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Space Opera
by Catherynne M. Valente
While I love Catherynne M. Valente's sentences for their cleverness, biting humour and commentary, I find that my reaction to her work really depends on whether I'm listening to it or reading it. I tend to struggle with her long and convoluted senteneces when I read her text, but just adore her work when I listen to it as I really like her wordplay.
I was concerned reading reviews for this book as people kept making glowing comments and references to [b:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|11177547|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)|Douglas Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386329119s/11177547.jpg|3078186]. (Even the author did for this book.) Humour can be pretty subjective, and I am one of the few people who found "Hitchhiker's Guide" and its subsequent books only very occasionally funny.
Back to this book. I was tickled by the idea of Earth having to prove its worth and sentience at an intergalactic song competition, with a poor performance guaranteeing Earth's eradication. So I did enjoy the beginning of "Space Opera", but soon found myself struggling my way through the text. I was infrequently amused, and kept wishing this book were only a novella. I thought the aliens and their diversity were inventive and great, but didn't need entire chapters devoted to all the alien politics and previous competitors' performances. I really wanted to love this book, but I'm going to have to go with a grudging 3.5 stars.
I was concerned reading reviews for this book as people kept making glowing comments and references to [b:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|11177547|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)|Douglas Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386329119s/11177547.jpg|3078186]. (Even the author did for this book.) Humour can be pretty subjective, and I am one of the few people who found "Hitchhiker's Guide" and its subsequent books only very occasionally funny.
Back to this book. I was tickled by the idea of Earth having to prove its worth and sentience at an intergalactic song competition, with a poor performance guaranteeing Earth's eradication. So I did enjoy the beginning of "Space Opera", but soon found myself struggling my way through the text. I was infrequently amused, and kept wishing this book were only a novella. I thought the aliens and their diversity were inventive and great, but didn't need entire chapters devoted to all the alien politics and previous competitors' performances. I really wanted to love this book, but I'm going to have to go with a grudging 3.5 stars.