14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Creative, Relevant Story In the Tradition of Classic Sci-Fi, November 20, 2008
The short version: A ripping yarn with big social ideas about the need for society to be big enough to value those at its frontiers and for those on the edge to lend their experiences worth by passing them on for others' benefit. I would buy this for a tween/teen or older without hesitation.
The long version: This is very much its own book, though it would be easy to compare this to a number of other works. Imagine "The Wizard of Oz" as written by J. Michael Straczynski or "The Canterbury Tales" as written by Isaac Asimov. Such comparisons can be drawn for the simple reason that "Slow Train to Arcturus" takes a classic narrative form, the physical journey that produces and represents an emotional and intellectual evolution, and sets it down as a science fiction tale with a couple of very interesting twists. It has plenty of leg to stand on as its own tale, however.
The plot itself is a ripping yarn that gets off to an engaging start by being told entirely from the perspective of an alien scientist for the first few chapters. We are given just enough introduction to the alien species whose encounter with humanity frames the story that we feel we can trust the narrator's take on the situation and are comfortable with their intent. The alien species is compellingly written, very human in their ambitions and their better natures but sufficiently different to inspire curiosity and a little wonder. They are an example of the very best of classic science fiction alien life: just different enough to be weird, and for much of the story its through their eyes that we see events and the reader has to parse their descriptions of things. Later narration spins out to a more omniscient third person but alien views of humanity are used to good effect as proxies for the ways we humans find one another to be alien.
I won't discuss the plot, for fear of spoilers, except to say that the events of the book provide its authors with ample opportunities to create and describe complex new settings which they do with relish. They show time and again that they've put real thought, creative and logical, into the settings they describe. Elements of "hard" sci-fi pop up throughout but always as ways to enable the story rather than as barriers in its path.
To be honest, despite all this praise, for most of my first reading my reactions were critical. Up until the very end I thought I had predicted the ultimate outcome perfectly only to find that I had not. I thought I had figured out the politics of the story and I had not. I thought I had seen all these characters before but kept being surprised by little things they did until the resolution, though natural, was in fact not something I had predicted at the beginning.
Eventually I realized why I kept feeling like I had failed to click with it: I had come at it from the wrong angle. This is written in the classic, politics-on-its-sleeve style of the science fiction of a generation or two ago, where the social messages are big enough to have corners and are not going to be neatly sublimated or softened. The messages are the same progressive, tolerant, classically liberal themes of, again, "Babylon 5" or Star Trek. In fact, the conclusion of the novel made me think instantly of some of the themes of Asimov's "The Stars, Like Dust," a personal favorite.
Those themes are, in short, that life takes all kinds and we all need and benefit from that; isolation and uniformity lead to decay, fear and tyranny. This isn't the chatty science fiction of sleek kids bathed in the glow of a monitor. Rather, it's a story about people who get up and run around and create lively messes and spread big ideas and have adventures. It's science fiction that values action as well as thought. Highly recommended for anyone who has a soft spot for the strong, clever hero or heroine unfazed by long odds and many foes.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pilgrim Takes a Slow Train, September 28, 2008
Dave Freer and Eric Flint have taken an interesting idea and used it to ring changes on Pilgrim's Progress. Imagine a starship made up of linked but not easily interconnected habitats in which many small utopian societies have created their cultures while traveling to the planets that will be their ultimate homes. Imagine some of those cultures breaking down, and then inject a set of aliens who come visiting. Now visualize all of this with Freer and Flint's patented twisted sense of humor, from collaborations like Pyramid Scheme. You'll like this book.
Walt Boyes
Associate Editor
Jim Baen's Universe
[...]
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Excellent Read from Dave Freer, September 29, 2008
Dave Freer comes up with a novel idea in this new book; combining several old SF tropes into one concept. Once again, this is character driven SF, with a hard science background and plenty of good dialogue.
Anyone who likes to read will enjoy this book, and if you already know Dave's work, you'll really like it.
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