Profilo utente

Before reading this book, I had a rather confused idea about relativity. Basic concepts lying around in my head without anything to connect them in a coherent way. I knew that time slows down the closer you get to the speed of light. I knew that the same happened the closer you got to a black hole. I had no idea how those things were connected. This book helped a lot putting some order in my head.
There's no math here at all. It begins with a couple of assumptions (e.g.: everyone records the same speed of light) and, using a series of thought experiments, extrapolates the basic concepts of special and general relativity. I just love this way of doing things, because once I understand how something works, then I tend not to forget about it. Not the same if you just throw sparse notions at me.
The only downside is that now I've been hit by a huge fascination for black holes. I think my next read will be about that (if I can find something not too technical).

3 1/2 stars

Ok, reading this one shortly after Becky Chamber's Wayfarer saga was NOT a good idea. Why? Because Chamber's saga has a basic optimistic view about human nature, something that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. And then you meet Baru Cormorant (and all other characters in Seth Dickinson's novel, for that matter), and it feels like a kick in the teeth. "Cynical" doesn't even begin to cover it.

That doesn't mean Dickinson's novel isn't good, mind you. You just need to know what you're getting into here.
I would put this novel on the "economical fantasy" shelf, and it would be the only novel there. Because let's be honest, I don't think I've ever read a fantasy novel before where the protagonist's weapons of choice are accounting books, loans, currency inflation. Sounds boring, but it's not. It's quite realistic in my opinion. Wars always have economical reasons (except maybe religion wars), and that aspect is very often neglected in fantasy novels. Well, here it's just one of the main dishes.

I found Baru Cormorant a character hard to relate to and like. But that's probably done on purpose. Because you get the feeling since page 1 that Baru's revenge plan is going to end badly. You just can't even begin to fathom how badly.

My main issue with this novel was characters. Even halfway through the novel I had a hard time connecting names and "faces", and that's never a good sign in a novel. They're just not well depicted. And that's a big issue in my opinion.
Oh, and I didn't like character's names either. I Found them awful sounding and impossible to remember. But that's just personal taste.

Worldbuilding is rather good, many aspects of the Falcresti empire are very well crafted (and damn spooky, if you ask me. In an Orwellian way).

Overall, this is a good novel that just didn't click for me. Probably beacuse of the characters issue. I find it hard to read a novel where I cannot empathize with any of the characters.

I always thought that the most difficult part of a space mission was the technical one. Building a machine that could travel millions of kilometers during a decade or more without blowing up.
After reading this book, I believe I was probably wrong. The hard part is the political one, all the effort required to get the mission approved and funded. I really could not believe the amount of approvals and consequent cancellations the New Horizons mission went through, the political machinations it had to overcome. Personally I don't think I could have found the energies to persevere through all that. Dr. Stern (the mission lead) and his team were true heroes for that.
I you're interested in space exploration, this book is a must read. It provides a great insight on the effort required to successfully complete a space exploration mission. Spoiler: it's probably a much bigger effort than you thought. It also sheds light on the human part of a space mission, the
people involved and the sacrifices they had to endure in the name of space exploration.

Halfway through this novel, I've go two things to say about it.

First: Becky Chambers is reallly really good at depicting interpersonal relationships, empathy, small communities, people who care about each other. And the fact that this feels so refreshing (and maybe a little naive) is probably not a good thing: if we are not used to see people that care deeply about each other (and about strangers too), maybe the world we live in has a few problems it better face sooner rather than later.

Second: after a successful debut novel, most authors would have taken the safest and easier way: keep the same set of characters and write more of the same. Well, not Becky Chambers. She chose to write an entire different story, with entirely different characters. And yet, the result is a novel at least as good as its predecessor. To me, if you can pull something like this off, it means that you're a fully accomplished writer.

TLDR: read this. Now.

Well, what a pleasant surprise. I must confess to being a fan of realistic, crude, bleak sci-fi (e.g. the expanse), but every now and then a more optimistic view of the future is refreshing, if not necessary. This novel is one of those, mainly when it gets to interpersonal relations: it's full of nice people without them seeming excessively naive. And I mean Firefly-like full of nice people. Every character works hard to overcome the huge cultural differences that separate him/her from other people in his/her life (and mostly succeeds).
But there's not only good characters. World building is top notch too, especially regarding the social aspects. Every new piece introduced in each chapter fits nicely in the overall picture, which feels detailed and vivid.
Sometimes this novel feels more like a collection of short stories, but that does not compromise the final result, which is an engaging sci-fi space opera with a main focus on what it would mean (on a social basis) to have a multi-species galactic community. A must read.