I liked this book. It's got some great ideas and when the plot is moving forward, it's interesting. Unfortunately, the writer has Willisitis--the mainI liked this book. It's got some great ideas and when the plot is moving forward, it's interesting. Unfortunately, the writer has Willisitis--the main character spends way too much time reviewing and re-reviewing her circumstances via her inner voice. This flaw kills the middle third of the book, which plods. A good editor or honest proofreader would have fixed this. (This same problem afflicts Connie Willis.)
The alien races are barely mentioned, while the placement of a tea cup is dissected for its social significance. Weird choice.
The "mystery" in the plot isn't buried deeply enough. I think to any of a dozen Vance space novels that have better surprises and more interesting social constructs. While a good read, it's not what one thinks of as Hugo material.
Terrible narrator. She has a very strange halting pause-filled cadence which made me think English is her second language....more
--The writer does not understand money, electricity, physics, or bureaucracies.
--The book has no ending, no climax, which means it's notJust terrible.
--The writer does not understand money, electricity, physics, or bureaucracies.
--The book has no ending, no climax, which means it's not a story. A story has a beginning, middle, and end.
--The setting has no internal consistency. It's an agrarian culture, with people on horses, knives and crossbows for weapons, compasses are very valuable, telescopes are rare, each community its own political entity. But wait, later there are telegraphs, books are plentiful, then electric lights, 10,000 years of written records (!), and ships carrying volatile chemicals as cargo. How do characters get lost and wander if there are telegraph lines? How can characters have electricity, but claim it took months to understand hydroelectric power? Why do people value volatile chemicals but never figure out in 10,000 years how to make a ranged weapon better than a catapult or crossbow? OH, wait, there is A cannon. On the ship with a catapult, the crew is below decks during a fight? The whole thing makes as much sense as Never Never Land.
--Certainly the worst part is when a primary character wipes out a city of 100,000 either through her action or inaction. Does she lament? Does she question? Does she scoff? Nope. One page later she is trying to work out the politics of setting up a bisexual three-way with her gay male lover and her bisexual pirate king, and she's pregnant. It's comically bad writing. Two years pass in the story, after murdering two more ships full of innocent people, she decides to revisit the city she wiped out. Oh, now she's sorta sorry.
--The beginning of the book, maybe the first sixth, is essentially words demanding an aspirin.
--The book moves between characters, no problem. However, the author chooses to use "game voice" for one of the characters. "You look around. You answer the question. You wonder why you're in this book." Game voice is only good for games.
--The book is something like Action Comics. The characters with superpowers repeatedly forget they have them or use them in ways that don't make sense and the minor characters forget, repeatedly, "Hey, that primary character can kill me quite easily."
Winning the Hugo says nothing about this book. The fact this book won says everything about the broken state of the Hugos.
The narrator is...a MASTER thes.........pian. Her Kirk-like pauses add about an hour to the book. It's funny when characters go from sounding Irish to sounding vaguely Balkan. Her over-dramatization is painful....more
There are many ways to win a Hugo for a novel. Write a piece of inventive literature--most winners. Be extremely personally popular with the voters anThere are many ways to win a Hugo for a novel. Write a piece of inventive literature--most winners. Be extremely personally popular with the voters and write something that is vaguely SF/fantasy (Connie Willis--twice).
Or an author can kiss fandom's ass. Fritz Leiber pulled it off with The Wanderer. It took 50 years for Walton to duplicate his feat. This is a lousy book that puckers up beautifully.
The whining Welsh narrator is also quite terrible.
Very creative. While the author calls it SF, I think of alternate worlds as fantasy.
I was thinking it's written like a Raymond Chandler novel. In the Very creative. While the author calls it SF, I think of alternate worlds as fantasy.
I was thinking it's written like a Raymond Chandler novel. In the interview of the author at the end of the audiobook, he says he was thinking this was meant to be like a Raymond Chandler novel. :) He also mentions Man in the High Castle, which was on my mind as I listened to the book.
Very cool deeply layered book that predicts both Pokémon Go and the rise of the gig economy. Somewhere in here are bits of The Goonies and the greatesVery cool deeply layered book that predicts both Pokémon Go and the rise of the gig economy. Somewhere in here are bits of The Goonies and the greatest Bugs Bunny cartoon ever. Vinge really does have the bitter English professor nailed.
During "the heist" the layers are so complicated, the book gets a bit hard to follow.
Very good. There were several great things about this book, one may be variable based on my own state of mind. -Big SF through the eyes of a handful ofVery good. There were several great things about this book, one may be variable based on my own state of mind. -Big SF through the eyes of a handful of people, which reminded me of Childhood's End and Hyperion. -We can't communicate with aliens, told in a much better way than Solaris. -The author really nails the introverted intelligent man's unrequited love. All of us know some intelligent beauty who picked the loser or a series of losers. Meanwhile, the smart and successful guy, in this case a medical doctor, pines away while she disregards him until she's broke and/or broken. -The author also nails the behavior of people who spend a long time in a cult. My mom has been in a cult for 40 years. No matter what facts refute the basis of the cult's teachings, for instance the high master guru going to jail for embezzlement, cult members just adjust their mantras and move on with their whack-a-doodle beliefs. The characters in this book follow this pattern to a T. -The variable: stuff happens. After Blackout, the Waiting for Godot of Hugo winners, any SF book that has a narrative that advances is welcome.
