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A review by flyingfox02
Solaris by Stanisław Lem
2.0
Um.. is nobody going to talk about the blatant racism in this book? I went on the other book review app to see if anyone clocked it and the top reviews don't even mention it! I don't know if it's the fault of the translators or the author (both surely?), but it nearly gave me whiplash.
Have to say I'm disappointed with this one because it's considered a classic sci-fi, yet there's barely any science.. It has a brilliant premise and Solaris is such an intriguing world, yet it's let down by dry lacklustre writing. We get to know this planet by way of 'literature review', where our narrator Kelvin reads a bunch of books about Solaris and regurgitates theories by fictional scientists without explaining the science behind them. The neutrino theory and experiments that the characters ran also weren't explained. I want my worldbuilding well done, please.
I did like the psychological kind-of-thrillery aspect. And the study of grief and desire that the Phi-creatures instigated. (I may have related to Kelvin a teeny bit.) But even that was left forgotten in the last stretch of the book.
Have to say I'm disappointed with this one because it's considered a classic sci-fi, yet there's barely any science.. It has a brilliant premise and Solaris is such an intriguing world, yet it's let down by dry lacklustre writing. We get to know this planet by way of 'literature review', where our narrator Kelvin reads a bunch of books about Solaris and regurgitates theories by fictional scientists without explaining the science behind them. The neutrino theory and experiments that the characters ran also weren't explained. I want my worldbuilding well done, please.
I did like the psychological kind-of-thrillery aspect. And the study of grief and desire that the Phi-creatures instigated. (I may have related to Kelvin a teeny bit.) But even that was left forgotten in the last stretch of the book.