A solid scifi short story. I probably shouldn't be surprised at Clarke's knowledge of the Jesuits. At only four pages, it felt well-written (but not quite as moving as it wants to be).
For me, this was a five star books, plain and simple, but I completely understand why it would be a 0-, 1-, 2-star book for others.
It's pretentious at times. It wants you to have classical knowledge of ancient Rome and 18th century France. It plays on that knowledge, and knowledge of literature in 18th century France explicitly. At least it explains lots of the in-jokes, so it's not terribly arrogant in choosing its readership, but the pretentiousness is there. The storytelling is great, full with an apologising, opinionated actor-narrator, with intermezzi by other characters.
That said, I loved it. I loved the world, the 24th century world that consits of lots and lots of non-nation based groups (and some nation based ones), and seven major orientations everybody chooses (or becomes a blacklaw, which is fine, too): The Masons who have resurrected ancient Rome, the Humanists who have a flexible democracy, the Mitsubishi super clan who are focussed on land ownership, the Brillists who go ahead and analyse anyone and everyone, the Cousins who are something like the priests of a world that prohibits organised religion, the Europeans, based around a borderless idea of old nations, and the Utopians who are everywhere, especially in space, on the moon, and terraforming Mars.
We get a complete, complex world, with penal systems, laws, cultures, capital punishments, regular people, and … special people of all kinds. Emperors, kings, convicts, gods, …Wow.
And then it just ends in the middle of it all. sigh
Really not sure what to think. Odd pacing, odd descriptions, odd … everything? I just didn't find my way into this world and this rhythm. I guess the storytelling is a stylistic choice that makes sense within that world, but requires a dedication I don't feel motivated for (think Tolkien).
Well, this was great scifi. It was focussed on a not very likeable, but very real character, and a completely informationally connected world. I enjoyed that it focussed so much on where and how information flowed, and the implications of VR. Lots of fun!
This was lots of fun. The story is told in a four-star way, but it has so fucking many great concepts: Having a fuckton of software for your brain, and the implications of loyalty software, of cours. But mostly the idea that humans are unique in collapsing the wave functions of possibilities, and basically the implications of xenocide that come with it. Wow. And the implications of learning to suppress that reflex, and having human made quantum computing in the brain. ♥
This was a good short story. It drew me in, and kept me, and will stay with me for some time.
How is Lois McMaster Bujold not one of the first authors to be recommended to people starting scifi? Falling Free introduces the Quaddies (humans with arms instead of legs), as seen and told by an Engineer, capital E. It's awesome, and it's got everything you'd wish for: a new culture, social implications, lots and lots of economic and corporate implications (I see where Charlie got his Laundry File bureaucracy from), and the cultural implications aswell. Also, very sweet and cool characters all around, and funny af. Leo Graf, the protagonist, is just ♥
Culture short stories! Very different in length, topic, and quality, lots of good stuff in there. Chief among them the one from Sma about Earth, and the one about the plant creature/person using a humanoid for their "she loves me, she loves me not". And A Gift from the Culture was just hilarious.
Ancillary Sword was an exceedingly worthy successor to Ancillary Justice. We get a deeper look into the culture of the Radch and (most importantly) the characters we got to know in the first book. Understanding how all of them felt, especially Breq, even while they were navigating treachery, improper (!) annexations, war, and crisis, was a treat. This exploration of characters comes a bit at the cost of action and pace, but the slower pace is made up by the frequent and fast changes of scenery. The book is more linear than the first one, but at the same time the consistent multi-focus storytelling is a different (and great) challenge altogether.
Tremendous amounts of fun! We get all the things I hoped for: More cool grandpa, more cool Rose, more cool girlfriend, (also otherwise cool women, especially the Princess seems to rock), and more cultural juxtaposition. The evil guy within the Commonwealth isn't … openly evil? I'm not even sure which side of their story I beliefe yet. And then we get dropped a huge cliffhanger on us (Princess missing, Kurt about to visit the Commonwealth, Adam The First Man dead) that is straight up illegal in the EU. Good thing the UK is seceding I guess.
I have absolutely no idea how to rate this book. For a while it felt like a two-star urban fantasy pulp novel with lots of shoot-em-up situations and, well, urban fantasy pulp banter. And then it turns around and has some really good plot twists, and even some seriously good settings and dialogues. I'll give it three stars, but in reality it's more like chunks of two-star stuff and four-star stuff mashed together.
(I mean, we get to know the protagonist's father, a new girlfriend who kicks ass, is a porn star by choice and still gets painted very much as her own person, and the protagonist is offered a job as Lucifer … by Lucifer … because Lucy goes back to heaven after the zombie apocalypse. Right.)
A couple of short stories taking place in Earthsea. I enjoyed how all of them showed some characters we knew already (sometimes just in passing), but through the eyes of people who would count as "insignificant" in most stories.
A very cool end to the series! I liked how after the human and the regular construct experience we now got the ooloi construct view of the world. To me, many things we were shown in the earlier two books grew clearer, even if this books story in itself wasn't groundbreaking. 3.5-4
The second volume is a bit less on the 18th century France presumptiousness spree (but adds in some more Greek history to make up for it). Very wow, including how Jehovah/JEDD and Bridger meet, Bridger's choice, the Major's identity and so many little things we learn about Mycroft (♥), the hives, and individuals. Also, Utopians forever.
Wow wow wow.
Wow.
Great pacing, great characters, great world, great conflict. Great scifi. I'm impressed, and fascinated, and I hope the next books can live up to this one. But even without follow-up books, this would be … amazing. (Also, hey, meaningful generic femininum was a lot of fun.)