Book ("A Quiet of Stone", Stephen Leigh)
Jun. 17th, 2007 08:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jhetiJheti can read? ZOMF CALL CNN. *Jawdrop!shock.*
Apparently, this was only his third novel and I should therefore be gentle.
My main issue is with the cultural worldlieu. It seems like he couldn't decide whether the people of Neweden are Hindi, Japanese, or not!Middle Eastern!honest! ala` Dune. Any one of these would have been fine. All three of them together, vying for supremacy? Not so much confusing as off-putting; kept yanking me out of the story.
The sex is all from the dude's perspective and all as retrospective or dream. Could've left it out and there would be no narrative or perspective difference whatsoever. The villainess is the main character's psycho ex-wife. Fine, dude, whatever, that's what I get for reading a sci-fi novel, my bad.
Here's what's good about the book: the chase scenes, the fight scenes, the scenery in general--the sense of place is very strong, and very well-written--and Renard.
At 226 pages, it's a forgiving, moderately entertaining read for those ninety minutes on the bus.
O, btw: the main character dies at the end. So if character death bugs you, scram.
The end.
Apparently, this was only his third novel and I should therefore be gentle.
My main issue is with the cultural worldlieu. It seems like he couldn't decide whether the people of Neweden are Hindi, Japanese, or not!Middle Eastern!honest! ala` Dune. Any one of these would have been fine. All three of them together, vying for supremacy? Not so much confusing as off-putting; kept yanking me out of the story.
The sex is all from the dude's perspective and all as retrospective or dream. Could've left it out and there would be no narrative or perspective difference whatsoever. The villainess is the main character's psycho ex-wife. Fine, dude, whatever, that's what I get for reading a sci-fi novel, my bad.
Here's what's good about the book: the chase scenes, the fight scenes, the scenery in general--the sense of place is very strong, and very well-written--and Renard.
At 226 pages, it's a forgiving, moderately entertaining read for those ninety minutes on the bus.
O, btw: the main character dies at the end. So if character death bugs you, scram.
The end.
