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Format:Hardcover
This novella represented my first taste of Stephen Baxter's style of science fiction. Alastair Reynolds is the British science fiction author for whom I feel the most loyalty, due to his great storytelling ability and the consistency of his offerings, but during a gap between his novels I felt like a change of pace and took a chance on `Starfall'. I wasn't disappointed, but neither do I feel Reynolds need feel too threatened by the competition.
The plot consists of a group of renegades mounting an attack on the tyrannical leadership of Earth system's future empress. The story is told from various viewpoints on both sides and including those of innocent bystanders caught in the fray. The form that this attack takes is excellent and original and the multiple perspectives are well planned. So the idea is a good one, I just wasn't that engaged by the execution.
The main difficulty for me being the lack of a sole protagonist. I didn't find any of the characters especially engaging and I didn't empathise particularly with any one cause- neither the insurgents nor those in power induce the reader's sympathy more than the other. Clearly this is Baxter's intent- to present two sides to a conflict in which both sides fight for noble ideals, but in which neither can claim the moral high ground. The unfortunate consequence of this is the lack of enjoyment the reader would have experienced had the author championed one character or cause to root for over another.
Also, the scientific jargon wasn't clarified sufficiently enough for my liking, personally I would have preferred a few more layman's terms, or at least better explanations of the science, as too often I found myself unable to picture places or occurrences in my mind because the descriptions were so densely technical.
These criticisms aside, I liked elements of this novella and would consider reading a novel by Baxter in the future. I have a feeling `Starfall' doesn't depict him at his very best.
The plot consists of a group of renegades mounting an attack on the tyrannical leadership of Earth system's future empress. The story is told from various viewpoints on both sides and including those of innocent bystanders caught in the fray. The form that this attack takes is excellent and original and the multiple perspectives are well planned. So the idea is a good one, I just wasn't that engaged by the execution.
The main difficulty for me being the lack of a sole protagonist. I didn't find any of the characters especially engaging and I didn't empathise particularly with any one cause- neither the insurgents nor those in power induce the reader's sympathy more than the other. Clearly this is Baxter's intent- to present two sides to a conflict in which both sides fight for noble ideals, but in which neither can claim the moral high ground. The unfortunate consequence of this is the lack of enjoyment the reader would have experienced had the author championed one character or cause to root for over another.
Also, the scientific jargon wasn't clarified sufficiently enough for my liking, personally I would have preferred a few more layman's terms, or at least better explanations of the science, as too often I found myself unable to picture places or occurrences in my mind because the descriptions were so densely technical.
These criticisms aside, I liked elements of this novella and would consider reading a novel by Baxter in the future. I have a feeling `Starfall' doesn't depict him at his very best.
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