A fast-moving space adventure featuring mysterious aliens, a journey to a de-populated planet, a mad run from space cops, a ship captain in trouble, and her AI (Artificially Intelligent) companion/ship's computer. It is carnival time on Mars, but Tabitha Jute isn't partying. She is in hiding from the law, penniless and about to lose her livelihood and her best friend, the space barge "Alice Liddell". Then, the intriguing Marco Metz offers her some money to take him to Plenty, and then the adventure begins. Winner of both the Arthur C. Clarke Award for best science fiction novel of the year and the British Science Fiction Association Award for best novel of the year--the only book ever to win both prestigious British awards.
Take Back Plenty (Tabitha Jute)
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A masterpiece. If you ever wondered why you began reading science fiction this book answers that question. (Interzone )
About the Author
Born in 1954 and educated at Oxford, Colin Greenland is the author of a number of acclaimed science fiction and fantasy novels, including the BSFA and ARTHUR. C. CLARKE AWARD-winning TAKE BACK PLENTY. He has contributed short stories to many anthologies and magazines as well as reviews of new fiction for the GUARDIAN, the INDEPENDENT, and many other publications. He has also had stories broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Runmentionable
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
...me, for example. I'm that rare thing, the SF fan what don't much care for space opera, but this novel generated such a huge buzz (double award-winner, much praise from the great and the good, and a credit, along with Banks, for rebooting the whole space-opera sub-genre in the UK) it seemed well worth investigating.
I'm glad I did. It's an exuberant, colourful and exhilarating yarn and a brisk, enjoyable read. There's no big new idea here (hence four, rather than five, stars), but Greenland takes all the best toys in the box and does good things with them. Looking at it in another way, the plot gets going when heroine Tabitha Jute throws an excessively irritating meerkat into a canal and not long after that an alien parrot turns up squawking filthy innuendoes. What's not to like?
The plot is essentially a chase across the solar system, with various reversals en route and an inevitable twist in the tail, followed by the REAL twist to wrap things up. Key genre tropes encountered on our trip from Mars to Charon (with a detour to Venus, and why not?) include a whole slew of vividly realised alien races, spaceships with AI personalities, charming ne'er-do-wells, a nice riff on hyperspace travel (essentially, it's really, really boring) and some cranky robots. Greenland even manages to take one of the oldest cliches in SF - space pirates - and make them seem not only plausible but genuinely scary. The gentlest of allusions to other SF throughout the book make it clear that Greenland knows his sources only too well, and is paying tribute to them, without ever becoming irritatingly clever-clever or getting all meta on yo' ass.
It works for three key reasons. First of all, Greenland writes well.... Read more ›
I'm glad I did. It's an exuberant, colourful and exhilarating yarn and a brisk, enjoyable read. There's no big new idea here (hence four, rather than five, stars), but Greenland takes all the best toys in the box and does good things with them. Looking at it in another way, the plot gets going when heroine Tabitha Jute throws an excessively irritating meerkat into a canal and not long after that an alien parrot turns up squawking filthy innuendoes. What's not to like?
The plot is essentially a chase across the solar system, with various reversals en route and an inevitable twist in the tail, followed by the REAL twist to wrap things up. Key genre tropes encountered on our trip from Mars to Charon (with a detour to Venus, and why not?) include a whole slew of vividly realised alien races, spaceships with AI personalities, charming ne'er-do-wells, a nice riff on hyperspace travel (essentially, it's really, really boring) and some cranky robots. Greenland even manages to take one of the oldest cliches in SF - space pirates - and make them seem not only plausible but genuinely scary. The gentlest of allusions to other SF throughout the book make it clear that Greenland knows his sources only too well, and is paying tribute to them, without ever becoming irritatingly clever-clever or getting all meta on yo' ass.
It works for three key reasons. First of all, Greenland writes well.... Read more ›
By Gray373
Format:Paperback
I loved this book when it first came out. Greenland has created an amazing, strong, focused and real protagonist in Tabitha Jute, with quirky flaws and a ready resolve that pulls you steadily in. His word building is great, as well as the odd and interesting supporting characters, and a wonderfully feisty starship in the form of Alice Liddell.
What lets it down is the new cover. Why put a white European woman with a dodgy afro on it, when the original series showing a beautiful, strong Afro-Caribbean/American woman exuded such beauty and grace (see: Mother of Plenty (Voyager))? I have nothing against the huge number of white protagonists in sci-fi, but surely a strong black protagonist is not so offensive? Just look at the amazing Olivia Pope in Scandal (ABC TV series), the amazing character of Luther in the BBC crime series, and oh, a hell of a lot more in current culture. Obama is the US President for pete's sake (!), and the lovely Michelle is an amazing role model to women everywhere. Black nowadays does not mean a decline in sales. Do we really need to go back to the "white fits all" model to promote a book?
Why take out such a cool and knock-out feature of a key character in a ploy to increase sales to the masses? Tabitha Jute surely demands more respect. Her marketing department seem to have let her down at this stage.
What lets it down is the new cover. Why put a white European woman with a dodgy afro on it, when the original series showing a beautiful, strong Afro-Caribbean/American woman exuded such beauty and grace (see: Mother of Plenty (Voyager))? I have nothing against the huge number of white protagonists in sci-fi, but surely a strong black protagonist is not so offensive? Just look at the amazing Olivia Pope in Scandal (ABC TV series), the amazing character of Luther in the BBC crime series, and oh, a hell of a lot more in current culture. Obama is the US President for pete's sake (!), and the lovely Michelle is an amazing role model to women everywhere. Black nowadays does not mean a decline in sales. Do we really need to go back to the "white fits all" model to promote a book?
Why take out such a cool and knock-out feature of a key character in a ploy to increase sales to the masses? Tabitha Jute surely demands more respect. Her marketing department seem to have let her down at this stage.
Format:Paperback
Loved it.
One of those books where I didn't even need the story, just happy to be in it's space.
Why have I only found Greenland now ?
One of those books where I didn't even need the story, just happy to be in it's space.
Why have I only found Greenland now ?
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