Customer Reviews

Nautilus

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was sucked into this story by the fascinating relationships between its characters -- main characters AND secondary characters. You've got the family dynamics among one main character's family (she and two men in a three-way marriage); a slow-growing, threatened-but-hopeful lesbian relationship; a romantic relationship between a human and a used-to-be-human; a father-son/competitors relationship between an old aeronaut and a young spy; an I-can't-even-describe it relationship between a baby alien squidmoth and the human woman who has protected it; and so on. The ways in which all of these relationships become built throughout the series into a network of interconnected people trying to work through the usual issues (jealousy, fears still around from childhood, parental responsibilities, age differences, etc.) as well as some less-usual issues (We're in space! We're encountering alien civilizations! We're all stuck in this ship, and I'm going to SMACK someone if I don't get some privacy! We're all connected through an AI computer network! etc.) kept me reading eagerly all the way through to the end.

If you're looking for a SF version of a "wild wild west" flick (shoot 'em up, action-packed, lots of explosions), I suggest you move along. This book has its share of action and suspense, but is mostly character-driven. If that's just the way you like it, then I definitely recommend this story!

This is not the kind of science fiction where people run around with lasers shooting at each other. It is about character and politics. The characters actually have conversations with each other. It's not a boring stream-of-consciousness thing either. There is enough plot to keep the story moving along, and it's great being able to explore this new way of living with these characters.

This book is great, the series is the best I've ever read anywhwere. The plot is totally unique and I couldn't put any of the books down easily. The other person who review this book didn't read the first 3 books...so they can't even judge this book accurately. Read it!

I agree with a couple of the other reviewers about the slow character interaction in this installment. The misunderstandings and miscommunication between Steven Thomas and the rest of his family and team got downright boring by halfway through the book. It reminded me of the dragged out relationship between Jondalar and Ayla in Jean Auel's Valley of Horses. It did seem like she was either being paid by the word, or stretching a trilogy out to four books. The overarching story is wonderful, but I had to force myself to keep reading until I got back to the storyline at times.

In this, the final installation of the Starfarers series, we get a decent conclusion after a couple of rather dull books. If you like speculative science fiction, this one is not bad, but it's still lacking in the story-telling department.

We're presented with some rather good ideas - the aliens in this book are interesting and manage to make you awe a little, and the final revelation of how the book's universe works is satisfying and make all the pieces of the puzzle fit nicely.

That said, the ratio of words to plot development is much too high. The plot moves along at snail's pace, we get character interaction ad nauseam, and the prose is not very exciting.

With better execution, this could have been a marvellous book - as it is now, it doesn't stand out in any way. There are lots of better books out there, but for fans of speculative science fiction, there may be one or two gems found among all the dust.

I bought this book because of the cover blurb by Ursala K Le Guin. I read it last week. I have almost forgottten the premise, if any. I have read no other volumes in the series: I do not plan to waste my time. Characters, whether human or extra-terrestrial are unrealized. One sentence paragraphs, even when not dialogue. Don't bother.