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newnumber6Finished: Needle, by Hal Clement
Started: Permanence, by Karl Schroeder
Thoughts on Needle behind the cut. Not really spoilery except for general concept.
The plot has an alien creature, adapted to a life of symbiosis, chasing a fugitive of its own kind. The two crash land on Earth, but a little separately. The Hunter (the cop) selects a human host, but it takes months to establish communication and must convince him to seek out the fugitive, who has likely taken a host on the home island of the Hunter's host.
It's... okay. Hal Clement is more known as a hard SF author with big ideas like in
Mission of Gravity (life on a very very heavy gravity world). He's from the era of SF writers where strong characterization was not as important as it is now. As such, although the science aspects are usually handled well (and in particular it's nice to see an extended time where the alien has to learn how to communicate), the characters fell a little flat. A lot of the human characters I couldn't keep straight... they had individual goals but didn't feel unique enough that I could remember their names from appearance to appearance.
As for the mystery aspect (who is the Fugitive's Host?), well, I figured it out, but more from following the rules of story rather than the clues the characters discover.
All in all it was okay, but not especially memorable.
Anyway, much of the time I was reading I was distracted by my inner movie producer. It's something that happens, often on rereads of books I really love, or on books where I like the idea but not the execution. My inner movie producer comes into my thoughts, and starts thinking about what would be changed if this was a movie, how to get around certain problems. Sometimes either as a straightforward adaptation, sometimes more as a cynical "well, we need to add a love interest, whether the story needs it or not!". In this case my inner movie producer had to change the nature of the fugitive slightly, change the communication method (at least after the initial attempts), alter the whole middle through ending, update for modern times of course, and, yes, add a love interest/potential suspect. It was kind of fun as an intellectual exercise. Maybe if I get back into more of a writing mood that I feel free to engage in more free-writing (as opposed to my quotaed writing), I'll try it out as a way to practice script-writing.
Finished: A Deepness in the Sky, by Vernor Vinge (reread)
Started: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
No real comments on Deepness... read it several times and still enjoy it every time.
Next time I think I'll try reading it before A Fire Upon the Deep instead of before. Don't think I've ever read them in chronological instead of publication order.
Started: Permanence, by Karl Schroeder
Thoughts on Needle behind the cut. Not really spoilery except for general concept.
The plot has an alien creature, adapted to a life of symbiosis, chasing a fugitive of its own kind. The two crash land on Earth, but a little separately. The Hunter (the cop) selects a human host, but it takes months to establish communication and must convince him to seek out the fugitive, who has likely taken a host on the home island of the Hunter's host.
It's... okay. Hal Clement is more known as a hard SF author with big ideas like in
Mission of Gravity (life on a very very heavy gravity world). He's from the era of SF writers where strong characterization was not as important as it is now. As such, although the science aspects are usually handled well (and in particular it's nice to see an extended time where the alien has to learn how to communicate), the characters fell a little flat. A lot of the human characters I couldn't keep straight... they had individual goals but didn't feel unique enough that I could remember their names from appearance to appearance.
As for the mystery aspect (who is the Fugitive's Host?), well, I figured it out, but more from following the rules of story rather than the clues the characters discover.
All in all it was okay, but not especially memorable.
Anyway, much of the time I was reading I was distracted by my inner movie producer. It's something that happens, often on rereads of books I really love, or on books where I like the idea but not the execution. My inner movie producer comes into my thoughts, and starts thinking about what would be changed if this was a movie, how to get around certain problems. Sometimes either as a straightforward adaptation, sometimes more as a cynical "well, we need to add a love interest, whether the story needs it or not!". In this case my inner movie producer had to change the nature of the fugitive slightly, change the communication method (at least after the initial attempts), alter the whole middle through ending, update for modern times of course, and, yes, add a love interest/potential suspect. It was kind of fun as an intellectual exercise. Maybe if I get back into more of a writing mood that I feel free to engage in more free-writing (as opposed to my quotaed writing), I'll try it out as a way to practice script-writing.
Finished: A Deepness in the Sky, by Vernor Vinge (reread)
Started: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
No real comments on Deepness... read it several times and still enjoy it every time.
Next time I think I'll try reading it before A Fire Upon the Deep instead of before. Don't think I've ever read them in chronological instead of publication order.
