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A review by kfan
The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm by Nancy Farmer
3.0
Hands raised if you've read any science fiction set in Africa. I'm saying!
So I liked this because it was so different from any other book I've read. In Zimbabwe in 2194, the children of the ruling general sneak out of their mansion, get kidnapped by a genetically engineered talking blue monkey, are enslaved in an ancient plastic mine, and it's up to 3 men whose appearance and physical abilities have been altered by exposure to nuclear radiation to find and rescue them.
So, points and hat tip for an idea like that being made into a cohesive book.
Part of me wished the 3 children had been more proactive and creative in figuring their own way out of their predicaments, and not just so adaptable to each new situation they found themselves in. You basically just watch the kids get acted on the whole way through. Which is fine, I just like my child protagonists with a little more spunk. There's a lot of really good characters here, I liked The Arm, the She Elephant, and the Messenger's mother. But in general everyone was kept at a safe distance the whole time, so I never really felt strongly about any of them, or was at any time concerned that the book would turn out other than how it did.
I didn't totally get the Praise stuff, and there's kind of a very literal deus ex machina that brings everything to a head towards the end. But all in all I would like to read more science fiction set in Africa. Thank you for reading my review of this book.
So I liked this because it was so different from any other book I've read. In Zimbabwe in 2194, the children of the ruling general sneak out of their mansion, get kidnapped by a genetically engineered talking blue monkey, are enslaved in an ancient plastic mine, and it's up to 3 men whose appearance and physical abilities have been altered by exposure to nuclear radiation to find and rescue them.
So, points and hat tip for an idea like that being made into a cohesive book.
Part of me wished the 3 children had been more proactive and creative in figuring their own way out of their predicaments, and not just so adaptable to each new situation they found themselves in. You basically just watch the kids get acted on the whole way through. Which is fine, I just like my child protagonists with a little more spunk. There's a lot of really good characters here, I liked The Arm, the She Elephant, and the Messenger's mother. But in general everyone was kept at a safe distance the whole time, so I never really felt strongly about any of them, or was at any time concerned that the book would turn out other than how it did.
I didn't totally get the Praise stuff, and there's kind of a very literal deus ex machina that brings everything to a head towards the end. But all in all I would like to read more science fiction set in Africa. Thank you for reading my review of this book.