Customer Reviews

Reclamation

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

 

 

I thought this was actually a pretty gripping read but I'd have to agree with the 1-star people about some of its flaws. It took a while to get going (which I didn't mind because it was setting out background) but the ending was really abrupt, and I can only assume that the writer was setting up for a sequal. The basic story about people discovering that they've been genetically engineered for a specific purpose, is a really interesting one in terms of their reactions. I imagine that it would be something that took a bit of coming to terms with, but the authoress makes very little of what it might feel like to be the product of laboratory experiments. I would have liked to see deeper into the main characters' minds. There were also one or two characters who disappeared without having their stories properly wound up. I thought that the villains were great - they had no redeeming features whatsoever, completely evil infact. I got really in to hoping they'd come to a very nasty end. In fact, it was their extreme wickedness rather than the hero and heroine that made me want to see the Realm safe at the end. (Incidentally, Ivy obviously didn't understand what was going on; Arla left the Realm because she wanted to know what the outsiders were up to. She insisted on going back when Eric and she had discovered that the Realm was under threat). Personally, I love attention to detail, so I quite appreciated Miss Zettel's attempts at describing her galaxy (although I would have liked a bit more detail about the Realm and its workings). I'd really like to see a follow-up about the Realm coming to terms with its new knowledge, and its future interaction with other humans in the galaxy.

I received this book in the mail at the end of last week, and it ran away with most of my 4th of July weekend. I barely got my laundry done! It is hard to believe that this is a first novel, but considering the fact that Zettel has, apparently, been writing since the fourth grade, I guess it's not really her first novel -- just her first published one. I'd love to read some of what didn't make the cut. It probably surpasses a good percent of what gets published as science fiction these days. The excellence of this book covered all the bases -- good writing, decent character development, complex and fully-realized cultures and universe, interesting and truly alien alien creatures [those Shessel! ;-) ], and interesting plot lines that gradually all distill down into one. On top of that, it has what I think I like most in science fiction: exploration of the relationship between myth/religious ritual and ancient scientific/historic truth. I'm looking forward to reading her next.

I agree with much of the drift of some of the other criticisms among these reviews, i.e., that the book is not overly original and that the characters are somewhat shallow. I feel the need, however, to respond to some of the "1 star" reviews and mediate their more intense dislike of this novel. I found the Rhudolant Vitae (the main villains of this book who are compared to the Borg in other reviews) to be very interesting villains; they are not simply black-robed automatons or some kind of hive-mind like the borg (nor are they aliens like those of Dark City). What I found interesting about the Vitae was that they were very human; this society, faced with the loss of their homeworld, became a very conservative and static entity centered around the religious/messianic goal of finding and reclaiming that homeworld. I find this interesting and all-too-human, considering that messianic religions consistently arise out of troubled political climates. I feel the need to point out also that the Vitae are not just a black-robed collective, but, indeed, their society is a complex interrelationship between various functionaries (which wear different colors) including engineers/scientists, administrators, diplomats, and a kind of historian/judicial class which records the activities of everyone else. One of the more interesting characters is one of the Vitae himself, and his machinations for the benefit of himself and his family in this strictly policed society also give it the necessary humanity to avoid falling into communist-paranoia SF cliches.

The science fiction I like best is anthropological or sociological with a twist from plausible science speculation (e.g., The Sparrow). And, yes, there has to be an interesting plot with characters I care about. Zettel's "Reclamation" was interesting enough to keep me reading, but the characters never grabbed me emotionally. I didn't really care about Eric and Arla or their rote romance. I was curious about Dorias, but there didn't seem to be much about him/it or even a reason for Dorias to be in the novel.

There wasn't even a token explanation of faster than light travel or communication. I guess this problem has been 'solved' often enough in science fiction that Zettel decided it wasn't worth mentioning, but it was pretty strange that people could more or less send email and video across the "Quarter Galaxy" with relative ease.

Zettel gets points for managing a complex story in a well thought out far-future, and for keeping me curious enough to finish. Although I won't suggest "Reclamation" to my friends, I will probably look for her second novel.

A book I enjoyed quite a bit. The different societies I found interesting. The speculation on human genetic engineering was well done. The class differences seemed plausable, and the action was more than enough to keep a reader entertained. Worth reading.

Sarah Zettel has crafted a well rounded future society with enough politics, intrigue, romance and action to satisfy all but the most jaded space opera go-ers. The story is well paced and satisfyingly creative revelations are delivered on a regular basis. At certain points while reading the book I was tempted to dismiss it as predictable, but then Sarah would throw in another twist that bumped up the interest level another notch.

My only gripe is with the lizard-like Shessel race. Although they are physically different enough from humans, psychologically and emotionally they might as well be humans in lizard suits. A very satisfying read, overall.

Lots of great ideas, maybe too many. A bit hard to follow in places. Still, a good first effort. I loved the Shessel. I hope she writes more books set in this world so we can come across these interesting creatures again.

What makes this so interesting is what made the "Foundation" Triology by Asimov so great: there is a grand design whichthe author hints at throughout the book. It's final revelation had me wanting to reread the final 50-100 pages because I wasn't sure I actually "got" the grand finale. Considering I skip over a lot of nonsense in this genre I found that I couldn't afford to skip one paragraph becaue then I would miss an important aspect of one of the characters or part of the plot. A must read. C

Lots of people really liked this book. Maybe something is wrong with me.

Although the novel was very good conceptually, I found it to be very long and tedious to read. I could understand what she was talking about, but the details all seemed vague nonetheless. 500 pages and I feel like I have virtually no imagery to show for it.

Still, it is a very well written book. I just couldn't really sink my teeth into it. For someone else it might be a great read.

I loved this book; I had it in print a long time ago. I culled my book collection a few years ago and this didn't make the cut so I was thrilled to discover there was an ebook version available. Imagine my disappointment when I tried to read it and it is so riddled with editing errors ("1" for "I", "Aria" for "Arla", some sentences flat missing words, other words a jumble of letters and numbers, "m" commonly replacing "rn", periods missing from whole paragraphs) it is practically unreadable. I honestly do not understand how something so poorly proofread made it to production or how they could possibly charge people money for it. The free ebooks have significantly less errors than this book. If you are interested in reading Reclamation, please please please by a paper copy. You'll hate the book otherwise.