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A review by ztaylor4
Nova by Samuel R. Delany
4.0
Nova was fun to read. The world and action felt rich and original. Only some issues with the narrative have kept me from giving this book a higher rating, but to explain those requires spoilers.
While I appreciate that Katin was a useful mouthpiece for future-philosophy, his wishy-washiness over whether or not he would write a novel grated on me about as much as it must have grated on the characters he interacted with, although they were polite enough not show it.
In the end, the imagery and world-building of Nova will stick with me--I just wish they had been wrapped around a more gripping narrative.
Spoiler
Prince could have been an amazing villain, but despite a lot of build-up, he wasn't really a threat. Similarly the romantic story with Ruby wasn't developed enough for me to get invested in it, and even Lorq seemed somewhat bland--especially for an space-adventuring industrialist/pirate! It never seemed that Lorq wouldn't meet his goal, so that storyline lacked even the tension that even Lorq's childhood backstory had.While I appreciate that Katin was a useful mouthpiece for future-philosophy, his wishy-washiness over whether or not he would write a novel grated on me about as much as it must have grated on the characters he interacted with, although they were polite enough not show it.
In the end, the imagery and world-building of Nova will stick with me--I just wish they had been wrapped around a more gripping narrative.