As I was starting the book, I learned Stephen King strongly recommends Robert Charles Wilson. King's eye for SF stinks, as shown by his advocating on behalf of Simak. In this case, King is correct. I anticipate reading more by Wilson.
The author has many good turns of a phrase, a favorite being the comparison of Cicero to Alan Dershowitz.
Ridiculously bad. It's the "Waiting for Godot" of SF novels. Things transpire, but nothing actually happens. The author will never be accused of usingRidiculously bad. It's the "Waiting for Godot" of SF novels. Things transpire, but nothing actually happens. The author will never be accused of using a paragraph to advance the story when 12 pages will due. Just exasperating.
Is this book proof the Hugo many years ago became a virtue signaling popularity contest? Yes.
Will I be reading or listening to the 2nd part, All Clear? Hell no.
I can see why this book is popular with the SCA crowd, but it's a mess. The first half is so filled with flavor text, it's hard to find the plot line.I can see why this book is popular with the SCA crowd, but it's a mess. The first half is so filled with flavor text, it's hard to find the plot line. The protagonist never drives the action. She hears about what other people have done for the first two thirds of the book. In the last third she does almost nothing but watch others. Although she's a middle-aged dowager, all the men seem to want her. That's the only element I can identify that would drive the popularity of the book.
Certainly this book won the Hugo for its wish fulfilling qualities, but not because of the story....more
Really quite terrible. Not sure how it won the Hugo. The pacing is bad, the portion set on present day Earth completely unbelievable/laughable, the diReally quite terrible. Not sure how it won the Hugo. The pacing is bad, the portion set on present day Earth completely unbelievable/laughable, the dialog flat.
If you're a strident atheist, anti-male, and a Socialist or Communist, you'll love this book. The author's whackadoodle notions are bigger forces in the telling than the plot. The only surprise is there was no apology for Stalin or a shout out to Castro. What would a very liberal writer like to lecture us about next...oh, here it is. Once the author's intention in putting this book before us is clear, in short that man, society, and all the history leading up to this point are BAD, each character's swing at the plate with the lecture bat is quite predictable. When one character is crying with grief because "we" hunted the mastodon to extinction, I did laugh out loud.
When I read past Hugo winning novels, I look at what Stephen King wrote that year. King has never been nominated. From a Buick 8, which is also about alternative dimensions, is a far better book.
Full of interesting ideas, but really dark and overly long. The "heroes" spend the entire book, after a brief introduction, suffering pain and humiliaFull of interesting ideas, but really dark and overly long. The "heroes" spend the entire book, after a brief introduction, suffering pain and humiliation with no little victories along the way, before a an ending that is not well set-up.
This book had two kind of cool ideas colliding into one adventure. No spoilers. The ideas are great, but there was an element of the story I found disThis book had two kind of cool ideas colliding into one adventure. No spoilers. The ideas are great, but there was an element of the story I found distracting. The protagonist has a much older GF who sleeps around while he's true to her. Their relationship is open--sorta, but he spends a lot of time bent that she's doing it with a man much older than she is. This older/younger dynamic gets in the way, and as far as I can tell adds nada to the story.
The other shortcoming of the book is that when the good guys realize the bad guys are after them, the good guys are not nearly clever enough.
Compared to some of the longwinded and boring Hugo winners I've listened to lately, this is a big step up.
This is the 6th (I think) Haldeman book I've read/listened to. Forever War is at the top of the list....more
The first half of the book was brilliant, with many terrific ideas. The second half lost the narrative drive, as things happened to the characters, raThe first half of the book was brilliant, with many terrific ideas. The second half lost the narrative drive, as things happened to the characters, rather than the characters doing anything to advance the plot or their own destinies, like watching them bob on an incoming tide.
Very good narrator, however the Audible quality was terrible, especially with the first quarter of the book....more
I'd really prefer to give this 3.5 stars. It's not as good as Red Mars because there's not enough dramatic tension. Stuff happens, but the conflict ofI'd really prefer to give this 3.5 stars. It's not as good as Red Mars because there's not enough dramatic tension. Stuff happens, but the conflict of the many people and priorities from the first book are not present here....more
Just terrible with a terrible narrator. How did this win a Hugo? If the first 2/3rds of the book were instead 1/16th of the book, it might rate a thirJust terrible with a terrible narrator. How did this win a Hugo? If the first 2/3rds of the book were instead 1/16th of the book, it might rate a third star. Avoid it....more
In one way it's the greatest Buck Rogers adventure ever!
Very good book, with lots of imagination. In some ways predictive of the power of the InternetIn one way it's the greatest Buck Rogers adventure ever!
Very good book, with lots of imagination. In some ways predictive of the power of the Internet and mass data storage. I loved the vision of time as a 4th dimension which certain ships can move through.
The opening chapter is not strong (and a bit stomach turning), neither is the overlong epilogue.
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