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Ell

cincodenada@bookwyrm.cincodenada.com

Joined 3 years, 8 months ago

Admin of bookwyrm.cincodenada.com, as you might expect. Endlessly curious engineer; something approaching, say, genderqueer. Third rhyme with dactyl feet: it goes here.

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Perhaps the Stars (Hardcover, 2021, Tor Books) 4 stars

From the 2017 John W. Campbell Award Winner for Best Writer, Ada Palmer's Perhaps the …

Wow. My word. What an accomplishment. Not perfect, but on the whole so gratifying and far-reaching. Definitely going on my very short list of books I actually might re-read.

commented on Perhaps the Stars by Ada Palmer

Perhaps the Stars (Hardcover, 2021, Tor Books) 4 stars

From the 2017 John W. Campbell Award Winner for Best Writer, Ada Palmer's Perhaps the …

My gods. What a world, what worlds, what universebuilding this is. Truly out there, and I love it so. You have to be bought in, and I can't blame anyone who hates it or is not along for the ride, but my god. It is exquisite. I have long held Hyperion, for all its follies, as one of my favorite works of all time, and this fills a similar cup. Twisty and layered and delicious.

replied to Ell's status

For context: one of the (valid!) criticisms of the first three books was the seeming dismissal of vast swaths of the world (notably most of Africa) as backwards "reservations" used only as an outlet for spiritual pilgrimages.

I've been patient, because as I tell folks when introducing these books to people, the narrators are unreliable, morally as well as plotwise: the tale reflects the society whose lessons we are learning.

It's deeply important to me to for authors to be able to tell stories about morally complicated or downright bankrupt characters and societies without having to explicitly spell out the ways in which they are Bad and Wrong, to let us as readers make our own judgments and moral decisions, without assigning those judgments to the author themselves.

It's a risky line to walk, but I think if executed well, it's so valuable.

Perhaps the Stars (Hardcover, 2021, Tor Books) 4 stars

From the 2017 John W. Campbell Award Winner for Best Writer, Ada Palmer's Perhaps the …

She gazes on Caesar as the head of a hospital gazes on a colleague wooed by giddy innovators to test out a new procedure which might work, might revolutionize treatment, first signs are good, but it takes many years to understand the lifelong effects, and whether the new method works or no, the old-fashioned one still saves lives daily as we wait to learn whether this particular experiment is part of that slim percentage that succeeds.

Perhaps the Stars by  (Page 296)

I am cautiously SO excited to finally start peeking behind the curtain of these "reservations". I've had faith in you, Ada, here's hoping it pays off

commented on Perhaps the Stars by Ada Palmer

Perhaps the Stars (Hardcover, 2021, Tor Books) 4 stars

From the 2017 John W. Campbell Award Winner for Best Writer, Ada Palmer's Perhaps the …

Got my paperback just in time for the longest chapter yet, half again as long as any previous, and my god, how is there still half of this book left?? Where are you taking me, Ada??

(It continues to be very strange and very good)