Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
One of the worst SF books I have ever read, 5 April 2009
It's not often that I'll finish a book and be actually angry at how utterly awful it was, to the extent that I'll take the time to write a review to help others avoid it.
The author takes many many ideas, most of them unoriginal, and crams them all in without any any development or explanation making them completely unbelievable. Sadly a similar approach is taken to the characterisation.
It's written in the style of a precocious teenager desperate to please the reader, and uses ridiculous techniques such as taking a whole page to write 'up ... up ... up ' diagonally across the page in order to describe flying... honestly.
The pacing is all wrong, it's completely juvenile, the plot lines are hackneyed, and the whole thing is a waste of your time and money.
If you're a fan of the likes of Iain M Banks or Alastair Reynolds, do yourself a favour and give this one a wide berth.
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7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Maybe the next one will be better, 28 Jan 2008
This book intrigued me from the writeup on the back,but I ended up being massively disappointed. The book came across like a collection of development notes for a novel yet to be written; we get massive backstory from Lena,making her the most interesting character, a hint about Flanagan, and the rest of the cast are mere cyphers. The story too is all over the place- huge blocks of time pass in a matter of a couple of pages, the crew are seemingly superhuman and indestructible whilst everyone they meet is mere cannon fodder, giant space battles are barely described and seem like throwaway events as opposed to epoch-changing cataclysms. The "you are Prey" hook alluded to on the cover appears in the final third,but is barely a threat despite superb imagination.
Which is a shame as, in parts, this is great stuff. It is just let down by incoherent plotting and confusing story telling. I dunno,maybe I just got lost somewhere, but I was disappointed, frustrated and left the book feeling confused and let down.
I would read another book by this author, but just can't recommend this one...
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6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Truly brilliant . Fun: lots and lots of it., 19 May 2008
I had the unique pleasure of reading Philip Palmer's début about half a year before it came out. Because I review many books for my website, I rarely have time to re-read anything ever, even my favourite series.
I made time for Debatable Space.
Debatable Space is audacious, funny, witty, epic -- epic beyond comparison. There aren't that many characters, and that allows Palmer to flesh them out very well (true: Lena is the best developed and we spend the most time with her ... but what's wrong with that?! She's strange, wildly delusional at times, overly interested in herself -- and fascinating). But the sheer scope of this novel is amazing, brilliant, and never overwhelming. This is not the kind of novel where you drown in unfamiliar names -- your sentences start out in English and end in English. (Unlike, for example, "He looked forward to meeting them: Flagaranash; Y'Kyli'szzh" or whatever other stupid sentences I've read this week!).
There are some unusual devices used that some people probably won't like. They took me by surprise at first. In large print, at one point in the novel, is written "Bang!" It sounds childish, it sounds silly and frivolous, but it works, because Palmer knows it is childish, he knows it's ridiculous and funny and childish, and he knows we know he knows (continue forever at your own peril).
A space opera should be fun first, science second. Well, not quite, it being a science fiction novel, and all that, but you get what I mean: enjoyment is paramount. And this novel is very fun, the most fun I've had with a novel in a long time, and what's more, while you're enjoying this work, you get the feeling that, to be highbrow for one gorgeous moment, "this book is Important, dammit". This work is GOOD.
Philip Palmer is also a very successful screen writer for the TV, with numerous credits to his name, runs writing courses, etc: the man knows how to write. And he's not some guy who dabbles in SF because "SF can't be that difficult, can it, now dear" -- he dabbles, and does more than dabble, because he loves it.
For more reviews, author interviews, and contests visit: The Book Swede.
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