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A review by gabipowell
Light from Other Stars by Erika Swyler
2.0
👍🏼Pick It: if you’re looking for the softer, genre cousin to science fiction.
👎🏼Skip It: If you want the zip! and zing! of space and time travel.
I came for the sci-fi, I stayed for the writing. Swyler has the ability to scale a desaturated wisp to a blinding stadium of color.
The problem is, ALFOS is a mosh pit of the realistic (Challenger crash) and the fantastical.
Trying to guide readers through the “fi” of sci-fi, while maintaining the standard of prose was too daunting.
Swyler took 300 pages for the character narrative, slogging a 100-page plot through like a consequence.
I really hope Swyler’s next work is grounded (literally) in what she does best: a feelings-forward, character-focused story.
👎🏼Skip It: If you want the zip! and zing! of space and time travel.
I came for the sci-fi, I stayed for the writing. Swyler has the ability to scale a desaturated wisp to a blinding stadium of color.
The problem is, ALFOS is a mosh pit of the realistic (Challenger crash) and the fantastical.
Trying to guide readers through the “fi” of sci-fi, while maintaining the standard of prose was too daunting.
Swyler took 300 pages for the character narrative, slogging a 100-page plot through like a consequence.
I really hope Swyler’s next work is grounded (literally) in what she does best: a feelings-forward, character-focused story.