Scan barcode
A review by suzemo
Diamond Star by Catherine Asaro
2.0
Oh, Catherina Asaro, what have ye done.
I love the Skolian Saga because Asaro writes interesting space opera with actual science(!) in it and does a great job describing some of the physics going on with interesting space tricks. I like most of the characters in the universe, and I also like that she has a romance angle through the stories.
This book, judging by its cover (I know , I know) and the blurb about it, looked like it might not be so great. It's about one of the Ruby Dynasty scions, Del-Kurj Valdoria, son of Roca and Eldrinson. He gets left behind on earth when the rest of the family is rescued (he's on another continent), and he decides to hang out and go at a music career.
This book is incredibly slow and boring. There are entire swaths of the book I can't really remember and don't care about. I listened to it on audio book and if I missed several minutes because I got distracted, I didn't even bother to go back.
I hung in there for occasional Ruby family stuff, because even though Asaro's novels in the Skolian universe are largely stand-alone, there is information about the background war and politics of the empire that are good to stay up on.
This book feels like it was written, not by a physicist/author with a string of awesome books under her belt, by a groupie who dreams about a famous life - and it's full of references to the drinking/boozing/sexin' culture of the famous rocker with a side of commentary about what they think of the kind of people that populate the entertainment industry (producers, labels, mostly behaving badly and trying to choke the individuality and genius of the art and what not).
Del-Kurj plays like a young, self-centered idiot, going through this great learning process that just falls really, really flat (with a side of family conflict because no one! understands! him! or supports his genius, or whatever. Boring.)
I'm still looking forward to any books in the Skolian Saga that Asaro writes, assuming they're nothing like this book. If I had read this first in the series, I would have never continued with it, and if the next book is anything like this, I'll quit.
I love the Skolian Saga because Asaro writes interesting space opera with actual science(!) in it and does a great job describing some of the physics going on with interesting space tricks. I like most of the characters in the universe, and I also like that she has a romance angle through the stories.
This book, judging by its cover (I know , I know) and the blurb about it, looked like it might not be so great. It's about one of the Ruby Dynasty scions, Del-Kurj Valdoria, son of Roca and Eldrinson. He gets left behind on earth when the rest of the family is rescued (he's on another continent), and he decides to hang out and go at a music career.
This book is incredibly slow and boring. There are entire swaths of the book I can't really remember and don't care about. I listened to it on audio book and if I missed several minutes because I got distracted, I didn't even bother to go back.
I hung in there for occasional Ruby family stuff, because even though Asaro's novels in the Skolian universe are largely stand-alone, there is information about the background war and politics of the empire that are good to stay up on.
This book feels like it was written, not by a physicist/author with a string of awesome books under her belt, by a groupie who dreams about a famous life - and it's full of references to the drinking/boozing/sexin' culture of the famous rocker with a side of commentary about what they think of the kind of people that populate the entertainment industry (producers, labels, mostly behaving badly and trying to choke the individuality and genius of the art and what not).
Del-Kurj plays like a young, self-centered idiot, going through this great learning process that just falls really, really flat (with a side of family conflict because no one! understands! him! or supports his genius, or whatever. Boring.)
I'm still looking forward to any books in the Skolian Saga that Asaro writes, assuming they're nothing like this book. If I had read this first in the series, I would have never continued with it, and if the next book is anything like this, I'll quit.