The January Dancer / Michael Flynn

The January Dancer
by Michael Flynn

science fiction

copyright 2008
read in May 2015

rated 9/10: really, really good

At last (*) ! A really really good science fiction novel ! Strong and coherent plot. Strong and interesting characters. Strong soap opera science !

It's the sort of book which offers enough complexity -- and enough enjoyment -- for you to want to read it a second time... So I did. And found more interest and just as much enjoyment !

Okay, half way through I was thinking, how many separate threads can I stand ?! Then the narrator made the same comment... promised that they were about to join together... and they did, too. Phew, just in time :-)

It's a solid piece of space opera. Heroic characters (mostly likeable). Consistent, plausible... engineering. (Read the book to see why it's not really "science".) Plenty of action on several alien planets. (Alien ? Well, human but different.)

Cultural stereotypes abound. (Is that PC-acceptable ? ) The Irish planet is very much in-your-face. Others are less obvious... It took a second reading to realize the background of the planet Gehpari... A small hint, I read it aloud, checked the Gehparisian's accent... Ohhhh... I see... Very good :-)

There's a lot of light humour. Not in the action but in the language. Some humour to make me smile... some to make me laugh. Some -- is very clever.

Towards the end of my second reading I was thinking, the plot is rather flat. No gradual buildup of tension. No sudden climax... But then I thought, the tension is in the resolution: the gradual accumulation of clues, until the final, climactic revelation...

Not that this book depends on sudden excitement.

There's enjoyment, reading pleasure and sufficient excitement from go to whoa.

A really, really good science fiction novel. Especially enjoyable after a bit of a dry spell...

===

(*) It was a great relief to start reading this book and to realize -- The January Dancer is a lot of fun ! I've had a bit of a dry spell, lately.

I've recently read four science fiction books which were more popular science textbooks than novels. Boring characters, weak plot, simple science explanations laid on thick.

I read four of these boring books. All with a common author, too. A friend asked me, why did you keep on reading them ?!

Terry Pratchett's name drew me to The Long Earth. "Loyalty" kept me going through the next two in the series. Then I tried a book solely written by the coauthor, to see if he was to blame... And yes, it seems to be Baxter's style...

On the other hand... All four books were interesting. In a popular science textbook kind of way. So I read each book to the finish. (Or, at least, to the point at which the author stopped writing. See next paragraph.) And decided that they were boring. Not novels. But contained enough interest to be read... But only if there's nothing else. And now -- thank goodness ! -- there's something else !

An old story: A young man storms into a publisher's office. "How long is a novel ? " he demands. "It depends..." replies the publisher. "Just tell me how long ! " demands the excited young man. "Oh, well... Perhaps 100,000 words... ? " "Thank god ! " says the young man, slapping down pages of typewritten paper. "I've finished."