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April 2004 A Christmas gift from my loving, book-addict Mother.
A good story. True and proper science Fiction. This has concepts of the future, of technology, of telepathy, of aliens, and of the relation of all that to the human race. The telepathic, insubstantial aliens were pleasantly thought out, although I found their similarities to human cultures a little in-credible. (Does it seem a forgone conclusion that developed races will have a big difference between gender rolls, and that there will always be "Feminists," trying to equalise those differences by taking on the rolls of the males, to the general patient embarrassment of the established culture? Not so, I say, not so.)
The whole alien culture and world was well created, but I felt that the characters there... could have been more... other-wordly. The humans in this were well created though. And I rather liked the variety given to the budding telepaths; they came from all walks of life, and all different views of the world. The inter-galactic macro-being was also well created.
The ending of the book could have been different though; I wouldn't want the loose ends tied up: there are a few characters, that have issues going ... not totally resolved. But... the last 50 pages are about the setting up of a little ... society/group. It's a new reality, and life for the members... and it fells like (what it no doubt is:) The author's fantasising about "Imagine a situation like this. -what could be done then?" And... it just doesn't fit se well with the story proceeding it. I would have left it more totally open, with "and there they were, at the beginning of a new life, with the whole galaxy spread before them." (That is instead of speaking of their settling into their new surroundings, the adjustments of all the characters, and then the thoughts of them about what to do next.)
It really wasn't at all so huge a fault as I'm making out here, but I was trying to explain myself well. The one other note I would make though, is that there is a bit of a dated feeling to it now, (It WAS written in 1978 after all.) The computers have cryptic text screens, and not "keyboards" but "Consoles." They generally have... a late 70's concept of computers. that's all.
It is well written, and though through. I would recommend it to those looking for good, old, paperback SF.
March 2006 Christmas gift from my Literature-addict Mother.
June 2004 A Christmas gift from my loving, book-addict Mother.
Ahhh... Wonderfully written, emotionally moving, thought provoking science fiction. I have not heard of this author before, but I'd love to read more of his books now, (Or rather, Her books. There was a wonderful, insightful forward by Ursula K. Leguin, which reveals that the True, female author uses James as a pen name.)
It is likely that I've made statements like this before, but now, I'll say it again: This is what I think SF should be like; A futuristic, or other worldly situation, which is uniquely able to display a facet of our present humanity, or civilization. And each of the collected tales in this book achieves that standard, Admirably.
My life has been busy and full, however. So, although I thoroughly enjoyed every page of this book, and would loose myself to it completely every time I picked it up, comparatively little of it would be retained in my memory afterwards. At the moment of my writing this, only two of the tales are rolling about, and being mulled over. And the ideas presented are well worth the Mulling; Humanity, and indeed, all Terran life, as only a certain stage in the development of something bigger; The same way that a Body is made up of many cells, a world is made up of many "cells", each one, a living organism. And... what if worlds reproduced... by Mating?
The other story which stays in my mind, explored the psychological ramifications of being the last men alive, and, I THINK, it was about not being able to reproduce. Or perhaps it was about the way they, (The last men,) were dependant on their society, so that if there's no one to do things FOR; no one to impress, or to compete against, then... they have nothing at all to live for.
I want to read both of these tales again, so that I can see if I can better understand; to see if I'm right. And besides: the whole thing is worth a rereading. I'm going to wait on that though: in the hope that I will progress and continue growing, so that I will later, coming back to this book, approach it from a different angle.