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A review by hoppy500
Barbary by Vonda N. McIntyre
4.0
Barbary by Vonda N. McIntyre
Since I have been reading science fiction literature related to cats lately, I thought I would have a look at this classic story from the 1980s.
This is a work of children's/young-adult fiction, so more mature readers may feel that the content is a little lacking in depth. It is a relatively short book, and the writing style of the author makes it engaging and very easy to read.
The main plotline is about a twelve-year-old girl who smuggles a cat onto a space station, while a first-contact subplot unfolds in the background.
The characters are well developed and realistic, and there are women in positions of influence in science and government. The young people (Barbary and Heather) care about the kinds of things you would expect. Thus, while the attention of the adults in the story is firmly fixed on the alien craft swiftly approaching the space station, the two girls are more concerned with the activities of Mickey the cat.
Although this book was written in the relatively recent 1980s (which I remember well), there are aspects which make it feel dated. Firstly, the spaceport security is frighteningly lax, which marks this as a pre-911 work of fiction. Secondly, although the girls interact with talking computers, there are none of the handheld devices which now rule the lives of many people.
Despite those excusable divergences from our reality, the ways in which the laws of physics affect life on a space station are described very convincingly, and are more detailed and accurate than the depictions in many novels written for more mature audiences. Vonda McIntyre's Barbary would undoubtedly be a good introduction to hard science fiction for young people. In addition, the aliens are also quite believable and certainly not of the stereotypical little-green-man kind.
I am sure that if I had read this book as a child, I would have thoroughly enjoyed it. As an adult and regular reader of science fiction, I still found it satisfying. So much so, in fact, that I have gone on without delay to read the award-winning novel Dreamsnake by the same author.
Since I have been reading science fiction literature related to cats lately, I thought I would have a look at this classic story from the 1980s.
This is a work of children's/young-adult fiction, so more mature readers may feel that the content is a little lacking in depth. It is a relatively short book, and the writing style of the author makes it engaging and very easy to read.
The main plotline is about a twelve-year-old girl who smuggles a cat onto a space station, while a first-contact subplot unfolds in the background.
The characters are well developed and realistic, and there are women in positions of influence in science and government. The young people (Barbary and Heather) care about the kinds of things you would expect. Thus, while the attention of the adults in the story is firmly fixed on the alien craft swiftly approaching the space station, the two girls are more concerned with the activities of Mickey the cat.
Although this book was written in the relatively recent 1980s (which I remember well), there are aspects which make it feel dated. Firstly, the spaceport security is frighteningly lax, which marks this as a pre-911 work of fiction. Secondly, although the girls interact with talking computers, there are none of the handheld devices which now rule the lives of many people.
Despite those excusable divergences from our reality, the ways in which the laws of physics affect life on a space station are described very convincingly, and are more detailed and accurate than the depictions in many novels written for more mature audiences. Vonda McIntyre's Barbary would undoubtedly be a good introduction to hard science fiction for young people. In addition, the aliens are also quite believable and certainly not of the stereotypical little-green-man kind.
I am sure that if I had read this book as a child, I would have thoroughly enjoyed it. As an adult and regular reader of science fiction, I still found it satisfying. So much so, in fact, that I have gone on without delay to read the award-winning novel Dreamsnake by the same author.