I thought I’d do something a little different with this post. Most of what I’ve written so far has focused on the strengths – sometimes the weaknesses – of a single book and how that book affected me. Tonight I thought I’d take two relatively recent publications – both of which have received effusive praise – and put them side by side.
I have to start by saying both “Ancillary Justice” and “The Stars Are Legion” are amazingly creative stories and both deserve the praise they’ve received. Reviews for both have been pretty consistently over the top – chock full of superlatives. Both Authors have built radically differentiated worlds / societies and told unique and compelling stories which distinguish themselves from anything I’ve ever run across – always gratifying for someone who’s read as much science fiction as I have. It’s always a pleasant surprise when an Author brings something truly new. The writing in both of these books is exceptional – very few times with either when I felt the need to pause and edit as I read. Short to long – anyone who loves science fiction should experience both.
Having said all that, the two books left me in very different places. My last post was on “Ancillary Justice” and anyone who’s read that post knows how much I loved it. It worked for me on all levels – the writing, the characters, the world and the story. As I read, I kept finding things in the book that I could relate to – meaningful academic or personal interests and experiences. It was tight and, while complex, the complexity added to the experience. The early bits and pieces of plot and history and invented culture – initially dropped on the reader without context or explanation – all came together in an almost seamless way by the middle of the story and led to a very satisfying conclusion.
Leckie managed to make almost every character fascinating and understandable and relate-able to me. She occasionally found a way to introduce subtle humor into a very serious exploration of meaningful questions about the parameters of humanity and civilization. I’d refer back to the example I highlighted in my last post – about the two AIs who – while grappling with a situation that could lead to the death of billions – take the time to discuss mundane equipment maintenance protocols. Leckie somehow found a way to make that seem both amusing and perfectly normal to me.
All of that left me – by the end of the book – supremely satisfied. It was the kind of reading experience where I’ll close the book but don’t really want to put it down – just hold it for awhile and think back through what the Author was able to accomplish and what it meant to me. It also left me very hungry for more and extremely thankful that I had two more novels in the trilogy – the second of which I’m already more than halfway through.
“The Stars Are Legion” was different. It was unlike anything I’d ever read – unique in many ways – particularly the world and the characters Hurley created. It was extremely well written. It’s rightly been recognized as an important work and it has a place in every science fiction fan’s library.
Here’s the thing though – at least for me – by the end, it felt like one of those books you needed to read and not one you wound up being thankful you read. The world was unique – almost too unique. Hurley never stops throwing new concepts at you – living world ships, degraded passenger cultures, unprecedented social structures and systems – it never stops. It’s almost like Hurley decided to throw as much weird stuff as possible against the wall to see what would stick.
Just one small example to try and illustrate what I mean – you become aware of the fact – about halfway through the book – that the purpose of childbirth is actually to manufacture replacement parts for the living world ships. Fine Hurley – you surprised and shocked me again – but why – it’s wasn’t important to the plot – I don’t even know that it was thematically important. I just found it kind of throwaway weird.
On top of that, it was so imaginative and unique that I found it hard to relate to the characters or the story or the world. I was following along but I never got to the point where I cared about much of anything or anyone in the story. I found myself disliking everyone in the book equally – plenty of characters – very little humanity.
Ultimately, I just felt like the story took itself too seriously. Hurley offered me nothing but bad options and bad endings. I felt like I was being constantly flogged with the themes and the emotions the author wanted me to feel. Everything was so painfully serious and tragic for all the participants involved. It was pretentious. Even worse – it was exhausting. By the end, I felt like I’d run a marathon and I couldn’t’ wait to put it down.
If you read the reviews, you’ll know that I’m in not with the majority when it comes to “The Stars Are Legion”. I see a lot of people describing this book as “brilliant” or “mind-blowing” or “profoundly moving”. I can appreciate so much of what others see in the book and it does deserve recognition. At the end of the day, however, I must just prefer spending my time with books and authors who don’t take themselves quite so seriously.