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extrapenguinAs it won the poll, I read it. It's ... well, my reaction is interesting.
I agree with the reports that the plot and character-work were worse than in A Memory Called Empire – the political threads did not quite feel like they congealed, esp wrt Lsel Station, and Three Seagrass's "oh yeah the Empire causes a power differential here" realization was kind of out of the left field. Martine could've written a completely functional book about Lsel Station politics, with Mahit dealing with the sabotage and idk possibly getting into some hometown intrigue, plus a look at how the threads of Empire extend even here via cultural imperialism, even if the Station is independent, and then written a sequel that was about the war and the aliens, since those two threads did not IMO congeal at all.
On the other hand, it was also about aliens with a nonhuman sense of cognition and first contact negotiations! This is like catnip to me, lol. So I really enjoyed the alien bit, and Twenty Cicada's thing at the end.
Also Eight Antidote was an adorable little dumpling. I loved reading him manipulate and be manipulated by a variety of people.
(Next up: The Long Utopia & The Long Cosmos; Blindsight; The Wandering Earth. In roughly that order.)
I agree with the reports that the plot and character-work were worse than in A Memory Called Empire – the political threads did not quite feel like they congealed, esp wrt Lsel Station, and Three Seagrass's "oh yeah the Empire causes a power differential here" realization was kind of out of the left field. Martine could've written a completely functional book about Lsel Station politics, with Mahit dealing with the sabotage and idk possibly getting into some hometown intrigue, plus a look at how the threads of Empire extend even here via cultural imperialism, even if the Station is independent, and then written a sequel that was about the war and the aliens, since those two threads did not IMO congeal at all.
On the other hand, it was also about aliens with a nonhuman sense of cognition and first contact negotiations! This is like catnip to me, lol. So I really enjoyed the alien bit, and Twenty Cicada's thing at the end.
Also Eight Antidote was an adorable little dumpling. I loved reading him manipulate and be manipulated by a variety of people.
(Next up: The Long Utopia & The Long Cosmos; Blindsight; The Wandering Earth. In roughly that order.)
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Date: 2024-02-26 18:33 (UTC)I also get the sense that Martine finds Lsel Station a lot less interesting than I'd like her to, alas...
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Date: 2024-02-26 21:28 (UTC)I guess if Martine had found Lsel Station itself interesting, she might've written a book about the station/Heritage instead, instead of about a Stationer going to Teixcalaan. I really wish we'd get something about Station Council politics wrt Onchu trying to remove Amnardbat from the job.