Customer Reviews

MURASAKI

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I became interested in this book after reading Otherness by David Brin. One of the short stories in Otherness is actually a chapter in Murasaki. The book itself is has a very intruiging storyline and I enjoyed reading much of it. The only problam I had was the mental transition I had to make with each chapter of the book, as they are all written by different authors.

All in all, I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who likes the work of Brin, Bear, Anderson, Pohl, Kress etc etc etc.. They all wrote parts of it.

A good read.

Murasaki star system contains a duo of inhabitable planets that orbit each other: Genji - a high-gravity world with a dense, soupy atmosphere; and Chujo - an arid, wintry world of canyons and wind-swept plains. Neither is perfect for humans - on Genji they must wear pressure suits in addition to getting used to gravity levels half-again as high as on Earth; Chujo is more forgiving, though it can be intensely cold. Both planets serve home to sapient races: the Ihrdizu of Genji - low-tech amphibians that congregate in small villages; and the humanoids of Chujo - aloof, mysterious beings that ignore the humans entirely. It is here that the first manned interstellar expeditions will arrive, bearing humans of all frames of mind - Earthlings and off-worlders, atheists and philosophers, mystics and iconoclasts...

Instead of being a collaborative novel, "Murasaki" is a mixed bag of science fiction stories that share a setting, each written by a different award-winning author. Mind the fact that the only interesting part is the fairly in-depth world-creation notes (included as appendices), and that the stories are pathetically shallow and lead virtually nowhere...

...That is precisely what I though about this "science fiction novel in six parts" prior to reading the last two parts, which are so refreshingly, profoundly excellent that I almost wept with awe. A mystery of interplanetary proportions is suddenly built up and then revealed in flying colors.

It's really a pity that the rest of Murasaki doesn't follow suit.

A combination that deals with a literal Japanoyanko space race for land rights, basically. It is focusing on the septics, unsurprisingly, but not ignoring that the whole enterprise contained within the political situation surrounding it.

Then, what happens after they get there. The book is put together by multiple writers, to from a narrative.

There are some illustrations of the 'researcher in the field' type, of the local inhabitants, which are pretty groovy.

Murasaki : The Treasures of Chujo - Frederik Pohl
Murasaki : Genji - David Brin
Murasaki : Language - Poul Anderson
Murasaki : World Vast World Various - Gregory Benford
Murasaki : A Plague of Conscience - Greg Bear
Murasaki : Birthing Pool - Nancy Kress


Racing the Japanese to Murasaki, trolls await.

3.5 out of 5


Japanese expedition arrival, sexual relations of human and aliens, and the odd problem with gravity and such.

3 out of 5


Long term mission gets odd cult group while working on one particular local type.

3 out of 5


Snakehounds helping for herding, trolls battle, and a library.

3.5 out of 5


Bloke not the messiah.

2.5 out of 5


Teenage girls of more than one species, a death, and a new leader.

3 out of 5