Customer Reviews

Requiem of Stars (Songs of the Stellar Wind, Book 1)

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

 

 

I must have started readin "Requiem of Stars" 4 times. When I finally decided to get into it, I am glad I did. The book is full of action. The detail involved in the personality of each character made me see them in my mind's eye. The imagination expands and escapes the limits of reality and physics.

Fantasy intertwined with science fiction was a surprisingly refreshing change. Space travel, magic, mystisicm all rolled up in one story that breaks the boundaries of sci-fi/fantasy.

You love and hate each character. The detail given to the personalities of each character or without limits. If you can't see each individual character and their personality in your mind's eye, then you must be like "Djan" after his meeting with the attacking aliens. (Read the book to find out what being like Djan means.)

The theory behind the book is a good one, I will admit. However, Hickman lacks the temperate hand of Weis in this novel, and the story dissolves into mass chaos at several points in the book.

We're introduced to several characters who serve no purpose, and are whisked out of the story faster than it took to describe them. We face not one but three disasters at different intervals, and by the time the book is finished, not only do you not have a general clue as to who is where, but you are tired, and worn out by all of the action.

The character developments happen fast, with very little interpersonal reaction. They bond because they have to in order to survive. Beyond that, there is nothing interpersonal about these people, and the relationships between them are distant at best.

All in all, I don't think I can suggest this as a good read. More like a big disappointment.

In general, I would say that Requiem of Stars is a very good book. While action, for the most part, is low level, the plot and setting are very developed and believeable. The characters are also very developed and each of them has a destinct personality and behavior. This is Tracy Hickman's first solo novel, and a very good one it, which definately leaves a tase for more.

I've read and enjoyed a lot of Tracy Hickman's fantasy collaborations with Margaret Weis, and I've also read and loved Weis's solo sci-fi series Star of the Guardians. When I learned that Hickman had also written a solo sci-fi, I wanted to read it. I'm now very sorry that I did so.

This book is utterly boring. The idea behind it is cool -- Hickman clearly wanted to take the rules of sea-faring and incorporate it with space exploration. So we have an interstellar "darkwind" and ships that sail it. Fine enough, except then the ships are made of wood (?????), the sails are operated through a magic system whose rules are clearly made up and discarded at will (deeply stupid - the world concept would've been stronger if he'd abandoned magic entirely), and the galactic empire is so rule bound and annoying that I started skipping every paragraph that dealt with inter-officer patter.

The characters had motivation, but I never felt very invested in any of them. Their interactions with each other were extremely stiff and forced, and while there was plenty of action, at times it seemed confusing and unnecessary. There are hints of politics and manuevering, but a lot of it just gets dropped or streamlined.

Instead of reading this, I'd recommend trying out Sherri Tepper's sci-fi. Start with "Grass" or "Singer From The Sea." She has a lot of similar baseline elements, but her work succeeds in the areas where Hickman's fails.

While not as good, in my opinion, as his works with Margaret Weis, this novel by Tracy Hickman did hook me. It started a bit slow, but after about page 50, I couldn't put it down for long. An interesting story, full of realistic characters (something I hardly ever have seen in science fiction literature)..you feel for the story's characters, from the lady Thyne, trying to free her world from the bureacratic Pax, to the young priest Trevis, disappointed with his station in life and disillusioned with church politics but still religious. Definitely not a masterpiece, and not Hickman's best work, but certainly worth a read.

I have to say that I hated this book. I have read some of the authors other works and found them entertaining but this book was not. The entire idea of wooden sailing ships in space just makes me cringe. This is a fantasy book that is trying to grab some sci-fi readers by saying it is about galactic conflict. If you feel the need to read somthing by this author find a fantasy work and stay away from this piece of garbage.

i am a huge fan of the work hickman and weiss have put out together. and i have read weiss without hickman, and i still like her work. and i've read hickman's The Immortals, and it was excellent, so i was rather dissapointed in this book. it was slow, dull, i couldn't even finish it, and believe me, i tried. i know the man has more talent than what i saw in this work. hopefully his next solo novel will be up the par of The Immortals.