no idea how he convinced Tor to go for it, other than he's a talented writer, and Tor is a cutting edge sci-fi publishing house.
Well, it works. I didn't read the episodes as they came out. While I like short stories, I prefer to get a bunch of them at once. I got the book, uh, yesterday, and finished it today. I have no idea how much work went into the mechanics of this book, but it sure was worth it. The individual episodes are uniformly excellent, and they combine into a book that is, to be trite, more than the sum of its parts.
Each episode truly does work on its own as a story, and yet they come together (slowly and almost coquettishly) to give an unified whole that leaves you feeling like you got more for your money than you expected.
I expected this book to be good, and worth the price of admission. I was curious as to how all the episodes fit together, and if Scalzi could make this odd sort of semi-episodic book work.
They fit great. I'm more than please. If there's a follow-up in the same format, I will certainly buy and read it with much eagerness.
So, the easy bits. This was typical Scalzi, and I say that in a good way. This was amusing, interesting and engrossing sci-fi in a universe that I already love, by and author I also already love. If you like Scalzi, you'll like this. If you don't, you won't.
There. Now that that's out of the way.
This was, as Scalzi has said in several places, somewhat of an experiment. The individual "episodes" (chapters) were released weekly, and the intention was for them to stand alone as stories, but also combine into a cohesive whole. I have no idea how he convinced Tor to go for it, other than he's a talented writer, and Tor is a cutting edge sci-fi publishing house.
Well, it works. I didn't read the episodes as they came out. While I like short stories, I prefer to get a bunch of them at once. I got the book, uh, yesterday, and finished it today. I have no idea how much work went into the mechanics of this book, but it sure was worth it. The individual episodes are uniformly excellent, and they combine into a book that is, to be trite, more than the sum of its parts.
Each episode truly does work on its own as a story, and yet they come together (slowly and almost coquettishly) to give an unified whole that leaves you feeling like you got more for your money than you expected.
I expected this book to be good, and worth the price of admission. I was curious as to how all the episodes fit together, and if Scalzi could make this odd sort of semi-episodic book work.
They fit great. I'm more than please. If there's a follow-up in the same format, I will certainly buy and read it with much eagerness.