Customer Reviews

Promised Land

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I began reading the book because I love Connie Willis. After 20 pages, I was disappointed; after 50 or so pages, I was mad. The only thing that kept me going was the fervent hope that the unbug would get squashed after mortally wounding the shallow and obnoxious "heroine." And then, unexpectedly, I began to enjoy the story, mostly because of the science-fiction elements, and I realized that if this book were marketed for young people, it would be quite good. It's a very moral story... the wretched Delanna sees the error of her thinking, proves to be a hard worker, kind to animals both warm and cold-blooded, and learns to love a good and uncomplicated hunk of a man. And there are no scenes you would be embarrassed to read aloud to your 13-year-old daughter, who I think is the perfect audience for this rather charming but predictable story. I hope there's a sequel, perhaps written more towards adults... and this time, the unbug gets it.

Great for anyone that doesn't like technical novels. Promised Land is incredibly light to read, heavy on the semi-subtle wit, just a tad preachy, with wonderful characterizations. Everyone knows a Sonny Tanner and the gossip mill. The vet's a bit overdrawn, but Delanna is perfect!

It is nice to see an innocent romance blossom without the lurid details, although the hints are there. The imagination is left to paint your own picture of fire-haired Delanna with her nacre-backed Cleo wrapped in her arms. (Really, it's not a bug!)

Not her best book - that honor goes to Doomsday - but probably the most enjoyable to read. I hope Willis and Felice write another.

Maybe it was just the right book at the right time in my life, but this book struck just the perfect chord with me. So what if you can smell the happy ending a mile away? I for one was content to relax in the capable hands of two skilled authors and let the story take me there. This wasn't what my mother would refer to as a "deep" book, but I read books for all kinds of reasons, not least of which is plain and simple enjoyment. The characters are interesting and develop in complexity as the main character grows to know them better. For all that the storyline is relatively straightforward, it's still complex enough to keep me going and surprise me now and then. I love this book. It even passed that most difficult of all tests: the re-read.

Like a lot of people, I picked up this book on the strength of Connie Willis' name and, also like other people, I was sorely disappointed. This book is nothing more than a Harlequin Romance wrapped in a Saran Wrap-transparent "sci-fi" setting. (I guess if you make up weird vegetables and such, it qualifies).

The "heroine", Delanna, is your average shallow, unthinking romance novel woman, whose main emotional attachment (even after she supposedly "falls in love") seems to be to her pet scarab. We know it's not a bug just the same way we know never to touch Thomas Covenant - she continually tells *everyone* over and over.

The "hero", Sonny, is a walking mannequin. He never once has any type of independence and is never shown to be a real, thinking person. He's very conveniently been mooning after Delanna since she left Keramos at the age of *five* and he hasn't seen her since. Ummm, I think that's a little more worrying than admirable. His sole purpose is to stand around being noble and patient until the writers decide the interminable plot (and I use that word loosely) has stretched on long enough for Delanna to have the "realization" that she loves Sonny and living on Keramos. The other characters - the witch who really is just misunderstood, the ......... single guy who wants Delanna as well, also have about as much individuality as a block of tofu.

I like light. I like humor. I like opposites attracting. I just deplore cookie cutter fiction.

Nothing deep about this; just a really good piece of fluff. Very appealing characters, well drawn - even Cleo the scarab and the fire monkeys. Very nice romance. I found this hard to put down, read it in essentially one sitting, and was sorry to see it end.

When I first picked up this book, I detested the main character and her bug as shallow, stupid, unadaptable and spoiled. I plowed through only because I love Connie Willis. Once Delanna, the main character, reaches her farm, things began to amuse me more - however, that might only be because I enjoy romance. The book was predictable, the characters infuriating and their emotions undecipherable - who moons after a five-year-old for fifteen years, anyway? And why does Delanna like Cadiz so much when all she ever does is complain? On second thoughts, maybe that is why - they're kindred spirits. Connie Willis can do so much better!

If you've read "To Say Nothing of the Dog" and "The Doomsday Book," and you're looking for more Connie Willis material that's as amazing as those, DON'T waste your time with this book. It has none of her usual wit and charm, what character development it has is contrived and thin, and you know from page 1 EXACTLY where it's going plotwise.

It was entertaining in the way that most mediocre sitcoms are -- no intellectual stimulation, but if you need to stare at something to kill a little time, it'll satisfy that need.

I just finished reading this book for the third or fourth time, and I enjoyed it just as much as ever. Maybe I'm prejudiced because I'm so mad about Connie Willis, but it's a nice romance that leaves a smile on your face every time.

I was unable to find anything particularly interesting in the story, characters, setting or anything. I only give it 2 stars because it was easy to read andthere wasn't anything that particularly made me cringe. THe protagonist shows up to find herself married to a country bumpkin. Only she doesn't find out for a it because she keeps on interrupting people who are about to let that fact beknown. I thought that plot device died with 80s sitcoms.

I thought that Connie Willis's The Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog were just great: clever, inventive, and character-driven. She even made me into a big Jerome K. Jerome fan! So I was really disappointed to realize that Promised Land was just a formula romance novel (of the most strait-laced kind) with formula characters and plot devices. Too bad.