Customer Reviews

Legacies

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4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Sinclair's debut novel is phenomenal. A mentally disabled hero, Lian D'Haldt is partially raised by empathic aliens on a world where his own people, the Burdanians, live an unreal existance in an idealised artificial home environment, whilst knowing all the time that they might have destroyed the the very world they seek to recreate and remember. Lian's inability to communicate with his own people, and his sense of dislocation, proves however to be the spark for the Burdanians to confront their guilt over their past actions and return to their homw world. Legacies is a beautifully written evocation of not one but two alien worlds and peoples, with an interesting and successful structure; Lian's personal story is told in parrallel to the tale of the return to Burdania. Needs reading more than once.

Lian D'Halldt was hurt in a childhood accident - He fell on his head, and nearly died. Modern technology saved his life, but there were scars which affected his memory and his speech. As a result, no one would any longer take him seriously. Everyone dismisses him, including his father. Yet, it is Lian who struggles for his people not to make the same mistakes their forefathers made. It is Lian who uses his few words to make his peers take his hope - Burdania's hope - for reconcilation - seriously. It is Lian who works ferociously to reunite two peoples, eventually discovering respect, honor, love, and a reason to love life. Perhaps.....Perhaps we all need to be dropped on our heads, at least once

Escaping from government confiscation, the last sensor pictures the colonists of Taridwyn saw was the destruction of their homeworld, Burdania. An unforeseen reaction caused by their new untested 'star drive'. Five generations later, representing the lone colony racked by 'survivors guilt', an expedition returns to finally prove that life could have survived on Burdania, or not..

Of all the books I've read, this one takes the cake for tedious, overly drawn out dreck. The pace is slow as a snail's; the story as dry as ancient philosophy written by an intellectual bore; and contains verbal exchanges which have no other purpose than serve as padding to increase the size of the book. I've even read philosophical treatises that are more interesting and fast paced! I kept falling asleep or losing interest after a few pages and gave up after three months (I can normally read books from cover to cover in three hours, if the book is well written and fast paced, or a week at the most otherwise.) Disappointing.