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NeilNjae
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- NeilNjae
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Okwu spends a lot of time being a stand-in for a whole species, so there's a question of how much his personality is his as opposed to his culture's. I agree with @Apocryphal that it develops some personality by the end of the trilogy, finding it's …
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(Quote) I think this is the real reason. The first novella took off, so Okorafor had to do a whole bunch more world building that didn't really fit with the first story. We ended up with a character with lots of disparate features tacked on, when it…
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I think the aliens were different physically, but not that different intellectually. Especially in Oomza, all the staff seemed very similar in outlook. That may have been a consequence of them all being university academics. (Quote) I don't think B…
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(Quote) I like this observation. A lot of things happen to Binti, forced on her by circumstance. She shows her character by how she rises to these challenges, becoming more than she was before while still retaining her core identity. And she uses th…
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(Quote) Okorafor has stated that Binti isn't a YA book, and seems to get a little frustrated that people categorise it as such. But saying that, it certainly reads like a YA book, with characters with simple inner lives, clearly drawn conflicts, and…
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The impression I got of the technology was one of diversity. There were many different species and cultures around, and they mostly shared their technology. I don't think the living spaceships came from Earth, but I don't know where they were from.…
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I think the world is limited to Africa (specifically southern Africa) in much the same way that much American SF assumes the world is limited to the USA. It's a statement that the world doesn't revolve around the global north. I don't think it says …
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If we want to wait a bit for other formats to become available, that's fine by me.
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I've had stong recomendations for Five Decembers by James Kestrel, so let's do that in February. I think it was published in October 21. It's a hardboiled detective story set in 1941, featuring a detective from Hawaii who goes to Hong Kong just befo…
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I'm happy to join in the monthly rotation, no real preference for when.
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First off, many thanks to @Apocryphal for stepping up to lead the slow read. It was an opportunity to finally engage with an author that's been at the back of my mind for a while. I thought the Dream Archipelago was the best read of the three. The …
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It should be OK by me. Let's see how it goes. The schedule is a bit flexible anyway, so we can always slide a week or so, or even split the book over two months, if the need arises. But let's cross that bridge when we come to it.
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(Quote) I probably overstated my case. Some background and setup is necessary (and I somewhat enjoyed the account of Jevick's childhood), but did we need quite to much setup? Did we need quite so many walls of descriptive text. I was skipping throug…
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(Quote) Hindsight's wonderful. The picks seemed like a good idea at the time, so I'm happy with where we ended up. (Quote) It's the "So what?" question. Why am I spending my time reading this book? Why this, and not some other book or som…
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An observation from someone who didn't finish. Is it the case that this novel only really starts half-way through? All the questions reference things I don't think I got to. I stopped at 50%, when thingammy had just escaped the asylum. Was the first…
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And lest my post be too negative... Do I regret reading this book? No, not really. Priest is someone I've wanted to read more of for a long time. This was an opportunity to do that, and one I was keen to take up when @Apocryphal suggested it. Thank…
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(Quote) No. (Quote) I have no idea what Priest is trying to achieve. It's clear we're not meant to "think" about the book: nothing makes much sense when you think about it. The book works best when it's a collection of impressions and fee…
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I also picked up on the South-East Asia analogy, and agree it was refreshing to have a setting that was devoid of European influence.
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(Quote) (emphasis added) I wonder if this is why I didn't get on with this book, and others with similar writing style. When I'm reading a book, I'm not a listener, I'm a reader. I don't hear the words. I get nothing of rhythm or rhyme in written w…
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(Quote) "Wouldn't". It woudn't surprise me if Sandro were to become Jacj. (Quote) I could see that being the case. But I also think that Priest isn't that interested in exploring that side of the world-building any more, and wants to look…
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> @RichardAbbott said: > Also, I wonder what it signifies that the bassist Teo apparently had no idea who Cea was? Has Sandro slipped into another timeline? Probably. It would surprise me if he were to become Jacj.
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First off, the utter lack of widespread knowledge about adepts. If there was a group of people who could reverse ageing through travel, you'd think that would be something most people would know about. There are all sorts of pieces of trivia we know…
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Glad you liked it!
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(Quote) It certainly has a lot of writing. I can't fault the book for a lack of words. It'll be really interesting to hear what other people have to say about the book.
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I'm afraid to say, I've got to about half way and lost all interest in the book. I won't be contributing to the discussion. Sorry.
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(Quote) I disagree with the intent, but agree that it's widely taken as being a statement of the rightness of bloodlines and aristocracy. It's clear that Paul's position, even if not "bloodline" directly, is definitely akin to all kinds o…
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I think the book does the best thing, and have individuals making choices that have huge implications. Paul is just a 15 year old boy, but his choices overturn the Imperial order. Given that, would you really want to play a game of low-level functio…
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(Quote) ...and I think there's not much else to say about the implications of it that we haven't said already. It's beyond belief that he hasn't stumbled across this before. (Quote) Almost certainly. It's a transition for Sandro. Whether it's a tra…
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I watched the film today and also enjoyed it. It's a spectacle that really needs a big screen to do it justice: you can tell it's the same director as Arrival and Blade Runner 2: The Fanfic. I was rather surprised at how closely to the book it stay…
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It's good to see Sandro being consistent, still naively accepting everything being done to him. Yes, the time effects are real, but are they something being created by the adepts? I'm not sure it's a useful question to ask. These chapters, and the …