Nelly Semiboroda Semiboroda থেকে Clarence Town, The Bahamas
I love this book - it's such stealthy SF - the world he creates seems so real, so prosaic, that you almost overlook the size of his ideas! One problem SF writers have is how to make conversation realistic with other beings. I suppose it would be boring if you made it difficult all the way through - so a good technique is to give a sample of the difficulties and then paraphrase. 'I am an explorer, I mean scout, I mean missionary - no, I mean teacher. I am here to teach you things.' I have quoted the above exchanges as closely as I can remember in order to give some idea of what I was up against, and to justify my use of editorial discretion from now on. A verbatim record would be impossible. It's also an encouraging book for a writer, when compared his earlier stuff, which is nowhere near as good. Gives a novelist hope!
Um... I gave it 3 stars because I don't know how I felt about it. I don't think I really enjoyed it, but I enjoyed it enough to read it. So, I guess part of me liked it? I don't know. I just feel confused after reading it... Ya, I don't know.