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A review by juushika
Grail by Elizabeth Bear
4.0
Reread, 2021: There's some unfortunate repetition in this series, here in the return of the antagonist, which makes sense in the worldbuilding but is highlighted by the structural repetition in books 1 & 2. Worse, the antagonist and her action plot is a lot less interesting than the more philosophical, overarching clash between New Evolutionist descendants and a rightminded society. The external PoV of Jacob's Ladder and her crew is productively alien; rightminding is terrifying and the text engages that, imperfectly, but sometimes in a productively-flawed way; the culture clash is dynamic and apparently unresolvable. So the ending, which also makes sense in the worldbuilding, is nonetheless a disappointingly abrupt and easy resolution. I'm dropping my rating from five stars to four, but I still enjoy this book & the series entire; it's borderline one of those speculative texts where the concepts are interesting and disconcerting enough to excuse technical issues.
Original Review, 2015: As the ship nears the planet where they hope to end their thousand-year journey, they discover the worst: the planet is already inhabited--by humans. The divergent human societies can feel insufficiently alien--or, rather, they don't extrapolate well: the clash of worldviews stretches thin when meant to encompass two complete cultures. But when it works (and, here, Bear's headhopping shines), the view of each society from without is creative, refreshing, thoughtful, and sometimes even hilarious. Bear measures perfect balance between high concept and its trickledown to the personal and social. Grail has the large premise and lively plot that Chill failed to create, yet the interpersonal effects are equally important and frequently more affecting. It's a triumphant end; Chill lags a bit, but Dust and Grail are fantastic and the series entire is well worth reading.
Original Review, 2015: As the ship nears the planet where they hope to end their thousand-year journey, they discover the worst: the planet is already inhabited--by humans. The divergent human societies can feel insufficiently alien--or, rather, they don't extrapolate well: the clash of worldviews stretches thin when meant to encompass two complete cultures. But when it works (and, here, Bear's headhopping shines), the view of each society from without is creative, refreshing, thoughtful, and sometimes even hilarious. Bear measures perfect balance between high concept and its trickledown to the personal and social. Grail has the large premise and lively plot that Chill failed to create, yet the interpersonal effects are equally important and frequently more affecting. It's a triumphant end; Chill lags a bit, but Dust and Grail are fantastic and the series entire is well worth reading.