![]() ![]() Each chapter seemed to me a novella in its scope and depth when I read it. It also covers philospophy, religion.This is a SF Odyssey, it is Homeric in its ambition, and it has quite the most beautiful prose I have ever read in a SF novel. ![]() Sure, it deals with complex mathematical concepts, the far-future evolution of humanity.but it does so in a poetic, mythic way. This book is described as hard SF - I don't agree. I'm amazed that Zindell is not more popular than he is. Hopefully someone else can do more justice to it in their recommendation, but all I can say is you come away from it with a different perspective on the universe. I'd use the phrases 'mind blowing' or 'mind expanding' if they weren't such cliches. Hard to adequately describe the majesty of this book. Set the blueprint for cyberpunk and given all the fuss it kicked up over Arts Council funding, now seems oddly relevant all over again. I always keep an extra copy in the house, because when it gets borrowed, it tends never to come back (but that's OK).Įxperimental, funny and achingly prescient. The story is rich and satisfying in every detail, the characters are unforgettable, and the language is so good that you want to read every sentence twice. But it is one of those science fiction novels which can change the way you look at the world. One of the most visionary, ambitious and influential explorations of the universe ever committed to paper, Stapledon's novel elevates SF to the level of a sacred text.Ĭoelestis is not a comfortable read. Lacking both character (aside from the self-effacing ghost who narrates) and incident (unless you count descriptions of the evolution and slow collapse of entire species and civilisations), Star Maker is a Dantean tour of the possibilities of cosmic creation, culminating with an extended encounter and biography of the Creator itself - the titular Star Maker. The lore and narrative is so well written you could almost believe you were there. Philip K Dick is the best author in the genre and this is his best book by a street. By the time the reader leaves the world of Winter, their world will never be the same again. However, this never stops the novel from reaching the high levels of characterization and prose that we expect not only from LeGuin, but from the very best of fiction. Not only does the book imagine an alien race, but an alien race without genders. ![]()
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