Debatable Space
category: science fiction, author:Philip Palmer
original copyright 2008
read in Jan 2012
Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10: read to pass the time
Tedium!?
It was a struggle to finish this book.
There is a grand scale to this galactic adventure. Backstory provides an understanding of the main characters. But it just goes on and on... and on.
All very well to provide a history of a key character. To explain her reasons for being as she is, for doing as she did. Yet it becomes a major block to the development of the main story.
Okay, perhaps the author wants us to see the future history of human expansion into the galaxy. The technology of planetary settlement and control is clever, worth writing about. The life story of Lena is just too much.
Other characters provide insights into the technology and the cruelty of the Earth-galactic dictator. They provide their insights in simple stories of a couple of pages each... While Lena gets half the book to explain her own part on the plot.
And it is very difficult to like her.
Yawn...
Not that it isn't interesting!
Just overdone, overblown, too long, and tedious...
Then there's the plot itself: complex, clever, annoyingly multi-climactic.
Is that a word? "Multi-climactic"?
What I mean is: The story reaches a crescendo... The heroes win the big battle / conquer the key planet / succeed in their ultimate goal... Only to find that there is another battle / planet / goal to now be reached.
It becomes a standard formula: Oh look, we've won :-) Wait, the baddies have an unexpected trick, we've lost after all :-( It's okay, I expected this, here's the real battle / planet / goal which will now become our target...
The hero, apparently, planned everything in advance. Each plot climax is essential, either as a step on the way or as a step which must be attempted rather than going straight to the really difficult task... All very clever. I just wish that there were some hints in advance...
As it is, the story is very episodic. A series of separate stories, where each story must be more exciting than the last. As though the author reached the end of the book then decided, oh dear, this is still too short, what shall I write about now...
On the other hand -- each story is exciting. Imaginative. Over the top. Action-packed.
It's a fine flow of action-packed space opera.
It just suffers from too much history of civilisation.
Like the war that the story covers, I guess: episodes of life-threatening action, interspersed with long periods of mind-numbing tedium.
Extra note:
I did appreciate the development and explanation of the character of Lena, the female lead character. It is well done. It gives a good insight into her drives, her motives. It just slows down the story.
This book is a story of war, violence and revenge in the distant future. It is also a story which analyses the character of a woman who is born mousey and who fights her way to power.
One or the other...
Having both stories in the one book means that one is interfering with the other. Whichever story you like -- the other story gets in the way.
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1 comment:
Proving the value of this blog !
My main purpose is not... really... to inform you, my one or possibly two potential readers. I began this blog so that *I* would know what I had read. I tend to forget the author and the book title then realise, I know this book, just as I settle down to begin reading.
I had that I-know-this-book feeling with Debatable Space. The first page showed signs of being an awful book. (Heroine being stupid, not listening. Sudden switch to other characters who are given more explanation but not enough.) So I searched the *new!* spreadsheet...
Quickly found the book. Quickly read the review. Quickly returned the book to the library. Once read is enough !
Saved -- by my own blog posting !
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